So much has happened these last 2 months. Frankie and I were
able to spend close to a month in McAllen, where my parents, brother and sister
in law live. Mama Didi and Papa needed extra care, so all the sibs took turns going down there. Frankie LOVED putting on her Doc McStuffins lab coat and playing doctor. Thankfully, she
was also able to spend time with her cousins Zach and Jaqueline, since my oldest sister's "shift" overlapped with mine. =)
During our precious time there, we were very fortunate to have a
summer camp that Frankie could attend. My childhood friend, Taryn owns a dance studio
where the camp took place. Every day, I would drop Frankie off for 3-4 hours to
play with 10 other children her age where they danced, played games and did arts and crafts. Taryn’s daughter, Ellaryn was in the camp
as well. Frankie and Elle became very good friends and had many play dates together.
One day during camp, I decided to pick Frankie up early. While peaking
in the front door, I saw that all the kids were playing duck, duck goose. I
watched as the children chased each other after they were called the goose!
Ellaryn finished chasing a girl that she named goose and she was able to tag
her before she sat down! So, Ellaryn had another turn. I was thinking to
myself…If Frankie is goose, I hope she knows how to play this game and I hope
she is able to get up and walk fast! Sure enough, Ellaryn tapped Frankie’s head
and yelled, “GOOSE!” I gulped. Frankie took a while to get up, but she did. By the time
she got up, Ellaryn was still close by running in place! She was waiting for
Frankie to stand up and then ran very, VERY slow so that Frankie could catch
her. Tears rolled down my face. I had just witnessed a young child having
empathy for another. I wanted to run in there and give sweet Elle a big hug
and thank her for being so sweet. I waited until the game was over and told her
mother, Taryn what a precious angel she is raising. I don’t believe empathy can
be taught though. I think it comes from the heart and soul.
After returning home from McAllen, we had an appointment
with Dr. Jan, Frankie’s neurologist. Frankie had been having more “daydreaming
spells” during our trip. Were they absent seizures, or was it simply daydreaming? It’s so hard to
tell. During every appointment with Dr. Jan, Frankie has to do the cat walk on a runway, photo below. It's great because these walks are always videotaped so we can track her progress. After a thorough assessment, Dr. Jan was concerned with Frankie's hip rotation and no weight gain. So, we left her practice with a script to up Frankie's seizure med, one to see an orthopedic surgeon and a
phone number for a dietician.
This past week, Frankie started her CIMT camp in downtown
Dallas. (Constraint Induced Movement Therapy.) For three weeks, two hours a
day, they will be casting Frankie’s stronger arm, in the hopes to get her to
use her affected arm/hand more. Good old neuroplasticity!! We are asked to keep the cast on at home as well.... at least 3 hours a day. We did CIMT at UVA a couple of years ago and Frankie did extremely well. Here she is showing finger isolation with her right hand after day two this week. Thank goodness it's the index finger!! ;) She also played a mean game of angry birds!
I can't get over how this Summer is flying by! Kinder is right around the corner.
We’ve been trying to work on reading and writing to help prepare us. Frankie
has been doing great with reading. She knows how to read over 70 words or so, or maybe she has memorized them? At night, she
doesn’t want us to read Knuffle Bunny or her fairy tale books, she wants us to play with her sight word flashcards.
As far as handwriting goes, we recently got a script from Dr. Jan stating that
Frankie needs to start learning the keyboard at school. We have halted our handwriting tutoring for now, but we will still working on it at home. For now, we need to introduce the keyboard since this will more than likely be her
primary means of writing at school. A part of me is a
little sad about this. Having a keyboard is just one more thing that will make Frankie
“different” than her peers. But I’m very thankful that this resource is available.
The latest specialist appointment we've had was with our neuro psychologist earlier in the week at Children's House. Dr. Beatle is
amazing! We went over Frankie’s results from an evaluation we had a month ago.
I’d like to keep most of our results private but I will say that they were very
eye opening. I have to remind myself that our little girl can
overcome any challenge and we have to keep pressing on with what we're doing. It’s definitely going to be a lot more difficult for
her to learn than her peers; however, this Dr has given us specific ways to modify teaching methods both in the classroom and at home based on her challenges so that she can learn at her highest potential.
Shifting topics...TGIF! Frankie had a great time in the rehab pool today. Where there are toys and water, there is JOY! She was the youngest gal in the pool, but didn't mind one bit! I actually saw a couple of young men who appeared to be injured war vets in the pool next to ours. Even if they weren't, it reminded me how life can change in the blink of an eye and to be grateful for every precious moment we have.
I have to end with this. This past Saturday, Mark, Frankie and I were sitting at the table eating dinner at home. All of a sudden, Frankie started chewing and screamed so loud!! I thought she had bit her tongue! Mark and I both looked at each other and before we could ask her if she was OK, she said, “We forgot to pray!!!” We both laughed with relief. I melted with pride and joy. After spending lots of time with my sister Cici and her family in McAllen, she picked up on praying before every meal, like they do. Warms my heart! Thank you, Cici!
My biggest lesson learned since my last post is that it's OK to be the goose....even if you're not prepared to be. Others can lift you up, when you can't do so on your own.
