Climbing: A Good thing!

Today, Morgan had her therapy. It has been two weeks since her last appointment because of us being away on vacation. She is now only going once a week to Cedar Park outpatient therapy. She will continue at just once a week until school starts, then we will stop going to Cedar Park and she will just continue her therapy at the school. The therapists were impressed with her performance today. The Pt noted how more more motor control she has and more safety awareness and proprioception. She does not lock her knees anymore which means she is gaining strength in her quad muscles. I told the PT she was now climbing on everything, and she thought this was a sign of progress. The therapist in me definitely sees that, but the mom in me, thinks "scary!" She stands on the recliner, walks on the fireplace hearth, and stands on her little table. I am constantly on the look out. She knows "no" now and knows it is wrong, but tests me. Anyway, she had a good therapy session today. She also traveled well in the car. However, she was a different child in the lobby of the therapy office: went "nuts" to say the least. She just does not do well out in public yet, especially in a medical place. She knows now what it is all about. At home, she is much more calm and relaxed. So though still a strugle to go places, still very grateful for how far she has come in such a short time. Very soon, I will be posting about where she was and where she is now. A lot of you may not know just how bad it had gotten for our little girl and it makes seeing her now, so much more of a miracle. Yes, so very thankful for the miracle He had already performed, but still standing in faith for the miracle of total healing for our little girl!

Playing Chase and Hide and Seek

Better behavior and a new phase

Morgan's behavior has been better this week. She is more calm, less agitated, and more focused. She also is traveling better in the car. Yay! She did start a new phase just practically overnight, while we were on vacation: climbing!! She now tries to climb on everything, chairs, the fireplace, the table! She not only climbs on it, but stands and walks too. Scary, when she climbs on our fireplace hearth and walks, especially since we have concrete floors. Although this keeps us on our toes, ( even more so than before), we are happy she is gaining the strength to do it and is developing physical skills as her brain is healing. She can now climb up the steps on the playground at school, by herself. She grabs hold of the handrail and steps up! Good job Morgan! Also this week, love, love, love to sit and watch Will and Morgan play chase. They also play hide and seek. I got some really cute pictures of them chasing each other and her looking for him. I will post them later this week. Enjoying her so much. Thinking about how much God has blessed us so much. So thankful He gave us our little girl back!

Blessed Day

Today was a fun, blessed day. Morgan was calm and happy. She and Will played and played so good together today. It was great to watch them have fun together. Much has happened in the last week. Billy and I just got back from a vacation to Big Bend while my parents and Aunt Ruth kept Will and Morgan. We just got back home today. We were nervous about going and almost canceled the trip last week because of Morgan's behavior. However, after assurance from my parents and aunt, we decided to go ahead and go. Morgan had also calmed down some prior to us going. I think she did okay for them for the most part, according to them anyway, but it was a challenge. She was out of her element, out of routine, and stayed up late at night. Bedtime was the most challenge. Billy and I are so very thankful to my parents and Aunt Ruth. We had a great time, are refreshed, and were so ready to come home and see our precious children.

Smiling and Happy Today!

Trying to stay positive

Yes, trying to stay positive, when discouragement and disappointment are knocking at the door. Morgan had a rough weekend. We went to my parents house, and there were lots of people and kids running around. Morgan was very agitated, and over stimulated. When she is like that, she doesn't focus or interact much. Now today, she is happy and calm. I guess we really just can't take her out to places right now. Her brain just can't process all the information right now. Her system gets too overwhelmed. She is perfectly fine now that she is home. I was so discouraged over the weekend. For one, it was very stressful dealing with a screaming child. Two, I was looking forward to my family seeing how well she is doing. One comment that really helped and encouraged me was from Billy's friend who came down for the weekend. He had seen her in the hospital but then had not seen her since last year. He said she just looks so much better overall. She is more alert, bright eyed, and keeps her balance. He recalled how last year, she couldn't even walk a couple of steps without falling down. Comments like these really help and are appreciated.

Typical toddler behavior

Yesterday, we had family over to our house. Will and his cousins were jumping on the trampoline, and Morgan really wanted to jump with them. I helped her jump while the kids were taking a break(it would be too wild with all of them up there at one time). She did not want to stop. I took her off the trampoline and into the house. She was screaming all the way, but I was smiling. She was acting like a typical child who was upset when she had to stop playing. This just means so much because she used to not even want to play anything, and she used to never show appropriate emotion. She had a good week of therapy. The OT said that she has been the most calm she has seen her in two weeks. She participated and was cooperative, and not agitated. The therapists continue to say how impressed they are with her progress. She also traveled very well in the car this week. We continue to be thankful and count our blessings.

