Three months closer to her dream

I've shared before how Bogomila dreams of walking someday.

We (meaning everyone involved with her care - her doctor at Gillette, her physical therapist, we as her family), have yet to really know what is and is not going to be possible for her, so all goals and plans are held loosely, but what we ARE doing is working diligently with her to achieve that goal.

Time will tell if she will ever walk completely independently, or with some combination of forearm crutches or a walker, and if she will walk only in short bursts of time, or will have endurance for longer stretches, but what we know right now is that we're just moving forward!

This past week's pool therapy session was mind-blowing! It's like something in the motor-planning clicked for her, and she was walking back and forth across the pool, with her therapist near her, but not touching her - just Bogomila walking! She'd get to one side, turn around, and say, "A-GAIN." Over and over and over. I had forgotten that day to make sure her wheelchair was in the trunk of the car, so when we arrived at the pool, we realized her only option was to walk in with me supporting her from behind, or for me to carry her! Thankfully she walked. But I wasn't sure how in the world I was going to get her back OUT to the car after! Usually she's pretty wiped out after a pool therapy session, without having walked in, and with not nearly the number of independent steps she had put in while actually in the pool. I found someone from the office who found me a rolling office chair to get us from the locker room to the door. But that girl wasn't going to go for that! She was determined to walk out, and walk out she did. (With me helping her again. But still...)

With that as background for what's next, I'll catch up to this weekend when we had our annual Glewwe Family Reunion in a (large) rented cabin in southern MN, starting on the day that marked three months that our girls have been home with us. The weather was a little chilly, so most people, even most of the kids, stayed inside, but on Saturday afternoon Bogomila wanted to go out and get some exercise. (There's a lot of junk food at the cabin!!) We started on the path along the river with her propelling her chair and me and Evania walking along side.

Coming up one slight rise in the path after we'd gone roughly one-third of a mile, she caught her right thumb twice on her chair, and had a raw spot that was going to make wheeling not really feasible. Faced with the choice of having me push her for the rest of our trek, she decided she wanted to WALK!

We left the chair right there on the path (figuring you've got to be quite the creep to steal a wheelchair!! and figuring we wouldn't end up going that far from it anyway) and I took my position behind her and we began walking.

Check out how far we got!! If you look closely, you can see the wheelchair way in the background.

She made it that whole way without stopping for a break!!!

And after I took the photo and walked back to her, ready to pick her up and help her walk back to her chair, she fires back at me, "More!"

So we did!

 Phew! NOW look at how far away the wheelchair is!!! Time for a little more serious rest this time.

 And was that enough? Nope. "More walk!"

It was time to teach Evania how to use the camera. One hundred or so pictures later, we ended up with some pretty good ones!

"One, two, three, up!"

We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Slowly, slowly, one foot in front of the other, stopping to rest as needed.

 After a while we came upon a gravel path heading toward the Root River.

 I will only share with you one of the half dozen or more photos of gravel that Evania took. You're welcome. But I thought one was worth sharing because walking downhill on gravel is different than walking on smooth, level ground.

 How much do you want to bet this girl has never walked down a sloping gravel path onto a sandy beach and thrown rocks into the river with her little sister?

 

Just as we were finishing up on the beach, my niece (a few years older than Bogomila) and her fiance joined up with us. The lone wheelchair back a few hundred yards back on the main trail had confused them a little bit!😉

They joined us for part of the walk back up the trail before heading on back to the cabin with Evania, who had not imagined this would be a 2.5 hour walk when she agreed to come along!

That oldest girl of mine's legs were tired beyond belief (well, her left leg was still going, but the weaker right leg was just about done. "Защо, Мамо?" (Why, Mom?) But did that stop her? Nope. My arms were burning both from the distance, and because she was leaning more heavily on me than when we had started. We were taking very frequent breaks, but my girl would not give up. She wanted to make it back to where she had left the chair, and you know what? She did.

Time will tell where her abilities will end up, and how much therapy and surgery it takes for her to get there, but I can tell you one thing - she has the ability to exert great determination to work toward something that really matters to her! That inner drive she has gives me great confidence that her dream is going to be within her reach.

Thanks, Evania, for taking the photos!! This self-portrait is one of my favorites of the ones she took!