After we dropped Reagan off at therapy we decided to walk around the John's Hopkins Campus. It is definitely much larger than I realized and some of the architecture is absolutely beautiful! I've included a picture from the hospital built in 1889.
Today was Reagan's first full day in therapy (aka camp) and it definitely exhausted her! I heard about a lot of fun things they did today when I picked her up. This included riding bikes outside, playing X-Box Volleyball, playing Candyland and Connect Four. They also decorated visors for their field trip to mini-golf tomorrow. It's important to remember, for everything she is doing, it's all with her left hand since her right is in a cast. Each movement for her takes extra time because she has to focus so intently on it. Overall it was a good day, although she did get hit in the forehead by her friend Jaryn. And although it was an accident, that cast material left a nice crosshatch red spot on her forehead! The day before she got angry with Cole and hit him in the forehead. After she explained what happened with Jaryn she said, "now I know how Cole feels." Yup...
After therapy I promised Reagan some pool time. Unfortunately given we're in a 37 story hotel the sun is mostly behind the building in the late afternoon. Given the pool was just refilled Tuesday, the water is pretty cold when there wasn't much sunshine. We took a quick dip and then headed to the room for movie night and Chinese delivery. Kids were in bed just after 8pm and we're looking forward to a LONG night of sleep!
The day ended very well and Reagan was in good spirits. And as you can tell from the picture, Reagan was able to successfully push the elevator button! It's still a lot of work, but she has been able to get enough pressure in her thumb that it doesn't collapse (hyperextend). She is very excited to show off her new trick!
Day 5 ~ Friday, July 24th
Our last day of week one! After I dropped Reagan off at therapy I headed back to the hotel and we got the room packed up. We then decided to walk around downtown while we waited for Reagan to finish for the day. We found a diamond in the rough! I had no idea the first Catholic Basilica in the United States was in walking distance from our hotel! Wow, what a beautiful church!
After loading our bags in the car we headed to the inner harbor to walk around and get some fresh air. Cole was pretty excited to meet "the real Spiderman"! Apparently this weekend is the Otakon Convention which is the largest East Coast comic book conference. It was AMAZING how many people convened in Baltimore dressed in costume. After walking around for a few hours we headed to the hospital to pick Reagan up and get on the road home. She had a good day but was very tired. They played games in the morning and then headed out on a field trip to play mini golf after lunch. Unfortunately when we got in the car she was exhausted and rather frustrated. I'm finding that she holds it together at therapy and then just needs to release her frustration when we get in the car. She eventually works through it, but it's hard when I feel like I can fix it. 
Overall it was a great week, but I continue to find it intriguing how each round of constraint is so very different (age 3, 4, 5 and now 6). She is still motivated by doing things with her left hand and is very proud of what she can do. As shown in this picture, she can now support her weight on her left hand even while leaning back. But this time around she is able to see her challenges so much more than in the past, mostly because she is much more independent now than last August. With the cast, she can't get dressed, can't brush her teeth and can't eat by herself. She made comments during kindergarten last year about "why don't other kids have trouble with their left hand". So she has known lefty has trouble and we've worked through those feelings, but yesterday she kept saying, "lefty doesn't do anything right" and "lefty doesn't listen to anything I ask him to do" and "before I had the cast I didn't need help." I know that this experience is making her realize how hard she has to work, but I have to believe that long term it is giving her the opportunity to build up strength in that hand. As always, struggle knowing what opportunities to provide her and how to help her work through them. I'm praying for guidance to help her work through this and come out the other side realizing how blessed she is.
One pretty big update that I haven't shared from this week is regarding the tightness in Reagan's leg. As you may remember, the Physiatrist and PT did not agree on a brace and we ultimately decided we should take some time off and see how she does. The PT at Kennedy Krieger…without hesitation…asked why we weren't using one. When I told her, she said she completely disagrees and that Reagan is very tight and should go back in a brace. She is recommending a hinged brace which is, of course, big and bulky. She said we can also consider the Bioness electrical stimulation cuff, but that she needs to be in something. Truthfully my heart just sank. I was feeling so positive about having that behind us. We will need to take this advice to the Physiatrist and see what she thinks. But for now we are going to enjoy our weekend at home and some good quality time with Daddy.
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