a blog about raising a daughter with cerebral palsy and learning unexpected lessons along the way

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Can She Run?

Oia's routine neurology appointment yesterday afternoon went smoothly. Dr. T covered the basics by diving right into the forbidden topic of seizures. "Have you seen any yet?" Praise God, we could shake our heads and answer no. (The watched pot theory is still working.) Still, he's a little surprised by this but is just as thankful as Rob or I that her little, irregular brain is playing so nicely. He gently reminded us that she is, and always will be, at high risk for these nasty things but we'll continue to leave her medicine free as long as she is seizure free. Dr. T shared with us though what one of hers would look like should one ever rear it's ugly head and now I know there will be no mistaking one if God forbid, one ever does.

And then some minutes into our conversation, he asked what we have never been asked before.... "Can she run?"

Think about that.

We have been so accustom to questions like Can she crawl? Can she stand? Can she walk? Does she walk by herself? How well does she walk? Walk.... walk.... walk.... and then finally someone asked if she can run. It didn't even dawn on me until the drive home while I was comprehending the details of the appointment but that's a question we haven't heard before. Running is a physical activity that has been out of our league, not even a distant focus or goal, because quite frankly, who cares? We just wanted her to walk and walk safely. To many, that's a fairly nonchalant, unimportant question but to my ears, that question is a true testimony to how far she has come and to all that she is, and will be, capable of. Needless to say, those were three very small words that made my day a whole lot brighter.

So, can she run? One day she will... but for now, she can walk pretty darn fast and I guarantee that's good enough for her!

6 comments:

  1. That is so close to running!

    My son has a different set of medical issues than your daughter, but for the first couple years of his life, we weren't sure he'd ever run. I tear up just thinking about how happy I am when he does those things that once seemed so out of reach.

    What a beautiful daughter you have. And I'm totally jealous of y'all trick-or-treating on the Lawn. I'm a Virginia alum and after seeing your photos I've started exploring the possibility of getting back there with my kids for Halloween 2011.

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  2. Speed walking is more fun than running anyhow!
    :)
    I'm glad her appontment went smoothly...and there's still no sign of the God Forbidden "S" word.
    Very thankful for that one.
    She's so sweet. Love the video!

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  3. I'm going to go out on a limb here and disagree - she does run, it just doesn't look like running in kids without functional limitations right now, but my girl is in a day care and I can tell you the range of movement styles at two is pretty broad. There are lots of kinds of walking even in a group of "normal" kids. Oia is only three and she was behind in meeting milestones for kids without medical issues, but no one runs right away. I think if you say run and she goes fast, she is running, she just has to change her gait to deal with spasticity and braces and uneven leg length or swollen feet. I think she is a runner (you can tell by the ponytail swing). And, a beautiful joyful runner who doesn't have seizures. Nice!

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  4. That's called, "She's good at the 'GO' part." Don't stress about running. If it happens it happens.

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  5. She runs faster than me that's for sure!!!

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  6. That is pretty close to running!! I love the new pictures and the video!! I remember the first time I had to tell Nathan to slow down. I was thrilled!! He is five and still doesn't really run but it is a superfast walk!

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