Kinley post surgery update

Here is a quick update on Kinley now that she is approximately 5 months post spinal fusion surgery.  She is gaining weight, getting a little taller, and gradually getting back to her old self in some ways and in others she has a ways to go.  If you really give her a pep talk she can roll herself over in bed although it takes some big-time effort.  She can sit comfortably in a chair and is getting better at sitting in the shower chair while Suzie and I attempt to get her clean but keep ourselves at least somewhat dry. J In the mornings she is probably at 90% of her old strength “baseline” but by evening I would put her at about 40-50%.  We are hopeful that with continued physical therapy, good nutrition, and rest she can begin to keep up her strength throughout the day.  Overall though, we are very happy with her recovery from this major surgery. 

How do they do it?

ESPN runs some great human interest stories on their E:60 series and also from time to time on SportsCenter.  Recently there was an episode about a high school girl with cerebral palsy who was a member of her school’s cheerleading squad even though she was in a power wheelchair and had many physical limitations.  As the back story of the girl and her family was being told the narrator said “from the minute she opens her eyes until she goes to sleep at night Gabby needs full time help.”  Her mother then added “We feed her, we bathe her, we dress her, and help her do most everything.”  I was totally drawn in to the story and remember thinking to myself, wow, can you imagine how that must be to have to do that every single day?  After a few minutes it dawned on me that those cameras really could have been rolling in our home and captured a lot of the same footage.  The day after day, year after year grind is the toughest part of being a caregiver and also the aspect that most people will never understand unless they experience it first-hand.  However the things we do every day as a caregiver/parent become such a natural part of our routine that we rarely think about what it must look like to someone on the outside.  On this occasion I found myself on the “outside” looking in and getting a glimpse of a family that gets up every day and just does whatever it takes to make their life work while also having some fun along the way.  I would hope that our friends, family, and others we meet during our journey would say something similar about our family.