Recovered Just In Time!

I am home from the hospital. I ended up staying until Thursday. WIsh I could say I got some good rest, but that is difficult when the nurses come in to take blood every 4 hours! And they couldn't even draw from my IV! I am sure Kyara would have had a good laugh at my expense. I remember how much she hated to have the tape pulled off to take the IVs out. Now I know what she would complain about! That tape HURTS!

So Thursday Kyara had a OT appointment. It went pretty well, she seems to be trying to communicate with the switch again and the OT, Michelle is really good at encouraging Kyara. I like the way she lets Kyara's body tell her what she wants. Friday was full of more appointments. We had orthodics (which are rubbing her arms raw, so he is going to make completely new ones on Tuesday) and speech therapy. I think the speech therapist talks too much. I think Kyara agrees. Michelle, the OT, did a cotreat with the speech therapist on Friday and at one point Kyara was very upset. Michelle asked her if the talking was annoying her, and Kyara hit her button to say "Yes!" Well, that would be a Kyara response, so I tried to hide my smile and giggle when she responded, but I don't know how successful I was.

Today Gunars and I took the girls on a walk. We found a nature trail close to our house and decided to try it out. It was quite a humerous sight... I had Kassey in the stroller and Gunars was pushing Kyara in the wheelchair. The trail started out so nice and wide, it was covered in bark and had logs on the side to edge the path. After awhile the logs on the side disappeared, but the path was still easy to navigate. Suddenly the nice path ended and it was like a "well-worn" path in the woods. There were huge tree roots and boulders in the middle of the narrow path. But we kept going. Poor Kyara's head was flopping around with the bumps, but she did not complain at all, in fact, she seemed to really enjoy the hike. It got so crazy at one point I had to help Gunars lift the wheelchair, with Kyara in it, a couple of boulders that made "steps" in the path. Then I went back for Kassey. What an adventure! We loved it and can't wait to go again. There was a creek that the path followed and an area that you can wade out in it. Skylar liked the hike and Kassey laughed most of the time, so I think it was a hit! We just need an off-road wheelchair, and there will be no stopping us!

So tomorrow we are beginning our next new adventure. THE BEACH. Each year my parents, my brothers and their families, and Gunars, the girls, and I rent a place at the beach for a week. It is something we look forward to all year. In fact, last year, when we were packing to leave the beach, we were already counting the days until we could come back. We are sending Skylar and Kassey on down with my parents and then Gunars and I will follow on Tuesday night with Kyara. She and I have doctor appointments on Monday and Tuesday, so we figure it is best to keep those and go down later. I am nervous as all get-out about the trip, I pray Kyara does ok in the car. I think once we get down there, it will be fine. For me, its the drive. Kyara is not exactly the best traveler right now. The crying can get a bit much, but I hope going later at night will help with this. There is a hospital close to us, so if anything should happen, we know where to go for help. I think this will be a good trip for us all. I pray for safe travels for everyone on the road this summer!

By the way, I wanted to mention....
There was a little girls whose family was at the RMH both times we were there. In fact, they have been there since September of 2008 waiting for a heart transplant. Anyway, Lindsay got her heart last week and although she has had some difficulties, she is on her way to healing. PRAISE GOD! He knows the plan He has for us!