Sad to say goodbye........ again!

So, here we are, packing again tonight and saying goodbye to this special place. None of us want to leave, and it feels much too soon, but at least we feel it has been well worth coming all this way.

We did manage a trip on the paddle steamer the day after our aborted attempt! It gave some magnificent views of the Arch from the Mississippi, and it was interesting to see the collossal scale of the freight they move up and down the river.

Since the men are now thoroughly into the baseball, we went down to the new Ball Park Village at the Cardinals' Stadium. We had lunch, while watching the Cardinals play live on the big screen (they were playing away, so not in the stadium right next door), and the atmosphere was great.

 

Apart from that,  we have had final trips to the Zoo and the Science Museum, and our last couple of days have flown by.

 

From the physio point of view, in addition to his walking forwards and backwards on the treadmill, Daniel has also now been walking sideways (which works his abductors hard and is something we need to start doing at home).

He has continued to work lots on core stability. This photo shows him throwing toys into a net while in high kneeling, having to maintain his balance as he throws.

Similarly, work on the ball to build core strength.....

And riding the bike as a reward (although that of course also works his hips at the same time).

We now have our new set of home exercises, which focus particularly on hips and core and we are looking forward to getting our teeth into that when we get home. We were keen that this trip should be a 'reset', since our home physio had become a little unfocused, so we are planning a new weekly routine when we get home. Admittedly it may take us a few days to get that started (indeed even to decide exactly what form it will take!) At least we feel like we know what must be done, and we just need to work out how (or mainly when) we are going to do it!

Daniel's new pair of blue crutches also arrived today (in the nick of time) and are safely packed! It will take him a while to start to use them, little by little, but we will see how he gets on at home.

So, it was with great sadness (and even a couple of tears) that we said good bye to Jackie....

...... and Mad Mike (with Kelsey the student, who worked with Daniel too today).

Lucy also said a very fond farewell to the Siblings' Playroom, especially her favourite member of staff, Pat!

So, goodbye St Louis and thank you once again. Admittedly we leave with one new thing to worry about (the twisting in Daniel's leg), but also with new purpose and determination. We all wish we could stay longer, although I am looking forward to reintroducing vegetables into our diet!

As a final summary,  I thought I would post this photo. This room in our apartment was the place where in those initial weeks after surgery Daniel needed the support of both of us to bear weight and walk the length of the sofa in his walker. Sixteen months on, here he is standing independently in front of that same sofa waving his hands in the air! We need to remember that and continue to focus on the progress when we get home and struggle once again to fit the new exercises into our daily lives!