Melting my heart

Today, Morgan and Will played chase again. They played for quite a while. She would turn back and look to make sure he was coming, then smile and laugh and run from him. Billy and I just sat there and smiled. I could have watched them all day. Then Will walked away and sat down. Morgan came over to wear he was sitting and bent over, grabbed his arm, and tried to pull him up to play with her. I can't describe the feeling, but I felt like my heart was melting. I felt so deeply touched. It is so amazing to see a child so interactive and expressive who just four months ago was so trapped in her own world. I have been thanking The Lord again today.

Priceless

So there are some things money cannot buy. One would be watching two siblings play chase together happily. Especially when one of them just had brain surgery three months ago and was unable to even stand or walk just three months ago. I sat and marveled at them yesterday. Such a blessing to see that again. It has been about three years since I have seen them play together because all of that stopped when she turned two and had the seizures. Yes, yesterday was a blessing. I watched Morgan smile and giggle as Will would chase after her. It was so awesome!! Thank you Lord for restoring these special moments that I will always treasure so much. As I always focus and am thankful for the improvements and the many blessings, I also want to please ask for continued prayers. My specific prayer has been for her brain to continue to rewire and to make the right connections, that she can learn and catch up and develop as she is supposed to, the way God created her to be. She needs to be able to understand right from wrong, and appropriate behaviors and actions. She needs to be able to learn in school. Other specific prayers: Thank you Lord, that she will talk, that she will say words, form sentences, and communicate verbally. Thank you Lord that she will say "I love you Mommy and Daddy". I know she loves us, but how how much it would mean to hear it from her. All these things I took for granted with Will because it all just happened as it was supposed to. So thank you all for your continued prayers that mean so much to us.

More calm

The last three days have been much better. Morgan has been more calm and less agitated. She does still have some hyper moments,but manageable. On Wednesday, I was very nervous about my parents taking her to therapy because of the screaming she had been doing while in the car. However, she was pretty calm, according to my parents' report and even slept some of the way. We have been incorporating some of the sensory integration tactics learned in therapy, which have seemed to help. My sister, who is a pediatric OT had also given me some ideas. She said Morgan's little system was just overwhelmed and can't handle alot of stimulation right now. Crowds, loud noises, etc. can overload her system. This most likely explains the screaming and agitation I had called a temper tantrum. Her therapists also explained that her brain is changing and will continue to change for awhile and is adapting to everything. All this is easier to handle when we understand what is going on and why she is acting this way. So we will keep the sensory integration therapy going at home. Morgans nurse is so wonderful to assist with this as well. The therapists were very pleased with Morgans performance in therapy on Wednesday. They continue to be amazed at her progress. The speech therapist made us a notebook of pictures for communicating at home. As I have said before, we are learning as we go. Another thing I have learned about Morgan this week is how to get her to relax before bedtime. She goes for her run every evening and gets good exercise and sensory input. Then, we put her in her stroller to get her to wind down before putting her in bed. She usually goes to bed before Will so we turn on a sound machine to drown out the noise of him getting ready for bed( she gets fussy when she hears him up because she wants to be up too). This may be boring information, but it is good for me to write it down and remember what works. We have had many, many challenging bedtimes before, and right now it is going smoothly. So thankful for that and praying that it stays that way!

Challenges and improvements

Well, this week has had it's challenges, as I talked about in the previous post. She has been very difficult to travel with lately. I think we have finally decided that it is boredom and frustration from being constrained in the car. She is so sensory seeking now and just wants to run all the time. They have been doing a lot of sensory integration therapy with her that has really helped, and I am trying to do it at home as well. She still holds her ear, and I called the neurosurgeon to ask why and what it is she might be feeling. He said she most likely was feeling muscle soreness from the cut muscles and nerve tingling from nerve regeneration. It was good to hear that this is part of the healing process. The therapists also assured us that her behavior changes were common during the first year after a brain surgery. Also nice to hear this is just part of it, but doesn't help the stress levels when you are dealing with a screaming child. We just know now that we can't try and take our places while she is going through this stage. So, family and friends please understand. On a positive note, we have still not witnessed anymore seizures. Her balance continues to be amazing. She is getting so much stronger. In therapy yesterday, she walked up four steps, holding onto the railing by herself, alternating her legs!! This is so amazing. For one, because she has always had to have lots of help stepping up stairs. Two, because she alternated her legs, meaning she was able to step up using her left leg also. (I will post a picture of this soon.) The PT just spotted her, but did not have to help her going up, just assisted some with the descent. So exciting to see the improvements as God is healing her!