Inch by Inch

We can check one more thing off of the Maggie milestone page. She surprised us both tonight by crawling up the stairs all by herself! Last week, I showed Maggie how to crawl up the stairs and I think I mentioned that the first time she did it, she cried the entire way up. The second time, she was more willing (not much, but just a little) and actually crawled up the last stair by herself. We took a weekend break off of stair climbing and then this evening, she just cruised right on up. This girl continues to amaze me with what she can do (but more so, when she is willing to show us she can do it). I have mentioned before it's all about motivation. We just need to find what is highly motivating.

Maggie is cruising the couches and bathtub more and is able to stand herself up when given a low object to push off of. I don't believe she has gathered enough upper body strength (or maybe figured out how) to pull herself up onto objects yet. She will get on her feet with me only holding her hands, which is a vast improvement as well.

Though these are tiny steps and may seem insignificant to you, they are hurdles to us. We are watching Maggie gain more and more strength everyday and we have wanted to be able to see the finish line of walking for a LONG time. Though it is in the distance yet, we are slowly making gains and we are very happy that Maggie is showing interest. It goes to show once again how good she is feeling.

This Thursday we go back into the clinic for an IV chemo, monthly anti-pneumonia infusion, and we begin the week of dreadful steroids. We are not looking forward to this as we will most likely see our happy, independent Maggie drift away for about a week. But hopefully after this dose of steroids, we will be able to pick up where we left off.

We continue to get good reports about Maggie's lab work-- all within the normal range, which we are thrilled about. Please continue to pray that the cancer is completely gone from Maggie's body and will never return.

*On another note, I have video of the stair crawling, but am dealing with the same technological difficulties as Maggie's drum playing. When we get it worked out, there will be several videos to view, so check back soon.