Mission: Walk!

Bogomila came home to us with one dream: she wants to be able to walk someday!

While that's a big dream for someone who's been in a wheelchair with minimal intervention for sixteen years, having the dream puts motivation behind what we can do therapeutically for her here. The *wanting* to is something we can't supply, but she's already done that!

It's likely too soon to make any solid long-term judgements about what she will or will not be able to achieve in relation to this goal. We know that much of what is possible has been lost through years of nothing, or at best, not enough, having been done, but we also know there is a lot of potential in that girl!

It has been incredibly exciting to watch the changes in her abilities in the mere weeks that she's been doing therapy. Krassimir's very skilled therapist incredibly had an opening that overlapped with when Reuben and Krassimir already had to be at the therapy center right when Bogomila got home, so she was able to start therapy once a week before Mira was even out of the hospital. She has now moved up to three times a week, twice at the therapy center and once in the pool. This is a lot of running around. We have five different therapy appointments throughout the week: Reuben for 1.5 hours on Monday afternoon, a two hour visit Tuesday mornings with Mira and Krassi, then home for lunch, and back again with Reuben and Bogomila Tuesday afternoons. Wednesday she's at the pool after lunch. Thursday Matt takes Bogomila, Krassimir, and Reuben back to the center (because they use Big Blue, and I don't easily get Bogomila in and out of Big Blue. Anyway, it's a nice chance for Matt to see what they're doing, too!) Add in a few other appointments, or grocery shopping!, and suddenly days when I'm home for the whole day are few and far between.

BUT, the running around is worth it when you see the progress that she is making!!

Thank you, to Bogomila, for happily agreeing to let me share these, and also to Lori for her permission to share videos featuring her at work as well. 😊

Here's one of the earliest videos I have. (from March 7)



Look at the difference two weeks later, both in the quality of her walking, and also how Lori's having her start sitting down, and get up. (from March 21)




But that's nothing compared to this!!



And this: (both of these videos are from April 4)



The way she pops up is fantastic, and shows not only how much stronger she's getting, but I also love her, "Again!" She had been doing this earlier in her therapy session, while I was with Reuben, so these two videos were taken at the end of her session, when she'd already been working hard for almost an hour, and was getting fatigued, but she STILL was able to show me, and multiple times. Just think what another 3 or 6 months will bring!!

The pool therapy has been another amazing tool. The warm water environment does two things - one, it slows down the effects of gravity, giving Bogomila's brain the time it needs to figure out the processes for things that many of us take for granted - how do you shift your weight to stay upright when something pushes you from one side? How do you get your feet back under you and weight bearing when you've lost your footing? And two, it reduces her weight, making her able to get in more reps of the rhythm of walking than she can do on land.

Here is a short video from her first time in the pool. (from March 15) (Note - the YMCA does not allow videos or photos in their pool area, but I spoke with someone in the office and was given permission to do so for Bogomila as long as the pool population is sparse, and I only get her (and Lori) in the image.)


Not bad, huh? You can hear Lori counting up to eight independent steps!

Well, less than a month later (April 12), she was walking laps across the pool, back and forth, back and forth, using pool noodles for a bit of help with her balance, but even so, that's a MUCH longer distance!! This clip is from the end of one of her laps.


One last one I wanted to share, and then I've got to get this up so it doesn't have to sit for another day (or five).

This one is again, at the end of a session (on April 15), but shows how much her balance has improved! Lori had her on the ball near the beginning of the time she was working with her, and she needed significant assistance to stay on it. I've noticed this, too, just with riding next to her in the car. At the beginning, I would need to reach out a hand to hold her up when we went around turns, but now she has both the core strength and some of the intuition to keep herself upright. It's still not an automatic thing for her like it is for those of us who are used to these kinds of movements, but she can do it now, where she couldn't not that long ago! The other thing to watch in this video is her use of both hands to catch the ball. The rotation of her right arm has improved so that she can turn her hand to put both hands together to catch. We're looking forward to having her start occupational therapy, and get even more focused attention on those fine motor movements.


Here's one last fun photo to end with. Bogomila had been walking down the hall pushing her own wheelchair (with no ballast, which means she can't lean too much or it will tip...except that Lori's there to catch her), and was exhausted!!! Lori helped her over to sit and rest for a moment, and was teasing, singing "rock a bye, baby." Bogomila thought it was hilarious...and so did the rest of us! How glad we are to have people like Lori working with our children!