Algonkian Tribe Girls K/2 Game #1 - therapy comes in many forms

As I watched Reagan play her first lacrosse game today, I couldn't help but think about her initial diagnosis and how far she has come.  We are mentally gearing up for her repeat EEG Friday and it naturally brings back so many emotions.  I vividly remember when the neurologist walked into our hospital room and told us she thought Reagan had schizencephaly.  A diagnosis which would have meant almost complete mental impairment.  It's hard to explain the feeling of having all your dreams shattered with just one word.  Feeling that so much of your excitement for your new baby was stripped from you so easily.  The following day we learned she didn't have schizencephaly but rather had grey matter heterotopia. Going into brain surgery two weeks later we again didn't know what her outcome would be. And for several years thinking about a day like this definitely didn't feel like a reality.

When I downloaded these pictures and saw her extension on this throw I almost started to cry.  We have gone to thousands of hours of therapy (literally) and I have stood by her as she has cried about leg braces and hand braces, cried because of the really hard movements and tasks the therapists have asked her to do, and cried because her constraint cast was itchy and hot.  With each tear I stood strong as her cheerleader.  I reminded her how important this was and that we needed to trust our team since they were there to help her.  But silently I always wonder as a mom if I am making the right choice.  I have second guessed the hard things we've asked her to do and worried that it would break her spirit.  That it would make her feel like she needed fixing even though we obviously love her no matter what.  I've second guessed the play dates

and camps we have missed because she has been in therapy or constraint almost the entire summer the last three summers.  

But when I see how her left hand can rotate to grab the stick and I see how it stayed on the stick the entire game, I am reminded that all this hard work is paying off.  She is having fun, making friends AND getting therapy.  We've waited a long time for her to truly understand how all this hard work will help her.  So even though the Algonkian Tribe K/2 girls team didn't win their first game, today was a big win for Reagan!