I've had people ask me what I mean when I say, "Emily walked xx feet in the parallel bars," so I thought I would explain.

About 6 weeks ago when Emily first started walking regularly in the parallel bars, she needed two people - one in front, one in back - and she was holding on to the bar on her left at all times. It was a big accomplishment when the person in back was able to be close by and not holding on at all times. Back then Emily needed verbal prompts to shift her weight from left to right and really struggled to independently move her right leg. It wasn't uncommon when she'd step forward with her right leg for the knee to buckle and for her to almost lose her balance. We also went through a week or so when she was hyper-extending and locking her right knee to keep it from buckling, which made us worry she was going to hurt her knee.

On Friday, Emily walked about 75 feet - still in the parallel bars, but now she doesn't hold on to the left bar and she only needs her physical therapist to be nearby in case she loses her balance. She takes steps without any prompting, and she's able to safely bear her weight on her right leg without it buckling. She moves her feet to take steps completely independently. She doesn't need any help or verbal cues to move her feet or stay in control.

Today she also walked from the parallel bars back to her chair using a cane/left-side walker. She needed two people close by, but that's exactly how she started walking in the parallel bars, so we have a vision of where she'll be in a few weeks.

Emily continues to get stronger. We're going to start working specifically on stretching to improve her range of motion in her right leg.

We've also had to start reminding Em that one of us needs to be with her when she decides to stand. Last Thursday evening we were headed to a performance at DSA. Ken and I were getting her chair out of the car when we both looked up and there she was standing, by herself, at her car door with no one to help brace the door so that it didn't move on her. Certainly got our attention.

Suzanne is really working Emily in Speech Therapy to challenge herself with higher level logic and reasoning problems. Em's doing very well. She's very quick in her responses and reads more and more at home.

We're still struggling with her right arm - the goal is to find a cast/brace that keeps her arm extended and helps her start using it for weight bearing. The more she uses that arm for weight bearing, the sooner her arm/hand and her brain will find new connections to talk to each other. Same goes for her right eye - she's got really good lateral movement in her eye and we're starting to see more up/down movement. The pupil is stll dilated, fixed and unresponsive to light, but it's not as large as it used to be.

Thursday is the big meeting at DSA to discuss how we can integrate school into Emily's therapy/recovery. Please pray, keep your fingers crossed, send positive energy - whatever it takes to get her back to school in January. It'll all help.