wednesday morning

wow! this is susan and i think i have forgotten how to use a computer. we finally got some sort of service here. it is different from ku. gen is getting adjusted to her new home. she has some nice therapists who are getting to know how she works. yesterday she got a new smaller trach that lets more air through. she has it capped full time now, and if she tolerates it another 24 hours without having to have suction she will have the trach taken out completely. she also worked on tongue movement (moving a piece of cranberry-juice-soaked gauze from beween her lips and teeth to the center of her tongue.) she is working on that again today as we speak. in physical therapy today she stood at the standing frame and kept her feet flat on the floor. she blew into a tube and moved some small balls with the air. this is new for her. occupational therapy is working on her arms and hands a lot. she has new splints for her hands that she will wear at night for awhile. they keep the tendons in her wrists from contracting. even a couple of days of contraction will shorten the tendons and make it even harder to use her . we want to avoid that. she is also getting fitted for a cast for her left foot (a serial cast that will stretch the tendons in her left foot so it is not contracted.) they will put it on for four days and then take it off. they think they will probably do another one for three days after that, and then they think the foot will be stretched to the right angle for full range of motion. they are going to do a splint for the right foot that will be put on at night for the same purpose. her left foot is much tighter than the right one. at first they thought she was much worse than they think now. she gets so on edge when they work with her in the gym that she tightens up a lot. they came to her room and found what we see, that she is very relaxed and can do much more then. the gym here is huge, and very overwhelming. they have started letting gen do her standing in a smaller room off the main gym where she can stay loose and concentrate on the work at hand. right now the speech therapist is having her blow bubbles in a cup of water and blow on a kleenex to see the air moving out of her mouth. she is having to work with the control on that, but she is coming along well. it takes time to get everything working together like she wants to. please keep praying that she makes the progress that God has for her to make. it is so easy to get discouraged when the work is hard. sometimes it is difficult to see God's grace and care for us when we get tangled in the worries and problems of daily life. we have to stop and remember what God has done for us and thank him for all the blessings. we give Him the praise and glory, and ask Him for guidance and strength to keep our eyes on Him.

susan.