Showing off her tricks

Josie has had a great couple of days showing off her new tricks. On Saturday, her friend, Lilly Dunbar, got to come over to our house in the desert to play. Josie got to introduce Lilly cane to Lilly Dunbar. They had a fun time making cookies and catching up on the 2nd grade news.

We started the morning today at her neurologist, Dr. Mitchell's at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Josie was walking with her canes to the room when Dr. Mitchell came down the hallway. Dr. Mitchell did a bit of a double take when she saw her. She didn't expect that kind of progress ever not to mention in just 5 months. When had a good appt. Running more tests to try to find a reason for the increase in the seizure activity. She also added on there a 6 hour video EEG, sleep apnea study and a visit to endocrinology. I could book our days full with doctors...yikes. And Josie is healthy without major organ compromise. I feel for the families with more than we have. As we were leaving, Josie was walking to the checkout counter with her canes. Dr. Mitchell asked, "Is she really walking with just he quad canes?" I thought this was a funny question since she had walked in front of her twice now. Shows how remarkable it is.

After neurology, we ran up stairs to see Susan and Jen her PT and OT. They were both amazed at how she was walking. It was certainly fun to show them. They have worked so hard with Josie for so many years. We owe it to them to get her in a place where we could make Michigan therapy successful.

Then off to Liz who is doing her therapy now. She has been trained by Izabella in Michigan and has the cage/ suit, etc at her clinic and trains kids using this method. We worked with her for the 4 months prior to Michigan. She couldn't believe her new ability. It was exciting to watch as Liz was coming up with all kinds of plans to advance her forward until we go back in April. Josie will work solely with Liz for the time being because we don't want her exposed to the germs at Childrens Hospital until this flu season clears. Right now she will see Liz 3 times a week and then we will add back Childrens later.

Finally, we got to go see Teresa. Josie was so excited all day to go see her sister. When we got there Josie walked all the way in with her canes. Laura, Teresa's oldest sister, loved seeing Josie walk. She stuck with her the whole way. Teresa was asleep in Florie's arms. We woke her up and when she realized Josie was there she gave her a big smile. She looks great after her big ordeal and long hospital stay in October. I was relieved to she that she had recovered so well. That one really scared us. She is so much more fragile than Josie and we are grateful for everyday we get her here on earth. We visited for a while with Florie, Teresa, Laura and Kevin. It was so great to be with them again. I know the girls have missed each other.

So that was our day in a nutshell...ha!

Off to bed we go to start again tomorrow. It is with an incredibly grateful heart that to write this tonight. Today really helped solidify the hard work that we put into these past 5 months. Jenny and Josie