Strides Forward...Surprises Included

It’s been a busy two days on the northern front, perhaps best guided by pictures, which of course makes it gobs more fun anyway. 

Photo 1:  Friday morning.  Hello, Houston, we have a dangler…and not ONLY a dangler , but an out-of-bed transfer!  Can we get a whoop whoop?  (Actually there WAS a giant whoop because we are in a people-whoop-for-milestones kind of place.  Feel free to join in ex post facto, though.)  Of course we had to take a pic with just a few of our favorite members of the team (Kae, Alisha, Mary and Dani) to commemorate.  Small though it may seem to typical earthlings, getting into a chair in the rhizotomy world is a HUGE milestone.  It went so well that Camille was able to escape her room for the first time in five days and ride down to the cafeteria, where she nearly ironically lost her lunch and grew a tad ghost-like, so retreated to bed.  But…..

 

Photo 2:  Friday afternoon, she was up for round two, which resulted in a change to appropriately themed Wonder Woman garb, a wheel around the grounds of the campus, and a dose of fresh air.  

 

 Photo 3:  Highly anticipated spa and game night.  Not yet allowed to shower, some of our favorite evening nurses, Heidi and Liz, managed to make an in-bed shampoo a giddy-fun time.  Heidi, one of the kindest and happiest souls we’ve yet to meet, was even quickly persuaded to join in the fun.  (I’ll pause here to say that the care model here is simply extraordinary.  It deserves a post all its own, so more to come on that.)

Photo 4:  Saturday morning.  We managed to keep it a secret to Camille that our friend Maria was going to make a cameo appearance, having traveled up from Omaha to visit family and see Big C.  Maria has been a blog topic before on more than one occasion because she is just that amazing.  We first met her when she was staff in Camille’s preschool classroom, and lucky for us, she transitioned into the role of the school secretary/captain, so we’ve made her continue to be our personal friend.  She and Camille have a secret cat-call, “Pssssst,” which has always been how Camille has recognized her without distance vision.   Best part of the weekend, hands down,  was sneaking Maria in and visually seeing Camille’s thought process enfold across her face as she heard that distinctive “Pssssst” and realize that Maria was in Minnesota!  Of course, in vintage Maria style, she brought with her a bag of the most heartfelt gifts which she had collected along stops during her Colorado vacation, including an LED disco ball, fake snow from Colorado (see Photo 5), Pop Rocks, practical joke devices and much more.  My favorite, of course, was the shirt she made herself for Camille which reads, in glitter, “I am Camille O’Neill.  I can do anything.”  Perfect mantra for the weeks of therapy ahead. 

Finally...what should have been the climax of the weekend but paled in comparison to Maria’s visit...Camille was discharged from the inpatient unit this afternoon and moved over to our room in the Parent Accommodation Center across the skywalk, which will be home for the next few weeks for some combination of our family.  Honestly, it was a bit of an emotional catch-22 because we love the nurses that much.  However, to make this move on Day 6 is a bit unprecedented, partly because the new program director has a new protocol and partly because her progress has been so positive--so we choose to celebrate.  Perhaps the true news flash, though:  SHE TOOK A THREE HOUR NAP!!!!!  A freak-tastic miracle. 

In terms of strength, she has made huge strides way ahead of the curve (Dr. Tu’s words), but we still are a long way from the end prize.  She is bearing enough weight to assist immensely in transferring from bed to chair; that is as far as her independence is allowed for the time being, and honestly, all that her noodle-y legs can take.  She has a long work week ahead, which I am sure she will tackle with a charismatic heart and a sense of fervent determination, because according to Maria, she is in fact Camille O’Neill.