As I've mentioned, Amie has not had much desire to get out of bed, much desire to sit up, or even much desire to raise her head off the pillow. Anytime anyone would even suggest that she do this, she would start to whimper, say it was going to hurt, and really protest with alternate courses of action.
Me: Amie, we're going to have you sit up a bit, ok?
Amie: <whimper> No, it going to hurt. How about we watch more shows instead, Daddy? <whimper>
As you might imagine, with that performance, we pretty much let her lay on the pillow and heal.
So the Neuro doctor came in...
Wait a sec, I need to describe said Doctor.
He's our Neurosurgeon Fellow*...I'd guess he's around 27-29, looks like a young Jake Gyllenhaal.
Yeah. He looks pretty much like that.
So anyway, a certain nurse friend came in the other day and was watching the nurses watch him. She was laughing at the hungry looks that the other nurses were giving him, while commenting that she'd been a nurse nearly as long as he'd been alive. I laughed at all of it, as it was immensely entertaining to be thinking about something other than cancer.
It also made me think of a conversation I had with my sister when she was here the other day and how she always wonders which Doctors and Nurses are hooking up with each other, and that she had seen way, way too much Grey's Anatomy, and it had ruined her.
Where was I in the story? Dr. Gyllenhaal came into the room, and needed to inspect Amie's incision (which looks terrific btw). We needed to get her into sitting position to do so, and we did it, and she didn't freak out. Good start!
An hour or so later, a Physical Therapist (PT) came in, and wanted to work with Amie. She was not about it at all, but he quickly won her over. He started with her in her bed, won her trust, got her to a sitting position with me in the bed sitting behind her.
Within a half hour, we were out of bed sitting on the couch throwing a ball, and then walking across the room, and then walking across the entire unit. Don't get me wrong, she has no balance. She still has no ability to walk unassisted. She needs someone to hold her hand to walk anywhere.
She only needed that boost of confidence to get back on her feet and she was off to the races.
We can see massive improvement from her abilities pre-surgery in her leg movement and hand coordination. Lots of stuff to work on, but definitely good stuff. Good, good stuff.
Later on we had a family get together with Uncle Kris visiting to bring some food and news of our car repairs that he's doing for us, as well as my parents bringing food, and seeing Amie since they're back from Florida.
Amie took a trip to the party on the 12th floor in honor of Cinco de Mayo! Woo!
This is the picture of a miserable child, no?
So much tongue, many bows.
With all the improvement we saw today, I'm guessing we'll get out of here either tomorrow or Tuesday. Good stuff. Woo!
*I don't really know the differences between Doctors who are interns, fellows, or residents. He's an MD. He's a "real" doctor. He knows his stuff. That's all that matters to me.
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