I'm definitely kicking the optimism habit

The MEDEK therapist works
with C.

It was with with indomitable optimism that I left the physiotherapist a week ago.

Now I'm usually overcome with that emotion whenever we try a new drug or treatment for C. And it can be a huge pain. Because when that something new doesn't live up to my fantastic expectations, I plunge headlong into despondence.

So it was with this therapy session. The method favored by this therapist is MEDEK, the same one we've been using at home with C.

When I brought C. to him nine years ago, he told us that she was too old and big for him to work with. But he and the Hubby bumped into each other recently, hit it off, and he then offered to give it a shot despite her age and size.

At the session, I showed him the sort of walking I've been doing with her. He advised me to replace it with an alternative. It's not strictly MEDEK but he felt it would suit C. better. (He said that even MEDEK's creator, Chilean Ramon Cueves, uses it occasionally).

Here he is (above) trying it out on C.

When C.'s caregiver and I also tried it out there, C. was quite cooperative. So you can understand why that optimism kicked in.

But at home, it was another story. She just refuses to straighten her left knee in advance of stepping with her right leg. I'm forced to straighten it myself which makes the whole exercise far more frustrating and exhausting than it should be.

Of course, it also means that C. is much further away from returning to stepping independently the way she used to about two years ago (pre-liver damage).