ABR Training in Toronto

This past week, Emily (Ruby's wonderful caregiver), Ruby, and I traveled to Toronto for some more ABR training.

I was anxious about the trip because Mark was not going with us this time. He is always the navigator and I was little nervous about having to do that myself in a strange city. I'm thankful Emily was along to help!

The map program on my phone didn't work because I didn't have full data service in Canada. With a couple of wrong turns and a few phone calls to Mark to check directions for us, we made it there.

Due to her cerebral palsy, both of Ruby's hips are currently out of socket. I was concerned about this and I was interested in seeing how ABR would respond to her hips. We have already met with an orthopedic surgeon about this issue. He does not believe Ruby would be a good surgical candidate. We were glad to hear this, because we do not want to pursue extensive hip surgery.

ABR also believes hip surgery is not necessary at all in Ruby's case. They assured us not to panic about her x-rays. They also believe she's not in pain right now and if she has pain we can control the pain with new ABR exercises. 

So, we did get a few exercises working on her hips, but most of her exercises continue to target her core. Head control is still a goal for us. Little by little we are changing her structure to give her more function. We believe this therapy is the best option for Ruby.

Through our evaluation this time, we saw that Ruby's body is more properly segmented, meaning it's not acting like one large block which happens from brain damage. We continue to work to separate each part. She has more space in the back of her neck (brain damage causes everything to be compressed), her shoulder blades are much more stable and continue to normalize. These may seem like small things, but all these little steps are necessary to give Ruby or function.

A few pictures...

Here's Emily working with Ruby's hips using a new tool in an orthopedic tapping method. This tapping helps the fascia (connective tissue) to properly connect to the bone which is crucial for stability of the joint. 

Chillin' at the hotel

I continue to believe that ABR is slowly normalizing Ruby's structure. It's the only therapy we found that has touched her CP. I am encouraged that we are making progress. I wish it was faster, but I believe Ruby would be in a much worse place if we had not done years of ABR therapy with her. I am thankful this is an option for us. Thanks for your prayers. We will keep working!