Friday, September 02, 2005 at 07:27 PM EDT

Sam had a pretty good week;
she continues to enjoy being outdoors, taking walks, running errands with mom and dad, and playing with all her toys and books at home--of course, she enjoys a daily dose of "wiggles" as well. She sings along to many of the songs.

She has managed to eat some crackers and peaches this week,
and she is now on her feeds for 12 hours, then off for 12,
allowing for a few more hours to build an appetite. The vomiting has improved a bit, now that she's on less meds.

PT was fine; Sam was more cooperative this week,
and did the stretches she needs to do. Soon she'll rotate PT and OT, w/one per week.

Her kidney labs are still stable, even w/less medication, so that's good.

She seems to be feeling pretty well, and looks great.
I will try to have new photos posted soon.

One new development is that Sam now requests back rubs by calling out "back"--she likes us to massage her back w/eucerin cream, which she gets daily for her skin. What's funny is that she hated it when we put her cream on in the hospital, and she still doesn't like it unless you're doing her back. She often calls out for a back rub at 2 or 3 a.m.; she knows one of us will wake up!
It's nice to have something that will comfort her; it seems like she has phantom pains quite a bit, and there's no easy fix for that.

I'll close this post by saying that we bought the cutest Halloween costume for Sam today--a fuzzy little chicken suit! Yes, it's early, but it's so nice to have things like that to look forward to!

Enjoy the long weekend!

Jessica

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Chicken Suit!??

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