Lots of news

Sorry for the lack of updates.  We have a lot to report!  The reason I haven't posted lately is that for several days I have been fighting with my computer and phone to get more videos uploaded to the blog.  I'm finally giving up - I don't know whether the problem is the phone, this computer, or the blog, but for whatever reason, I haven't been able to upload any more videos of Suchitra's walking.  I'm really bummed about this as it would have been so fun to show you how well she is doing.  I'll just have to describe it the best I can.

They have had her doing Lokomat sessions every day since she first started them the week before last.  Last Tuesday, after her session, the therapist had her walk on the treadmill while she was still suspended from the harness, but without the robot guiding her legs.  So the treadmill was moving but she had to walk manually.  She looked good - definitely hesitant and dragging her feet a little bit, but bending her knees much more and using a heel-toe pattern that she never had before.

This past Friday I took another video in which she was walking along the ground with two long parallel bars for support on either side.  The therapist was moving with her, closely supporting her and making sure her gait was as steady as possible.  Just the difference from Tuesday to Friday was amazing.  Even though her knees periodically buckle because she is still weak, her gait is so much more normalized.  I just couldn't believe it, watching her.  The other cool thing about the Lokomat is that each day she carries a little more of her own weight and does a little more of the work herself.  So it's a good way to transition back to independent walking.

It's pretty cool to watch her get used to her new body.  I have not heard her say one word of complaint about not being able to move as quickly as she used to, or not being as strong as she used to be.  It's hard to get much description or self-reflection out of her, but as best I can tell, she definitely notices how much more comfortable and loose her body is, and she seems to accept that the hard work now is going to pay off for her in the long run.

She started pool sessions last week and did great there too.  Here are a couple pictures:

In the pool they have her stretching, kicking and walking.  The addition of the pool made her have a really full schedule.  All of last week and continuing into this week, in addition to her daily Lokomat sessions, she does two other physical therapy appointments and two occupational therapy appointments each day.  Then there are occasional sessions of music therapy, therapeutic recreation, and psychology.  Plus, she has to get in three 60-minute sessions of the stander and prone cart every day.  And don't forget school, although it is only for 30 minutes each day.  With such busy days she is very tired by the end of them.

All of last week an occupational therapist came in our room each morning and helped her get dressed.  She still has some tight muscles and is a bit stiff from the surgery, but she is able to move in different ways than she ever could before.  I can tell that with practice, she is going to become an independent dresser sooner rather than later.

It was so nice to have my mom visit.  It made last week go a lot quicker for me than the previous weeks.  With her rental car we were able to get out of the hospital and explore St. Paul while Suchitra was busy.  I took her to the Minnesota History Center which I had toured by myself the previous week and loved.  My favorite parts were the exhibit on the World War II generation, the tour through Minnesota weather (blizzards!  tornadoes!  mosquitoes!), and another section where they recreated an actual house from a St. Paul neighborhood and told the stories of who has lived there through the years, from the German immigrants who built it, to the Italians who worked on the railroads in the 20s and 30s, to the white working-class families of the 60s and 70s, and finally the Hmong families in the 80s to 2000s.  Apparently this area has the highest Hmong population of any metro area in the U.S.  The museum really impressed me with its creative and dynamic way of communicating what could be dry history through hands-on activities and great use of technology.  For example, you could sit in a recreated basement and hear, see and feel what it might be like to live through a tornado.  I wish Oregon had as cool an institution.  We have some great stories to tell too!

My mom and I also strolled a neighborhood and had a delicious dinner out with Suchitra at a nice restaurant downtown (thank you Claire and Julia!).  And we attended the broadcast of Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald Theater on Saturday afternoon!  I have been a PHC fan since college.  My grandma, who grew up in Minnesota, liked the show too, although I remember she was a little annoyed that he focused so much on Lutherans and not enough on her people, the Catholics.  She would have appreciated this marquee at a nearby theater:

As further proof that Minnesota is not just for Lutherans, I noticed a giant Scientology church across the street from the Fitzgerald Theater.  I'm not sure the picture does justice to what an imposing fortress this place was:

Did you know that Garrison Keillor never uses notes when he does the "News from Lake Wobegon"?  He just wanders around the stage extemporizing.  What a memory.  If you saw the movie, the stage looks the same:

The reason I didn't feel badly about leaving Suchitra at the hospital while we were enjoying the radio show was that my cousin Greg, who lives in Nederland, Colorado, came to visit for the weekend.  It was so awesome to see him and we had such a great time together.  I think he played about 50 rounds of Uno and over two hours of catch with her baseball and mitt.  I am so lucky to have such wonderful relatives and friends.  We are totally enjoying the cards, gifts, and support from all of you!  Thank you so much!

Now that we are in the home stretch, I am thinking ahead to what it will be like when we come home.  We have a "family conference" scheduled for Wednesday that will include her care team here and several people from her school at home.  I am hoping to get a lot of questions answered there. 

We leave this Sunday and next week Suchitra will start outpatient physical therapy four days a week at a clinic in Vancouver.  She won't be able to walk outside of therapy for some period of time I'm not sure about.  I can't remember if I already mentioned this, but I was told not to expect her to return to her pre-surgery level of functioning until maybe 12 weeks after the surgery.  Despite this, I feel so encouraged thus far about the progress she has already made that it seems reasonable to think she is going to improve a lot further.

Here is a cute picture that I took after my Aunt Anne sent her a pillowcase to brighten the room: