great news

So pleased to hear that Rosie is settling into rehab well. She sounds like she's making amazing progress. ☺

To Doug and family, I can't tell you how lovely it is to see these smiling and busy photos of you daughter.

Though phenomenally life changing circumstances have brought you all to this place, your love and her spirit and the tons of people and hours of amazing support around you will, I am pretty sure, bring Rosie to a happy place you never thought possible a couple of months ago.

You are all often in my thoughts. We all have daily challenges and "shouting at the sky" moments and mine don't even begin to compare.

Ps: sympathies on the commuting - that can be truly draining. Take care out there!

We managed to get Rosie home for a night last weekend, for the first time since her accident. Here's the latest update on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheRosieSpa...998318678791:0

Home for a night!

March break didn't have the most auspicious of starts for Rosie: a bit of over enthusiastic physiotherapy just before the opening weekend resulted in a damaged and very sore rotator cuff in her left shoulder, which of course makes getting around in a chair rather difficult. And then there was a tummy bug, too, which meant Rosie didn't feel up to accompanying the rest of the family for a trip up the CN Tower on the Thursday.

But all changed on the second weekend: Rosie was passed fit to stay at home overnight on Saturday! We moved some furniture around to make a workable bedroom in what was the dining room, and although she doesn't have access to a bathroom on the main floor (the powder room isn't big enough to get a wheelchair in) it is just about OK for a weekend. Rosie spent her first night at home - and the first night that all five of us have been in the same place - for 132 nights!

This was a big milestone, and although it has of course brought home to us just how far there is to go, it was also an opportunity to celebrate how far we have all come, especially how much hard work and effort Rosie has put into her rehabilitation.

With another trip to McMaster planned for next week to draw a line under another medical issue, and progress in all sorts of directions in rehab, we are looking forward to having Rosie at home for Saturday (and potentially also Friday) nights most weekends from now on. Tango is certainly looking forward to that - he more or less took up residence on somebody's bed last weekend!

Ahhhh another wonderful update! So pleased to hear that she is doing well, and that she's getting to spend more time at home! Hopefully that shoulder doesn't bother her much more. I love reading about her progress, her determination, and generally the outpouring of love and support around her. Keep up the fantastic work, Rosie and family! <3

I am so very, very pleased Rosie has been able to stay in her own home...what a milestone for everyone in the family. It must have been wonderful for your beautiful daughter to be home again.

Having Rosie home for the night must have been absolutely wonderful, there is no better feeling than knowing your kids are safely asleep in their beds at home and you haven't had that for a long time. I love the guilty expression on Tango's face, "I suspect I shouldn't be here, but I also suspect that they aren't going to do anything about it"

Thanks for the update

Lovely. Just lovely.

Wonderful update

Sorry to hear about the setbacks, but they do happen and, at least, she has spent a weekend at home now, so it's onward and upward, and she seems such a resilient person.

I'm reluctant to post this on this thread, but a young (24 year old) daughter of one of our French cousins got rear-ended by a truck after her car broke down on the road from Caen to Ouistreham, where her parents live.

This was three weeks ago and she's still in a coma. There are a few positive signs, but not many.

I just wanted to get that off my chest.

That's dreadful, sympathies to all the family.

Another fantastic update just went up on the Facebook page!!

Things that are no longer a thing…

A few weeks ago, just before Rosie left McMaster Children’s Hospital, she had surgery to repair some damage to one of her kidneys. This week it was time to head back across town to Mac Kids to have it all checked out and, with luck, have the stent removed that was supporting the repair. That gave Rosie and her team an opportunity for some other important progress: it was decided to remove her feeding tube a few days before the Mac visit, to see how she did without it – so that, if Rosie struggled without it, a new one could be placed while she was in theatre for the other procedure.

Good news on both counts! Rosie, always with an eye for the gruesome, asked if she could pull the dreaded tube out herself. Its removal immediately made swallowing much less uncomfortable, which in turn makes it all the easier to eat and drink enough not to need the tube back in. And having established that there would be no need to replace the NJ tube, the kidney procedure (performed as day surgery) also went well and everything is working as it should be.

Those two bits of progress, taken together, led to Rosie being given a two-night pass for the weekend – we hope this will become the pattern from now on while she’s still an inpatient at Bloorview. It was lovely to have her home for the whole weekend! There are certainly still some challenges we will face until the modifications to the house are under way, not least of which is that it’s an awkward struggle to manipulate a wheelchair through the sliding door onto the deck. It was certainly worth that struggle, though, to be able to hang out in the sunshine and play ball games with her brothers. We look forward to more of the same as the weather continues to improve; we saw at least one crocus in bloom in the front yard so that must mean that Spring has officially sprung! #therosiesparklesfund

https://www.facebook.com/TheRosieSpa...21852794660010 (includes some gorgeous photos of Rosie and her brothers!)

Such a happy update to read on a Monday morning!!! So proud of you, Rosie!!!

Brilliant!!

Way to go Rosie Sparkles.