#134

Big time Saturday for Elaine. She was awakened nice and early by the Francois kids as they "whispered" in the kitchen. Brian and Ben headed out to grab bagels and coffee for those who needed it. Brian was so excited when he got back that he went get "Nana" out of her room. She surprised us all by walking out with Little Darlin' holding a nearly full glass of water. Pretty darn impressive for someone who could barely move their left arm not that long ago.

Following breakfast, the crew took Elaine back to her house for a therapy session with Paul. Keep in mind that Paul sees her several times a week, and he is as up to date as anyone on her progress. Well, today even he was so impressed with Elaine's ability to excel at therapy. He truly believes that there is nothing she can't do now that she used to do. She just needs to keep believing in herself and have the confidence to keep on gaining more independence!

One of the drills she does that really shows how far she has come in terms of mobility and demonstrating that her brain messages are getting through to her arm is when she uses the roller on the wall. Take a look at how high she gets this roller. This photo is about halfway up. It is amazing to see her get that thing up above her head.

We had a great night and a great dinner at the Francois house with our old friends JT and Lisa and their twin girls all of whom were in from San Francisco. JT hadn't seen Elaine since she was at Hoag, and he could hardly believe how far she had come. He actually said that if he hadn't seen her then, he may not have been able to tell that anything had happened. It is a real tribute to her work ethic and never-give-up attitude.