All Wrapped Up

Only more day and we’ll wrap up our time here in Birmingham. Although we will still be coming back weekly for a while (and for another three weeks later this year) we’re preparing to say goodbye to our little apartment. We still have one PT session and one OT session to go, and then we’ll be heading home to Scott, Tessie, FeFe, and Doc.

Sarah Kate had a very good day today. She walked up and down the stairs and in and out of the therapy offices using her canes. She is still very apprehensive about standing alone – she makes it a few seconds before she realizes that she’s “alone” and then grabs whomever or whatever happens to be close by. This afternoon, Carrie wrapped up her abdomen with a bandage-type material. The purpose was to make her feel more secure so she doesn’t freak out when the PT’s try to let go of her when she’s standing or walking. She worked very hard again – standing up and sitting down on a bench and walking with her canes.

The canes…well, that’s another subject altogether. Generally, I believe they are pleased with her progress. One cane has a red handle (right) and the other has a black handle (left), and I’ve got a red barrette clasped to one shoe (left) and a black one clasped to the other shoe (right). Since she’s really too young to know left and right very well, they are teaching her to move “black cane – black foot – red cane – red foot.” She does really well with the “black cane – black foot,” but then it kind of goes “red cane – small step red foot – black foot – small step red foot.”

It’s a small miracle to watch her walk. Even though she could walk with the canes before surgery, it’s the subtle uprightness of her posture that leaps out at you and causes you to pause and just say “Wow!” It’s like eating vanilla ice cream all of your life, thinking it’s so great, and then one day someday serves you Blue Bell Cookies ‘n’ Cream (or Tin Roof or Dutch Chocolate or…) and you realize you just didn’t know what you were missing before!

Walking, whether with the canes or with help from the therapist, is without a doubt the one thing that Sarah Kate is most apprehensive about at this point. Most of the time she is walking to me, and always she has a running commentary going the whole time (“I’m coming to you, Andi. I’m going to give you a big hug. You’re going to give me a big hug. You watching me, Momma?”) Most of the time, too, when she reaches me and grabs me in a great big bear hug, the first words out of her mouth are “I love you, Momma.”

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children - Ephesians 5:1