Walking requires Faith...

I finally got a short video of Faith walking while I didn't have to hold onto her or keep her from falling. This is our beloved PT, Erin, who will be leaving us in the next week. Very sad to see her go, but we are close outside of therapy, so it will be ok. Forgive the sideways view, I couldn't get it turned.Faith is making so much progress, so quickly. In just the last week she has had dramatic improvements in her balance. Her PT was shocked to see how much better she had gotten since last Monday. And just look at her good posture!

Tonight, we sit in Charleston, down for an epilepsy appointment. I am actually VERY excited to come to this appointment. I can't wait to see her doctor's face when she comes walking into his office! He will be soooo surprised! I have several other things to discuss with him as far as her medicine regimen goes. In the next few weeks, Faith will be one year seizure free, a HUGE deal to say the least. There have been discussions on trying to wean her off her Tegretol, if the Keppra worked well, and clearly it has. I think the combination seems to work well, but Tegretol does affect the liver and if we could get good control and off the Tegretol, that sure would be nice.

Hope you all enjoy seeing my miracle walking, FINALLY!

Proof Positive...

I finally got some half decent pictures of Faith walking, today.

I love how proud she is of herself!

She walked the entire museum today, well over an hour and a half!
I know these are blurry but they are good action shots of her actually doing it!

And of course, I have a wonderful story of yet another perfect stranger who was smitten with Faith, tonight.

Eating dinner at a seafood restaurant with my dad and Faith. A family comes in behind us and sits right near us. After a while I hear the mom talking about Faith (nicely) to her husband and two kids. When we get up to leave the woman gets up from her chair and gets my attention and asks how old Faith is. I say seven and she says "she is just beautiful, can I give her a hug?". So in a matter of minutes we are fast friends with a wonderful woman who was clearly a woman of great faith...as she knelt on her knees in the middle of the restaurant and prayed over my daughter for strength and healing and HIS hand on her and protection over her. Faith fell in love with her...smothering her with drooly kisses and hugs as the woman teared up as she heard a little of Faith's story. She was trying to adopt the two kids with her, who came from an abusive home but she clearly had some experience with people with disabilities b/c she knew some sign language and also asked about Faith having a G tube, even though she never saw it. And the weird thing is, they were from the next town over from where I was born!

She asked for my email address to keep in touch. She was also a survivor of ovarian cancer. Once again, God placed this woman in our path. I love to meet the people who come out of the woodwork when Faith is around. It's uncanny! All I can say is it must be God's handiwork! Proof positive...my daughter walking!

Small Steps....

Last week, Faith had a small milestone that was not photographed until today...

She climbed the steps at the pool...
She has been able to do the stepping motion, up, for a while but someone had to hold her under the arms....
But this time she was able to hold on to the rail and even actually step..... D.O.W.N!
Believe me, it was not easy, she struggled getting that leg to stay straight while she had to bend the other one. A few slips, a few cheats when she just fell down them but she did it!
She went up and down four times and was UBER proud of herself!
She loved the IDEA of holding on to the railing...

She even made it out of the pool! We were all cheering for her! She worked so hard to hold on and get those legs to work together.

Shoot....looks like we will have to install a second story on the house to practice, now! I knew that handicap accessible house was a bad idea!