Using the New Crutches

Our new focus has been getting Gracie more comfortable with her crutches (away from school). She had a bad fall using them last Thursday. She fell straight forward and landed on her chin. She, very bravely, got back up on her crutches later that day. Her chin is okay but it's a wide array of colors from the bruising.

In the pictures shown, Gracie is walking outside to go to her swingset. She has just now started using her crutches without someone either holding onto her or directly behind her. It is exciting to see her get more brave with them.

Visiting Dr. Park

We took Gracie back to St. Louis this past weekend. We took her to see Dr. Park, the neurosurgeon who performed her operation last May. Gracie was happy to see him and excited to show off her new flexibility and skills. She did everything he asked her to do (which is sometimes a major accomplishment with her!). He was pleased with her new level of spasticity in her legs, the healing of her incision area, and her increased mobility. Gracie walked for him in her walker, on her crutches, and independently. She walked 3 or 4 steps by Doug to me. He agreed that she needed to use the walker at school but also noted that it is much too easy for her. He is anxious (as are we) to see her move to solely using her crutches and ultimately walk by herself. We go back to see him in one year. He said he fully expected to see her walk into his office all by herself next year! We all loved hearing that news.

As you'll see in the photo, we returned to the zoo. Sadly, the carousel was closed, but we got to see many exciting animals. Gracie really liked the elephant fountain seen in this photo.

Thanks for all of your support and love everyone!

The Sloans

We're Leaving Town

School is still going very well. I believe Gracie has talked to every adult in the building, sometimes even at length about whatever might be on her mind like the fire drill, a toy she enjoyed or most recently, that she's not scared anymore of the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt.
We leave for St. Louis Saturday morning. We are going back to see Dr. Park, the neurosurgeon who performed Gracie's SDR surgery in May. This is a standard 4-month follow-up visit. We don't expect to get a lot of information but we are anxious to see how he feels about what she can now do that she couldn't do pre-surgery. We are staying in a nice hotel for a treat to our little Eloise who loves hotels. We are going back to the zoo, too. Who knows what else. We'll be back Monday night.

GO TITANS!!

New Crutches

Take a look at Gracie using her new crutches!!!