Week 10: Under One Roof Again

Ruby was discharged from the hospital today and walked out of there on her own power. Praise God for that! At first she seemed to have a bit of a hard time with leaving. My feeling is that she might have been resisting any change in her life, which has obviously been plagued by change in the last 10 weeks. She seems happy to be out and with Mom, Dad, and Molly all at the same time. She drank out of her cup just this morning using two hands. She seems to be putting more and more effort into that right arm all the time. Anyway, it's good to be under one roof again as a family. She still has a long road ahead of her, but, God willing, she is well on her way to making a full recovery. Hopefully being home will help her heal.

Week 10: 12-5-2011 Update

Funny story today. For whatever reason, Ruby loves to flush the toilet by herself - she has for some time now. Anyway, Melissa has been clever enough to harness this motivation and use it toward furthering Ruby's recovery (I know I have you hooked now, reader). Every time Ruby uses the "big girl potty" she is now only allowed to flush with the right hand. Boy, does she try hard! Usually, we tell her to squeeze the handle "so tight" and "push!" and usually she needs more than a little help. Well, I'm happy to report, not today! Today Ruby pushed the handle with all her might (I wish there were video to accompany my description), and "whougggh!" Down it went! Way to go Ruby! Mom and Dad could not be more proud!  :P

Week 9: 12-3-2011 Update

Just wanted to write a quick update on Ruby's progress since she did a couple of great things today. Melissa gladly reported to me tonight that Ruby went to bed tonight singing, much like she used to do before any of this happened. That was wonderful to hear by itself. Even more encouraging is the fact that both Melissa and Aunt Rachel heard Ruby sing, "Good night, Ruby. Good night, Ruby . . .". Melissa said it was clear as day! Ruby said Ruby! Needless to say, Melissa and I are thrilled! It is so wonderful to hear her say her name again. You can be sure I'll be asking Ruby what her name is like crazy over the next couple of days. :)

Week 8: 11-27-2011 Update

Figure 1. From left to right: Ruby, Mom, Brother David, Cousin JJ

This week was a very busy one, with Thanksgiving day being the main highlight. Ruby was allowed to leave the hospital on pass twice, on Thanksgiving and then again on Sunday (as usual). Thanksgiving day was certainly my most memorable Thanksgiving ever; I would venture to say that this was the case for most of us. We spent the first half of the day at Griffith Park where Ruby and her cousin JJ enjoyed both a train and pony ride. Ruby was not hesitant about the train ride at all this time and was brave enough to sit next to Mom instead of on her lap (see Figure 1).

Next it was onto the ponies on whom, after a brief encounter, Ruby decided she must ride (see 1st Video). Yes, this happened before her ride. She was undeterred!

It gets better. We bought a ticket, with Ruby very excited all the while, and walked up to choose a pony. After a brief discussion with the pony whisperer (actually just some kid in a blue shirt), a very wise father sent his crippled little girl off on pony-back by herself. "She'll be fine holding on with one hand" he said. Before I knew it, off she went looking very cute and very grown up.

She was strapped onto the pony, of course, but Ruby's balance was good. She even mustered a little kick with the right leg.  :)

Thanksgiving dinner at the Ronald McDonald House with our family was great. Grandma Cathie, Grandma Donna, Great Grandma Deanna, and Aunt Michelle all brought food and drinks to accompany a Thanksgiving dinner served by volunteers. Needless to say, we have a lot to be thankful for.

 

A special thanks is due to Papa David for his thorough documentation of this wonderful day.  ;)

Ruby also loves all of the Christmas decorations that are out all around the hospital.

Ruby and Mama dwarfed by
the huge tree in the playground.

Ruby and Mama by the Christmas tree outside Ruby's room.

I am very thankful for a new word that Ruby learned recently. On Thanksgiving day Ruby said "Dada" for the first time, which is nice because I was getting pretty tired of being called "Mama" all the time.  :) It is fascinating to see her re-develop. I have said many times that this process is like an accelerated version of her development since she was born. When a new word comes out, it is sudden - it's as if a switch was just flipped or a wire reconnected. I simply asked her, as I had many times before, "is my name 'Mama'?" to which she happily replied, "nooo". "Is my name . . . Grandma?" Again she said, "nooo." "What's my name?" I said. She gave me one of her stinker grins and said, "Dada!" And all of a sudden it came out as clear as day. After that she usually can repeat the word with no problem at all. Ruby's coordination also continues to improve and walking falls are getting more and more rare. Below is a video of Ruby playing at the hospital playground. While she is moving the right arm more, she has to be very motivated (or bribed . . . whatever you want to call it) to use the right hand for anything. We're sure that it will come with time.

Week 7: 11-17-2011 Update

This week has been the scariest week since weeks 1 & 2. Ruby has seemed to present with additional seizures throughout the week. The seizures are small and brief; in fact, they're so brief that we are not even certain that they are actual seizures as opposed to harmless daydreaming/staring spells. Nevertheless, no seizure is a good seizure and the doctors have stressed the importance of controlling Ruby's seizures during this critical recovery time. A very straightforward prayer request is that the Lord protect her brain from any and all abnormal electrical activity. If nothing else, this would help all of us put our minds at ease. Ruby is making good progress, but another seizure at this point in time could be devastating.

