My ability to keep up with this blog has been inversely proportional to how busy I've been over the past few weeks, so I apologize for the fact that the updates have become fewer and father between. On the other hand, you could think of it in the old "no news is good news" category, because between preparing for two mission trips, writing a sermon, and schlepping back and forth to the hospital every day, I've had precious few moments in the blogosphere.
Today, that moment came when Emily realized she could wiggle the toes on her left foot.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's a big deal to us. Guillain-Barré Syndrome presents itself differently in every case, but the general pattern of the condition is that it works itself up from the feet to the head, and recedes in the inverse order. Emily first noticed that her legs were weak when we were walking up to the balcony after the intermission of Fiddler on the Roof. By the next day, she was having trouble balancing, and by the third day she couldn't stand on her own.
The condition progressed from there, upward to her chest and lungs and finally to her face and head. The first improvements came in her facial muscles, and over the past few months her nerves have been re-growing themselves (at the rate of approx. 1 millimeter per day). Her legs, as expected have been the last to show progress, but even there she has been growing stronger down through her quads to the point that she can kick her legs out while sitting.
It has seemed, however, to take an excruciatingly long time for anything below her knees to return. We've anxiously awaited some sign that the nerve re-growth had progressed below the knees and today we've seen that sign.
That is why the wiggling toes are so monumental.
They are the sign that she will soon start experiencing more restoration in her lower legs, and they are a welcome sign at that.
