(Day 293)

Good afternoon all. We've had to slow down on walking Shawna for a while till the tone in her left side leaves. The physiotherapist doesn't want her walking till she can again keep her trunk muscles straight otherwise she will have a crooked gait. Her left side is getting a lot of tone which we are constantly combatting by sitting her leaning right and having her rest lying down on her right sde. Once it dissappears we will resume her walking exercises. Its a bad thing about the tone but an extremely good development that her left side muscles are being energized and mapped by her brain. She went in for a supposedly simple proceedure to remove the "J-tube" on monday. Aside from being difficult to pull out there was a looming danger of food leaking from the opening from the lower intestine. Thankfully we could turn her feeds down and not exercise her for a couple of days. The opening has now closed and everything in regards to her feeding is once again normal. Shawna has agan been taking small bites of puddng and smoothies and swallowing them successfully. She is staying awake a lot more during the day especially when the therapists are there. The only times she is sleepy is if she doesn't have a good nights sleep. This is something that has developed lately. Now that she has very good mobility with her right arm she scratches and grabs at things when she is lying down. Once she got a hold of her feeding tube and almost pulled it out. Now we put a stress ball in her hand and enclose the hand in a tube sock ensuring that she can't grab her tube again. As a result she has restless times at night which may require some sleeping medication in the future. It makes for restless nights for Deb and myself as we hear her sighing and scatching motions on and off throughout the night. We are thankfull to our Heavenly Father though for what he continues to give us and leave our cares and worries in His hands as he guides us on his path. Thanking you again for your prayers and support. Al, Deb, Shawna and family