Earlier this week, Daniel, Little A and I loaded up and headed into
Chicago to meet with Dr. Gaebler-Spira at the Rehabilitation Institute
of Chicago. We really did not know what to expect but we were going
into this appointment hoping to gain a better understanding of what
Cerebral Palsy means for our precious girl. We still don't fully
understand and I am not sure we ever will but it was a productive
visit. The intake nurse told us, "Dr. Gaebler is absolutely brilliant"
and after our consultation I would firmly agree. She gave us some good
insight to our girl and her disability. Dr. Gaebler indicated that A is in a good prognostic category and gave
us the hope that in a few years she will be able to participate in
sports and even play an instrument despite her right hemi-paresis and dystonia.
While
we were there A was casted for new "special legs" (AFO's) and we
allowed her to pick out the colors and patterns. She was so excited to
pick "purple" special legs. She will also be adding a purple thumb loop
to her accessories to help with the use of her right hand.
It
is absolutely amazing to see how far this little girl has come in 12
months time. When we met her in China she was still quite wobbly on her
feet and was very rigid when she walked. Today she is running, trying
to jump and climbing all over the furniture. 12 months ago she barely
recognized she had a right hand or arm and just this past week she attempted to use it to eat
her chicken and rice for lunch. One year ago she had little to no
speech (Chinese included) and just this morning she asked me to play
with her and pretended to run a grocery store.
Our Little A
is making strides and continues to amaze us on a daily basis. Next
week, Little A will begin the Early Childhood program through our
elementary school and I cannot wait to see where we will be 6 months
from now.
