June 27

And the discharge date is...
July 27! We can now start the countdown!
Today we had another meeting with the staff at Bloorview, and we were very encouraged by the reports that the staff gave. She will no longer need to take her wheelchair home, as she is walking well enough. Possibly in the few more days they'll take the wheelchair away altogether. Once she is finished with Bloorview she will go to therapy in St. Catharines once a week. That's not too hard to take! And the best news of the week is that Leanne is allowed to go to String Camp next week. She'll come home tomorrow night and not have to go back til July 8. She's very excited about that and it'll be wonderful to have her home for such a long stretch. After that she only has to go back for 3 weeks. I know that time will go fast and she will continue to improve during that time. We can be so thankful for the services available to us in our country. I know that some people have bad experiences with our health system, but for us it has been wonderful, truly a blessing.

June 25

Just a quick update for those of you who are still faithfully reading this blog... There is not too much new stuff going on, except that Leanne's right arm is definitely improving. She can now raise it above her head and keep it there for a few seconds. Now for the hand! She's still very positive but starting to feel like she'd really like to be home for good. On Wednesday we have our second Family Team Meeting which includes anyone at the hospital who is involved with her. Hopefully then we will have a good idea as to when she can come home. In the meantime, we keep thanking God for how far He has brought her and carried us throughout this journey.

June 16

Leanne's dismissal date seems to be getting closer! In the last week or two the middle of July seemed to be the goal for her to go home. Yesterday a therapist came over to make sure that Leanne could safely move around our house. She told Leanne if she worked at some exercises at home on the weekends, and showed (on video) her therapists at the hospital how easily she moves around now (even from the house over the uneven lawn to the pond), there should be no reason why she shouldn't go home sooner. As long she can get proper therapy in St. Catharine's she would not need to be in Toronto much longer. We like that idea!
There is definite improvement in her right arm. Though the muscles are still weak we notice new things that she can do every week. She really has to concentrate on those movements, so generally her arm does hang at her side. God has shown his goodness again and again as we see her gain strength every weekend that she comes home. So tomorrow we will go to His house with our whole family and sing praises to Him who cares for us all.

June 10

Today Leanne wanted to walk partly to church with her friends and have us pick them up on our way there. The answer was a definite NO but it does say something more about her progress! She's come a long way again this week. Her wheelchair came home with her, but it has not really been used, as she's walking everywhere herself. She's even sleeping upstairs again, to her delight. She does have to pace herself, and gets tired quite easily. The therapists keep warning her against doing too much, too fast. Now there is more discussion about when she can actually think about coming home. It sounds like it will not be too many more weeks, as long as they can find something closer to home to go to for therapy. Although that still sounds too long for her, it's pretty exciting for us. She's in a wonderful place, and doing well there, but it's not the same as being home. So the countdown is on!

June 2

One month and two days ago Leanne was in emergency, and we didn't really know what was going on.  Now she is able to speak, transfer from her wheelchair on her own, mostly dress herself, and WALK. Yes, she's actually walking! Yesterday her grandparents picked her up from Toronto and when she got home she got out of the car, walked up the porch steps and into the house. Talk about  miracles! Does she do it as easily as we do? Well, she does need someone or something (her sling) to support her right arm so it doesn't drop too hard, her balance still needs working on, and her right foot tends to cross in front of her left, making it easy for her to trip, but she did do it all by herself. Apparently she had started walking using a bar on Monday, and it was only Friday  that she actually  started on her own. The therapist warned me not to let her do too much walking-overconfidence could have disastrous results. But she told me it was entirely possible that Leanne could climb up the stairs to her room by next week. The Lord is good!