Chapter 15: Celebrating Kayda

I’m going to back up a bit in this narrative. While still well, Kayda celebrated her 6th birthday. We had a huge party for her that started on Friday night and ended late Saturday. Friday night Amanda

and Cathy came for a sleepover which was fun. Amanda and Cathy both have cerebral palsy and Cathy was still tube fed at the time. I’m nuts though and loved having them there. They both adored Kayda. Saturday morning their mom picked up Amanda to take her to another party and I got Cathy & Kayda ready. We have video tape of the 2 sitting next to each other watching tv, holding hands and both hooked up to their feeding pumps. The main party was in the form of an open house. We’d invited a zillion different people-actually maybe 20 or so. Mostly adults. The theme was Lion King. I’d ordered a 3 foot long Sub from Subway and we had the usual munchies and a Lion King ice cream cake. As I watched Kayda throughout the day I was overwhelmed with the changes since the previous year. At her 5th birthday party she’d been so congested she could only sit long enough to have her picture taken and the rest of the time just lay on her side lyer and listened. This year was so different. She sat in her wheelchair most of the day with no gurgles or wheezes. She smiled and laughed when spoken to and obviously enjoyed her gifts. Her hands constantly explored whatever was on her tray. She got several books that played music and she was able to activate them on her own some of the time-Amanda and Cathy helped when she couldn’t. Her favourite gifts were a teddy bear from Amanda and Cathy and a Fisher Price telephone from another friend. Two days after her party she picked up the receiver of the phone ALL BY HERSELF, over and over. What a miracle that was!!!!!!!!! Most of the day she was content

to just feel her bear whom we named Ted. And, the biggest wonder of all, to us, was that she ate some ice cream cake! (I’ll tell you about her eating in the next chapter.) Our last guests didn’t leave until well after 9 but she was still happy and alert. The next day I took her to see the children’s singer Raffi perform. I started to cry at the beginning. I was overwhelmed with the changes in Kayda. Who would have thought, a year earlier that she’d be so alert and able to enjoy a concert along with other children? She beamed throughout the concert and obviously recognized many of the songs. This was not the girl we’d brought home nearly 18 months earlier!!!!! The presents I bought for her for this birthday and Christmas weren’t toys she could operate by accident as they’d been the year before. They were toys she could pick up and manipulate by herself.

Some videos of Kayda's birthday party