A Month Later

It's been awhile since I posted.  In the last month, Eliza has made so much progress.

Starting the second week of March, Eliza went back to school for partial days.  Living across the street from the school allowed us to skip one of the difficult transitions in and out of the car since we just walked her in her wheelchair.   This week she is going to school full days.  Though she is tired and has swollen legs at the end of the day, everything seems to be going ok.  Thankfully she is mostly caught up in her classes and should finish off the school year well.

We were able to have x rays done here in Traverse City and then sent to the surgeon in Minnesota, which saved us a trip back.  It looks like she continues to heal and the bones are growing back as expected.  

Besides school, Eliza has started to go back to her other activities as well.  Her voice teacher came to our house for a few lessons and we think Eliza can hopefully get safely into her house for a lesson this week.  Piano lessons resumed by FaceTime in our living room, though this week she was able to go the studio instead.  Another great achievement was signing with the praise band at church again.  It's amazing how easy it is to take these activities for granted.  We once again appreciate what being mobile and healthy allows and how different life is without being involved in things that are important.    

Once we had confirmation from Dr. Novacheck that the most recent x rays showed recovery was on track, Eliza started doing more weight bearing exercises in physical therapy.  Using the safety harness she can walk with just walking sticks now.  Around the house and at school she only uses a walker and the wheelchair is saved for long distances.  

Life is getting easier.  Eliza continues to move in the right direction.  A true example of Grace!  

"I Can't Stop Looking At My Feet"

Working on good posture and good gait while learning to walk again, Eliza has been instructed to look straight ahead with her head up.  Frequently she needs reminders as she looks down often when she is using her walker.  After a recent reminder, Eliza told us that she just can't stop looking at her feet because she can't believe how straight they are now.

She is walking more and more every day.  The ability to stand up herself, holding onto the walker, and walk a distance has greatly improved.  In fact, over the weekend Eliza decided her goal is to only use her walker when she is in the house.  Her wheelchair stayed mostly parked this weekend while we were at home.  

Many great experiences help keep Eliza's spirits up and make the recovery period more enjoyable.  

On her birthday last week, Eliza's choir walked to our house from school to sing 'Happy Birthday' and  bring her encouragement.  Earlier in the day her French class FaceTimed her to sing 'Happy Birthday' in French.  

So many friends have come over for lunch, or after school to visit.

Because she is more mobile now, it's easier and safer to take her out of the house, so we have taken her on more outings.  Going to see her friend, Claire Lane, in Shrek at West High School was a highlight of last week.  Getting back to school is next!

Just What We All Needed

It was great to see Claire for weekend visit.

We are grateful for FaceTime and texting which allowed us to keep in touch throughout Eliza's time in the hospital and recovery in Minnesota.  Nothing matches an in person visit though.  

Because Eliza's birthday is coming up this week we had a celebration while Claire was home.  We were fortunate to also have 4 grandparents to help celebrate.  There was lots of love for Eliza. 

Going to church and spending time together at our new house was a fun way to end the weekend.  Claire is a great big sister and I know that time together was just what we all needed after a stressful month.  Silliness and laughter boosted everyone's mood.  Love you, Claire!  

Continuing On...

Since arriving home last Friday night, Eliza has enjoyed time at home.  A lot of time at home.  It's still hard to get her in and out of the house, but because she's getting stronger each day, it does get easier and easier.   Eliza appreciated a few opportunities to get out this week.

Also, she started having visits from her home bound teacher.  Each day she is working on homework and hopefully with some assistance she will be caught up academically soon.  Because she can get 

onto the piano bench from her wheel chair, she started practicing again.  Piano and voice lessons can probably begin again in the next week or so.

For a fun outing the other day we went to the Omelette Shoppe for brunch after physical therapy with Grandma Sue and Great Grandma Betty.  It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day so Eliza and I walked home after we ate.  

Because we live across the street from the high school right now, Eliza benefits from the convenience for her friends and they stop by to visit often.  Almost daily she has lunch with friends and frequently we see them after school too.  

We are so thankful to Grandma Sue who is staying with us for a couple of weeks.  I'm not sure what we would have done in the past month without the support of grandparents.  

Two times this week Eliza went to physical therapy.  They worked her hard, and gave her lots of homework, but it's really helping already and we know that with her motivation she'll progress quickly.  I'm so proud of her determination and positive attitude.  

It is wonderful to have so many different people who care about Eliza and are taking different parts in helping her recovery.  We continue to be thankful for all of you who keep up with Eliza's story, show concern, and keep her in your thoughts an prayers.    

Home

Here is Eliza all packed up and ready to leave our temporary home.  We did make it to our actual home Friday night.  Though it feels good to be here, it hasn't been without challenge.  The trip went pretty well, all things considered.  Thankfully we had plenty of help at the airport and Eliza was able to comfortably get into the airplane seat with a airplane sized wheelchair.  

