Sunday, March 9, 2008

Busy busy busy, Hannah seems to always keep busy now. She is back to her full time schedule, and while things that she does may be a bit different now, she is still staying busy. I am finding that we have to balance her activities to combine the fun with the therapeutic, rather than have her only in physical therapy. Doing as much as she can in a regular setting will give her the most benefit rather than going to a physical therapist (although she loved Scott) once or twice a week. Right now, her schedule consists of:
Monday-swimming
Wednesday-piano
Every other Thursday-girl scouts
Fridays-gymnastics
Saturday-horseback riding

We are trying to incorporate daily stretching since she is very stiff due to limited physical activity for over a year! I would also like to find a dance class Hannah would enjoy and try to fit that in her schedule. Dance is very good for balance and coordination. Hannah really doesn't like ballet that much, so possibly a tap or jazz class. Her time is limited, but the benefits would be so great for her! Besides these after school activities, she is going to school full time, and has nightly homework.

Last week we went to gymnastics and Bonnie set up an obstacle course just for Hannah that I did with her. It was very low impact, but fun for her. We focused on strength building, coordination and balance. Every few times through I would change it a bit with new challenges and she seemed to like that. It's one on one with me, so I don't want her to get too bored! She was tired at the end of her class which lasted about 45 minutes. Saturday she got to horseback ride again and just loves it. It is so good for her, even though I hold my breath the entire time. She is getting stronger and less wobbly on the horse, but if that 1500 pound horse wanted her off it's back, she'd be on the ground in no time. It's a safe learning environment, but those things happen all the time. We also signed her up for softball this spring, and we'll see how that goes. Dave plans on being her one-on-one coach and will be able to be out that and help her during practice. We'll just play it by ear. She really wanted to signup and we didn't want to tell her she couldn't do it.

Saturday after Colby's final lacrosse game, we headed to the mall for Colby's birthday celebration. Colby, Hannah and 3 other friends hit the mall on a mission--FUN!! We had make overs, fun at the Apple computer store with all the new gadgets, dinner and shopped till we dropped! Those girls wore me out! Just when I thought they were asleep in the car on the way home at 10pm, a good song came on the radio and they were belting it out at the top of their lungs. It kept me awake and singing all the way home. Colby's birthday is Friday, March 14th, and this year she won't have to celebrate in the hospital with us. Last year Hannah and I were still in Boston, so Colby took the day off school and came up with Dave to celebrate. I remember that Hannah and I went to Whole Foods to get her a cake, and Hannah didn't even try it. She wasn't eating much at the time.

Last but not least, this Tuesday is Hannah's 3 month post chemo MRI. It's only a brain MRI, since now they rotate brain with brain/full spine every other time. That means Hannah has to be accessed again for the contrast dye. That means another bribe, and I think she is going with the $20. After the MRI we are headed to Build A Bear to make a bear that she got for her last accessing. That will be good for me, since I will waiting for the MRI phone call sometime later that day.

xoxo Kim
having trouble loading pictures right now, so I will add them later!