Once again, there's been a complete turnaround with miss Caitlin since I lasted posted. Last Tuesday her physiotherapist called and said she felt we should pull back from trying to get her to walk independently as it was clear it was going to take her a while to get back to that point again, if she ever did. Then the neurosurgeon's secretary called and said the neuro wanted to see Caitlin within the next month to assess her. Of course I was panicking as I knew if she still wasn't walking Caitlin would be being admitted to hospital again for more invasive tests. Time was not on our side, and I felt quite conflicted as to what to do with the physiotherapist recommending to take a step back with the independent walking and focus on cruising but knowing she only had a few weeks to start walking independently again before the neurosurgeon appointment.
So that afternoon we were doing some pretend play and Caitlin was Rudolph (the reindeer) and I was Mrs Claus, (I know it's March but Caitlin doesn't care about that lol) She was standing by the sofa and I said to her, "I wonder could Rudolph do walking all by herself?" I wasn't really expecting her to do it, it was just force of habit at this point to ask her to walk. Yet she let go and took five steps all by herself! As if she had never stopped! I thought I would burst with happiness. It was like a great big ton weight of stress & worry just floated away in that moment.
The next day Caitlin walked independently again, and I managed to get it on video,
I'm so proud of my little princess!! It appears we were all wrong when we all suspected symptomatic tethered cord. Since last week when she took those few steps, shes been doing independent walking most days. She isn't completely back to how far she could walk before all of this happened, but I'm confident she will get there and further! Shunt malfunction doesn't typically cause a child to stop walking independently without any other common symptoms whatsoever. But then there's nothing typical or common about my little girl - she's one in a million!
