Hippotherapy

Yesterday Brynlee had her first hippotherapy session. I think I have mentioned this before, but hippotherapy will hopefully help Brynlee strengthen her core muscles and it will move her pelvis in a similar motion to walking as the horse walks, so we are hoping that she benefits from this therapy.

She cried for a few seconds when I put her on the horse, but she soon calmed down. For the first 10 or so minutes she rode with her face buried in her blanket, but then she relaxed and would only bury her face in her blanket when someone would try to talk to her. I don't remember her horse's name, but she is a very pretty horse.

Cindy is the lady to the right in the picture. She was our home therapist and has been a believer in Brynlee from day one. I honestly believe that we have had certain people brought into our lives through this ordeal. Cindy is one of them. We originally were seeing a physical therapist at home, but she decided to refer us to Cindy, who is an occupational therapist, because Cindy had more experience with children and OT and PT are pretty similar at Brynlee's age. Anyway, I don't know that we would have been introduced to hippotherapy if we hadn't met Cindy. She is the director of this nonprofit organization called Therapeutic Assets. http://therapeuticassets.org/ 

It's not a free thing for us as they do ask us to pay some money to help with their costs for the 12-week session, but it is all run by volunteers. I can only imagine how expensive it would be if these people were paid. I'm so glad that we met Cindy and have been introduced to hippotherapy.

In this picture, Cindy is trying to talk to Brynlee, and Brynlee hid her face. That baby is such a stinker sometimes!

Brynlee's hair is coming in more and more every week it seems. I don't have a great camera to capture it very well, but here is an attempt. It's getting darker, but it is still not as dark as it was before she lost her hair.

I have a rambling thought for the day...

So people often comment to me such things as, "I don't know how you do it." or "I couldn't do what you do." or "You're so strong." or "I can't imagine going through what you've been through." The fact is that every day we are required to make choices. Every day we choose our happiness or our misery. For us, we are trying to choose to be happy through it all. It certainly would be easy to allow myself to be miserable and play the "Whoa is me" card, but each day really is a precious gift. How are you going to choose to live it? I don't say this to brag, and I certainly can't say that every day is easy for me to choose happiness. I have days that are a lot harder than other days. I have days where my sorrow and burden is more than overwhelming; however, there are many days where this trial we have been given is not so burdensome and the choice is an easy one to make that day. Anyone of us could find a reason to be miserable. You don't have to have a child with cancer or a huge trial in life to be miserable, and you don't have to be miserable if you have a child with cancer (oh, and don't forget the spinal cord injury) or some big trial.

I read this quote by Elizabeth Smart the other day that I liked:
"Nobody is trial-free, but we have a choice. We can choose to allow our experiences to hold us back, and to not allow us to become great or achieve greatness in this life. Or we can allow our experiences to push us forward, to make us grateful for every day we have and to be all the more thankful for those who are around us." Elizabeth Smart

Have a great day everyone!