With all that in mind, Ruby continues to show signs of improvement nearly every day. When she had a day pass to leave the hospital on Sunday, I got the chance to take her to Griffith Park. We watched the train (for little kids) for a few minutes and I watched her watch the people on the train. I kept asking her, "do you want to go for a ride on the train?" At first she consistently shook her head and said, "no" (she's been scared of the train before). Each time she hesitated a little bit more as if she was really giving it some thought. I continued to ask her if she wanted to go for a ride and she finally decided that that would be okay. We ran and bought some tickets and jumped on the train, but Ruby wanted nothing to do with sitting next to me. She had to be on my lap. A few moments into the ride she was smiling at the ponies as we passed and waving to the squirrels. When the ride was over, she didn't want to get off!  :)

Yesterday, Ruby had her first hydrotherapy session. She dragged her right arm through the water, but was kicking both her legs as she sat in a little floaty raft - very much like she had done at Grandma and Papa Weeks' house just the weekend before the seizure.

Today Ruby squeezed mom's hand, actually held and ate a cracker using her right hand. When Melissa called to tell me she did this I almost couldn't believe my ears. She also can lift her right arm over her head as if to put her hands up. Ruby and Melissa had a dance party today. Ruby is a crack up when she tries to dance and we love to see her try!

New words/phrases: "I want that one", "see you", "here", "baby", and "ooh, mama".

Here is a video of Ruby in the therapy pool.

But let's not forget about Molly Sister . . .

Keep praying everyone! It works!

Week 6: 11-10-2011 Update

Ruby said "see" this time while singing "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" again! She managed to put her shoes on (with one arm, albeit) by herself, twice. For her mom she said, "A, B, C . . ." when starting to sing the alphabet song. She's been signing "more", which is a sign that requires the use of two hands. It's not perfect, but it is wonderful to see her try to get her two hands together. While she's been able to sign "please" for some time now, today she actually signed it while saying, "ease" instead of "yeaaah".  :)  Keep praying everyone! He's falling for it!  ;)

In other news, Dad has figured out how to manage reasonably good pony tails for the first time in his life. The evidence is documented in these two photos. Everyone is rising to the challenge!

Week 6: 11-07-2011 Update

Today Ruby finished a line from one of her favorite books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The speech therapist said that she read to Ruby, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at . . ." and Ruby chimed in, "me!" This was completely new. She's also been trying to say "dad". The speech therapists say that her intonation is very good, the words are just mostly scrambled . . . but they're unscrambling more and more each day! She is also really doing well with her balance. She is so determined! There's no stopping this girl. She can't say it with her words, but she constantly tells me with her body language, "I'm walkin' with myself, Dad" (which is what she used to say) as she pulls her right hand away from my grasp. Very independent!  :)  She's doing so well. All are in very good spirits.

Week 5: 11-02-2011 The Day of the Right Arm

Today Ruby showed some real progress with respect to the use of her right arm! The right arm is no longer appearing to fall lifeless to the side of Ruby's body when is a resting position. This is a HUGE encouragement to Mom and Dad. This morning she held her baby doll with two arms for the first time! The occupational therapists said that she did a good job sliding objects across the table top in her therapy session today. Today she also said something very close to "yes, Dad" when prompted and is saying "Mama" incessantly.  :)  God is good all the time!

Week 5: 10-31-2011 Ruby Update

Ruby has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for a month now. For the last two weeks she has been in the children's rehabilitation ward as she undergoes physical, occupational, and speech therapy every day. Each day shows some signs of improvement. Though she is still very wobbly, she has been able to take quite a few steps on her own over the last couple of days. This has been hugely encouraging to the family. She has gone from "yeah" being her only word to being able to occasionally say, "no", "mama", and "da" (we think she's trying to say "dad"). While she is lifting her right arm a bit, it is still largely ignored as she does not use it to reach for or manipulate anything. We found out at the end of last week that the doctors and therapists think she's going to need to stay in the hospital for 6 more weeks and follow that treatment with another 6-8 months of out-patient therapy.

Ruby's Story

Thank you for taking the time to read about our precious girl’s recent journey. On Friday, September 30^th 2011 a joyful 2 year old girl named Ruby Marie Weeks kissed her parents and 2 month old baby sister and went to sleep. Like so many nights before, Ruby laid in her bed singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” until falling peacefully to sleep. Little did she or her loved ones know, this typical night would change all of their lives forever. The next morning Ruby’s dad went in to get her from her bed after he heard her on the monitor at her usual wake-up time.  When he entered the room he found her seizing in her crib and drenched in sweat. Paramedics were called and she was rushed to the hospital as her seizure refused to relent. While she was witnessed to have seized for an hour, Ruby’s parents are tormented by the possibility that her seizure had been happening for hours before she was found. Ruby and her dad were airlifted to a Pediatric ICU in Los Angeles where her symptoms and continued seizures challenged the doctors and specialists on her case. As a result of the length of the seizure, Ruby has been left with paralysis on the right side of her body and is unable to speak. Her family has relocated to be near the hospital so she can receive the best treatment and therapy in hopes of getting their bright, funny, and sweet little girl back. Your prayers are much appreciated.