Almost Done!!

This week has been more eventful than I would have thought. First, Lily jammed her finger while swimming the other day, so she has had that extra injury to deal with, this is the same finger she hurt back in June. Also, they got a new girl at the PPRC and her case is more extreme and complex than the others, she has CRPS in both legs and one arm and came to PPRC in a wheel chair. She turned 11 today. The most difficult part about all this is that she is very vocal with her pain and very negative. She is one angry and scared little girl. The staff already has her out of the wheel chair for much of the day and she is very slowly making progress. The other girls are very patient with her and her greatest chearleaders. Lily and the others keep telling her that she will get better. It's great to see the other girls pulling for her, but frustrating that they have to be exposed to a stressful situation. But, then again, that's life.

Lily has also been expressing frustration that her pain is still with her. Though she admits that she has improved a little, I think she hoped it would be all gone. FYI, the staff at PPRC say it is quite common for the kids pain reports to be worse or the same during their stair at PPRC, in part b/c the are being pushed so hard. They say that typically, they start having better pain levels about 1-6 weeks after leaving PPRC. Lily was quite upset about this but seemed to feel better about it after 'getting it all out'. I think that so much of the program is about staying positive, that perhaps she wasn't sharing her fears and concerns. She stated that bringing all that negativity into PT doesn't help. We told her sheis right but that doesn't mean their can't be a time and place to vent and share her worries.

Today seemed like a better day. Her finger is healing and they tweaked her goals a bit. She is doing more OT (dessensitization) b/c that is still very difficult for her. She also worked through any concerns she has about returning to school.

We are very excited about graduation and our return home. Thanks for all your support and prayers.

~Jenny