Eating

Thanks so much for the kind emails you've sent. Your encouragement is making things much brighter here in Birmingham! This is one of my favorite photos of all time -- Ella eating lunch with her left hand. For those of you who are aquainted with Ella's habits, you'll know what an enormous accomplishment this is, after just 8 hours of therapy. We're counting the hours. At the moment, we're in lucky hour 13 of 126.

Through all of this, we're keeping her schedule intact as much as possible. She's taking one long nap at 1:00 and going to bed at her usual 6:30/7pm. She's always been a fan of routine, and now it's more important than ever. The one tricky item is her bath. She objects to having her cast covered with plastic bags. There's no rational reason, but she really hates it, so baths are short for the time being. We're trying to get her used to the idea of the bags. Last night at bedtime we were looking at a book with a bluebird splashing in a birdbath. Ella said "bags" and we said yes, the bird should be wearing some bags if she has a cast. She nodded her head, so maybe we're making headway.

We're going to miss Greg when he leaves tomorrow morning. Gone are the days (temporarily) of Ella amusing herself for any length of time, so caring for her is more of a two-person job. But we'll figure it out and look forward to being reunited when he flies back on 12/22.

We have lots of fun things planned for the weekends when we'll be having visitors. This month is all about working hard and playing hard -- everything with full intensity, everything to maximize this experience, which we are truly fortunate to have. Ella may not remember it one day, but the pictures will show her how far she came, and what a great spirit she has to meet all kinds of challenges.

Casting

Therapy has begun. For those of you who don't know about Ella's diagnosis, she has hemiparesis -- slight paralysis affecting her left arm and leg, but mostly her arm. The folks at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) have established the Sparks Clinic at the Civitan International Research Center to help kids with hemiparesis gain better function in their affected arms and hands. They are on the cutting edge of research, and have had great success using a method called constraint-induced (CI) therapy. Similar to patching the stronger eye of a child who has a lazy eye, CI therapy involves restraining the function of the stronger arm to facilitate therapy with the affected arm. This is done with a plaster cast. Therapists around the country are learning about this method, and many therapists experiment with it, but UAB is the place to come for the very best practitioners following the most researched protocol that they developed themselves.

Yesterday, Ella received her cast. The casting went well. She watched a Sesame Street video while they wrapped her arm. Afterward, they cut the cast off with scissors in order to "bivalve" it, or allow it to open like a clam. This enables weekly removal to check the skin and let Ella stretch her arm. The cast is wrapped in a soft self-adhering tape. She picked red. Next week it may be another color.

We managed to work 2 1/2 hours of therapy into the day yesterday. Our therapist, Sarah, is from Boston. She's dedicated exclusively to Ella for the month. We're very pleased with her. Ella immediately warmed to her, and she has a very straightforward, caring, and enthusiastic approach. She also comes with a million new toys, which is a good thing since suitcase space was limited.

The hardest parts of therapy are eating and coloring. These are activities Ella loves the most, and they're the most frustrating for her to attempt with her left hand. We give her lots of help, but it's still driving her crazy not to be able to do them efficiently on her own. Sarah told us to expect major frustrations, especially in the first days, and this has been the case. We're working through them and balancing them with lots of new activities and ways to play that are interesting for Ella, and that we hope are rewiring her brain to give her better motor control. It's hard work for all of us right now, but that's why we're here. Therapy lasts for 6 hours a day. Normally, she receives 2 hours a week, so the intensity also requires an adjustment. For now, she does better when Greg and I aren't around, so we're camped out in other parts of the apartment, Greg taking care of work, me here keeping you updated. Both of us are listening through the walls every minute, but when we're around, Ella is distracted and wants us to rescue her from the hard work she's doing. When we're unavailable, she relaxes and plays and hopefully makes progress. Therapy should be finished at 1:00 this afternoon, and we will resume our roles as Mom and Dad and get out with Ella into the beautiful day.

Our first outing

We brought a small tripod with us, and it was handy since there was no one at the state park to help with a photo. The weather was warm and overcast for three days, and then we had a big storm last night. The mailman told us that the siren we heard yesterday (similar to the emergency siren in Baltimore) meant that a tornado had touched down. He said not to worry, it could be as far away as Tuscaloosa. So we didn't worry, just enjoyed the warm, strange windy skies. Today it's cooler and sunny. We get some nice light in the apartment and it's definitely lifting our spirits to see the sun.

Settling in

Thanks so much for all the good wishes we've received. We've wanted to post an update sooner, but have had trouble getting online. We've hacked into a wireless network, so for the moment, we're on.

We arrived in Birmingham on Saturday. Ella did really well with the flight. She sat on our laps and was content with the diversions we'd brought, plus the added bonus of take-off and landing, and a cup of ice which provided more entertainment than you might imagine. She seemed to think the plane was a rocket. We have no idea where she's seen a rocket, but she kept pointing out the window to the engine and wing and saying "rocket, rocket". As we landed I told her we were in Alabama, which became her new mantra, "bama, bama". She was saying it in front of the incoming pilot as we deplaned, and she had him laughing.

We've settled into our apartment, bought lots of groceries, cooked meals to freeze. Yesterday, we drove 15 minutes to Oak Mountain State Park which was beautiful and deserted. We took a hike, saw owls and a bobcat at the wildlife center, and had a picnic by the lake in the 70-degree weather. Ella had a lot of fun throwing stones into the lake. I think we'll be making some return visits to the park.

Now that we've seen a bobcat, it feels like we're really in Alabama. I wasn't sure what to call this place, not wanting to confuse Ella by calling it home. But when we got back from the state park, she looked at the apartment building and said "home." I said yes, we're home. She's adaptable and she has common sense, and that's lucky because we need both qualities for the weeks ahead.

Getting ready

In anticipation of our trip to Birmingham between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, we've set up this blog so friends and family can keep track of our activities. Welcome!