A Beautiful Tale

A picture of sweetness

Rachel continued to work hard with her twister cables this past week. I missed out on photo opportunities of her working hard. I flew down to Tampa on Tuesday and returned back home late yesterday.

While in Tampa I attended an accredited class for my 30 hour IV certification. Basically this means a semester of IV training scrunched into 2 days. Needless to say I was nervous about how I would do with the time restraint. I passed my certification test with a 98%. Hooray! We had practice arms that we inserted IV's in. The practice arms looked pretty creepy but the great thing about them is they would bleed (red food coloring and water). 

Our practice arm even had fingerprints!I think it would make a good Halloween decoration.

 

While I was in Tampa I was able to stay with my friend Dawn and her family. Our family use to be neighbors with Dawn when we lived in Tampa several years ago. Dawn is one of the strongest women I know. I find her amazing. She is paralyzed from the waist down. During my time there we got to go swimming together for the first time.

Dawn was like a ballerina in the water. 

One of the other things we did was visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The aquarium is the home of Winter the dolphin. If you are unfamiliar with Winter - the movie A Dolphin's Tale is the story about her life. I confess I have not seen the movie yet but am hoping to this week. The movie was filmed at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They are closing the aquarium temporarily starting next month to begin filming A Dolphin's Tale 2.

Winter was a baby dolphin that was found entangled in the ropes from a crab trap. She was found by a fisherman that cut her free and called a rescue team. Winter lost her entire tail and 2 of her vertebrae as a result of the injuries sustained from the ropes. Winter was cared for and began a long road of continuous rehab.Dolphins swim in a up and down motion- Winter without her tail swims in a side to side motion. Hanger Prosthetics worked with marine veterinarians and trainers to help create a prosthetic tail for Winter. 

One of Winter's prosthetic tails

Winter

We were able to see Winter, Panama and Hope. We didn't get to see Winter's Dolphin Tale Adventure- a hopefully future trip. I found Winter's story touching and inspiring. I would love Rachel to see Winter one day. Hanger has made a profound difference in both Rachel's and Winter's life.