monday night

all these weeks i have been picturing a time far down the road when the therapists put gen between parallel bars and had her balance. i was so surprised and pleased when claud (the french-canadian woman who is gen's physical therapist) asked if she wanted to try the parallel bars today. gen said yes. she had already been in the standing frame, and we wheeled her right over to the other apparatus. we held her arms and feet in place, and claud lifted her with the help of the occupational therapist. gen had to straighten her torso and hold her head up. we were supporting her and she was helping with her hands and arms on the bars. it was extremely hard work, but she was happy to try it. she gets to try another new exercise tomorrow, and we'll report on that when we see it. speech therapy came as soon as she was back in the room from pt. she worked on tongue movement and the speech valve. gen is practicing moving her tongue up, right, left, and out. all of these movements are necessary for speech and for eating food. she said the things she is doing are getting easier. we thank you for your prayers and continued encouragement.

susan