The cast is on

This morning we had to be at the Sparks clinic at 8 o'clock. Since Maya’s data will be included in an ongoing clinical trial, we had to sign informed consent and she had to undergo a few tests to determine her unilateral and bilateral hand function at baseline. As our German therapist Ines already found out, the girl does not like to be pushed into using her right hand! Bad luck, because that’s exactly what we’re going to do the coming 4 weeks :-). Our therapist here, Brittney, seems really sweet ... so do all the people at the clinic, for that matter.

Then Maya’s arm was casted while she was watching Finding Nemo. She could pick the colour that she wanted, only after I took out the black, green and blue though! What colour do you think she picked?

After the tests and the casting, we went home, and Brittney and her colleague Mary Laura followed shortly after. Maya was complaining a lot because (of course) there was not much she could do without the use of her left hand. Also her balance is affected by not having that arm to stabilise her, so she falls quite a bit. However, we saw some improvement in the use of her right hand immediately, and Brittney and Mary Laura made her turn pages of a book and burst soap bubbles. They will try to make the therapy as much fun as possible, by playing with her, but they will always aim to complete each activity "with or without tears", they said. They asked us if we mind Maya crying sometimes, and we said No. All in all, this first day wasn’t too bad, but we do realise that we have a long way ahead of us!