We are getting into more of a routine these days, with Maddie getting 3-4 regular therapies every week.  She has physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) sessions every week at Inova-Fairfax (see picture below).  For speech therapy (also at Inova), she has “graduated” to every other week because she’s doing so well!  She also has a therapist that comes to our home (through the County’s Early Intervention Program) on a weekly basis for PT as well.

With all these therapies, as well as her practicing at home, Maddie has continued to get stronger and stronger. The most exciting development has been the emergence of some fine motor skills with her left hand.  (Ever since her transfer to rehab, her left arm and leg has always moved more than the right side.)  During meals, Maddie’s always wearing a bib or tucked-in napkin, but sometimes we just slip it under her chin without securing the velcro in the back.  Now we can’t do that anymore!  Every chance she gets, Maddie reaches and grabs her bib to throw it on the floor.  Even without the bib, she’s often grabbing at her shirt.  We’re even a bit concerned that she might find her g-tube and pull that out (similar to when she extubated her NG tube back during her recovery of the heart surgery)!

She has also found her left hand fingers and sucks on them like they’re the most delicious food in the world (loud slurping noises and all)!

As mentioned earlier, Maddie’s left arm/leg moves more than her right side, but the right side has made noticeable improvements, equalizing her two sides.  She used to just kick her left leg often while the right leg rested, but now both legs will kick.  While laying down, she can push down on both legs and lift her little tush up like she’s starting to do a bridge in gymnastics!  While trying to burp her, she’ll also bear weight on both legs to try and stand on my thighs.

In terms of medical appointments, Maddie saw her cardiologist as well as eye doctor in these past two weeks.  Her heart function is doing well and was able to stop one of the medications she was on after this appointment!  With the eye doctor, there were no major findings from when he first saw Maddie at Inova after her brain surgery prior to transferring to rehab.  There’s nothing structurally wrong with her eyes, just the communication with the brain.  He mentioned that he’s seen kids who recover vision over years, giving us hope that Maddie hasn’t crossed some imaginary boundary preventing some vision to come back.  The brain is truly amazing and although the doctors can observe many details, they don’t pretend to know everything.

Although not consistent, Maddie has been smiling more and we can see a little bit more of an emotional response to things 🙂  See below for some pictures.