Cameron Tuesday update from Shelly--thanks Steph!!

The past couple of days for Cameron has been incredibly hectic. She begins her therapy sessions at about 8:30 each morning, and they last up until dinnertime each afternoon. She's getting physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language, therapeutic recreation and neuropsychology each day. It's been amazing to watch her progression each day.

She is already walking with assistance and has quit complaining about it. Initially, she was really complaining about having to walk and being out of her bed, and now she's doing really much better. In fact, she had been playing possum for the first few days whenever a nurse or therapist would walk into the room. I would have to tell them that "She is really faking you out." They would all fall for it every time, thinking that she was asleep. So I have had to reveal her little secrets so that she is forced to work hard.

Today they actually put her on a split treadmill. It's a piece of equipment that really helps children that have had hemispherectomies or stroke victims to not walk with such a noticeable limp. Because what happens, as in Cam's case, is she has strength in her hip and shoulder muscles on the left side, so that's what has initiated all of her movement, but that's also what creates such a noticeable limp. Now they have this equipment that really helps with that and it's really amazing.

Cameron is eating incredibly well and has her old appetite back. The funny thing, though, is that this morning Cameron took her medicine on an empty stomach, and during one of her speech therapy sessions that I was not present for she got sick. I have to admit I was happy that I didn't have to deal with it, but I felt very sorry for the speech therapist. But the rest of her therapies today went incredibly well, and she's sleeping much better due to all the activity during the day. All her hard work has made her sleep so much better than she was.

Around 2:00 today Cameron did have a seizure, but it was very brief, like a 12-second seizure. The neurosurgeon and neurologist were not overly concerned at this point, but it's definitely something we need to watch. They also know that there was some residual tissue left behind on the right side which they could not get because of a large blood vessel, as we mentioned before; but they really don't know at this point, so we will have to watch it and see how it goes.
Cameron also had her staples taken out today, which was wonderful because they were incredibly itchy and uncomfortable for her. She was anxious to get them out. They were driving her absolutely crazy. It was relatively painless. It didn't hurt very much until they got down to the staples that were down around her ear and cheek area, and those were painful but it didn't last very long.

The doctors have all said Cameron is doing very well. We fell like each day we're making a little bit more progress. It's been comforting to be in the hands of all of these wonderful therapists who are so incredibly skilled. We'll give an update probably in a couple of days, or if something exciting happens tomorrow we'll let everybody know. Thank you for continuing to pray for our family. We really appreciate all the cards we continue to receive and the words of comfort and support.

love, Shelly