Sore from workouts, Endocrinologist visit, Advent cheating

Denise is working hard and sore from it. Think of finally going to the gym after a long absence and trying to max out on everything. She's discouraged because she feels she's not going to make enough progress to get home on the target date. Usually when she did weight exercises, she went for toning: lots of reps, little bit of weight. So she's not used to what they've got her doing now, which is in effect maxing out to the point of muscle failure to build the muscle up. She called my aunt (the nurse), who cheered her on and pointed out that she was only able to take a few steps a while ago and is doing much better now. Also, as she regains her strength & coordination, the progress will come quicker. As of today, she was able to walk all the way to the beginning of the third stretch of hallway, without rest stops. She rolled all the way back in her wheelchair. She's working on going up one stair step (see the wheelchair post below). They even have her squatting down & bending over to pick things up off of the floor. She's scared that she'll fall over & hurt herself. An endocrinologist came by today. My foggy understanding is that they want to see if the pituitary gland might get in the way of gaining weight.
My day's been filled with paperwork, calling around, picking up the medical equipment & supplies that she'll need when she comes home. I'm eager to get her home, but there's a ton of things to accomplish yet. I'm thinking of how to set up the house for wheelchair access (my aunt suggested having a PT & OT come here & give me pointers). I was in a chair for a while after a knee reconstruction a couple years ago, but Denise's situation is a different ballgame. At least I could leave the chair & use crutches to get through tight spots, I had enough strength to roll over carpets, a longer reach... there are quite a few things that I'd never thought of until talking to some friends today. If you have any helpful wheelchair or accessibility ideas, please post a comment. And just to be sure it's not overlooked, please read the post below this one, about building a wheelchair ramp.
This morning Gracie asked if her & Jacob could open the Christmas gifts yet. I said we have to wait until Christmas. She asked "How much longer until it's Christmas?" I showed her how to count the days until Christmas using the kids' advent calendars. We ate breakfast, the kids brushed their teeth, they were getting ready for the day, and the phone rang. While I was on the phone, Grace came into the room shouting "Merry Christmas, Daddy! Merry Christmas! It's Christmas, Daddy! Let's open our presents, OK?" She held up the advent calendar. All the little windows had been torn off. Nice try. Sounds like something I probably tried as a kid. After daycare, Gracie took all the ornaments off of the tree and hid them around the house, then we got ALL of the Tupperware bowls out to use as baskets so we could all have an Easter Egg hunt. I thought it was goofy, then profound. Christmas and Easter are significantly related. In fact, Denise heard an idea from MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) that we've been doing for a few years now. After Christmas, we cut all the branches off the tree, saw the trunk in two, and make a cross out of it to hang up until Easter, when the Christmas tree then becomes an Easter decoration.

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