The actual trip home was fairly uneventful.  Once we were in Traverse City, we quickly learned how challenging it is to get Eliza safely into somewhere that is not handicap accessible.  Though she is getting stronger each day, she still has limited ability to move her legs by herself, and standing is still very difficult.  Dan and I did eventually get her safely in the house, figured out how to get her into the bathroom with a combination of wheelchair, walker, and gait belt, and into her bed.  Shortly after we got home, Eliza developed a fever and started vomiting.  That led to very long night and day on Saturday.  We were worried about her illness, did she just catch the stomach flu, or was this an infection?  Thankfully she feels a lot better today and her fever seems to be gone.  

Today went much better.  We are grateful to Grandma Sue who is here to help out.  This week brings Eliza's homebound school teacher and hopefully the start of physical therapy.  She has enjoyed some visits from friends and family and looks forward to more in the coming days.  We trust that additional improvement will happen this week.  There is no place like home, and now that we are more comfortable, we really appreciate being here again.

Cleared for Take Off!!!

Today was a big day.  Our afternoon at Gillette started with a photo shoot.

The communications department at Gillette asked Eliza if she would be willing to share her story to be featured through their social media.  She (and Dan and I) were happy to agree and hope that her testimony might help another child and family seeking a solution to a situation similar to Eliza's.  The surgeon, Dr. Novacheck, met us so he could be in a few pictures as well.  

Next it was time for X-Rays and lunch. 

In her appointment with the doctor, we learned that her bones are healing well.  On the X-Ray, he 

showed us the new bone growth that has already started in the last three weeks.  Because every

thing is on track, Eliza's weight bearing restrictions were lifted.  Dan, Dr. Novacheck, and the nurse helped Eliza stand for the first time since surgery.  You can tell by the look on her face how she felt about this new freedom.  It is such hard work for her.  Not only does she have two large bones that still have a lot of healing to do, her legs are now positioned in a significantly different way then they were when she walked into the hospital on January 24.  The motivation to gain strength is big and we trust that she'll work hard to stay on the expected path to her return to mobility.

Finally we went to physical therapy for an evaluation and to learn how to help Eliza start walking again.  One of our biggest worries is how to get her into our house when we get home.  With great effort, she learned to walk up a few steps with assistance.  Getting around our house won't be easy for a few weeks, but we know how to do it safely now.  With the help of a walker and a belt, she should be able to transfer and move into a chair in tight areas where the wheelchair won't fit.

We are so ready to go home.  A month is a long time to be away, especially under these circumstances, but we are grateful for the fact that we had the support and resource to give Eliza this life changing opportunity.  A huge thank you to my parents that stayed with us through the entire experience and provided needed help and respite for us both, especially during the two weeks that Dan was back in Traverse City.

Tonight we are packing up.  Thankfully the good report today means that we are ready to head home for the rest of Eliza's recovery.  We can't wait!

Feeling The Love

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  As we continue our stay in Minnesota we feel love from so many different people.  Over our several week stay, we have had the chance to get to know many of the staff at the hotel.  They all greet us each day and check in with Eliza to see how she is doing.

We enjoy the cards, care packages, calls, facebook and blog comments, and texts from people all over the country that care about Eliza and her recovery.  

We've met another family at the hotel that is here for an extended stay while they wait for their new house to be built.  After talking to them a few times at breakfast, they showed up one day with a basket for Eliza.  The little boy thought that might help Eliza feel better.  

Today Dan surprised us from Traverse City with possibly the sweetest Choral Aire singing Valentine ever.  What a nice call this afternoon!  All of these are great examples of Grace that show up just when they are most needed.

Our time here is drawing to a close.  We know there are challenges to face with this transition, like traveling in a plane and car for hours at a time, and figuring out how to get Eliza's wheel chair 

around our very non-handicap accessible home.  I think we are all ready to figure it out though, as we are very anxious to be home.  She still has a long road ahead of her, but each day continues to bring signs of improvement.  

Getting Out

For the first time in 11 days, Eliza left the hotel!  It wasn't easy to figure out how to safely get her into the car, but now that her knees bend a little bit, we were able to do it.  There were only a couple of problems, like when I pushed the lever and the wheel chair leg rest fell down quicker than I expected, taking Eliza's leg with it.  I felt terrible, but she seems to have forgiven me already.

You can see Eliza's feelings about finally getting outside in our family group text.  When we were eating breakfast this morning, then temp was 1o outside.  By the time we left, it was up to 3o.  We decided to go to the Mall of America since it provides miles of walking indoors and we weren't up for the freezing temperature .  

After spending a couple of hours at the mall, we are back.  Eliza's showered, done PT and is in bed elevating and icing her legs.  She may be done for the night, but it was so good for her to finally breathe some fresh air and get away from 'home' for awhile.