Josie's struggle

I haven't posted on my blog for over a year, so why post three times in the same day? I've been too busy with work to have the time to post but Josie's (9) now given me the time. About a week ago she started having some difficulty walking. I didn't pay much attention because it just looked like she was trying to walk on a leg she'd let fall asleep. She was very sick the next day so she didn't do much walking for me to observe. On Friday evening I noticed she had a marked gait problem so I told Jennifer we'd see how she was in the morning and if she wasn't better, we'd take her in. The first thing in the morning that happened was Nathan (7) telling me that Josie just fell in the front room by "slipping" on the carpet and that she couldn't get up. I went in and found her on the floor making an awkward attempt to right herself. I had to pick her up and carry her to the couch. I asked her if her legs hurt (since she'd been at soccer camp that week) and she said her head hurt and put her hand on the back of her head and started crying. That's when Jennifer and I decided it was time to see a Dr. We took her to the Urgent Care and after hearing her symptoms they told us to go to the emergency room immediately. Josie was able to walk into the Urgent Care with me holding her arms. 20 minutes later she couldn't walk out and I had to carry her. When we got to the ER they put us in a room and the parade of doctors began. We had about a dozen doctors and nurses through the room over the next 5 hours. They ran several tests including blood tests, CT scan and a spinal tap. Her coordination was very off at this point. She couldn't stand on her own without holding something and couldn't walk. Her arm coordination was starting to show signs of uncoordination as well. She was asked to touch her nose and then the Dr.'s finger rapidly as he would move his finger from side to side. She never hit his finger and rarely touched her own nose. Her speach has started to slur as well which I think is leading to her refusal to talk. She was admitted at that point and we've been at the hospital for the last couple of days. They started by giving her some heavy antibiotics and antivirals in order to cover their bases while they searched for a diagnosis. She had an MRI this morning as well. We don't know yet when we'll be leaving but we're hoping it's in the next couple of days. From what we've seen so far she may have Cerebellitis with Acute Cerebellar Ataxia. It's a form of encephalitis. She still has strength in her legs and arms but lacks the coordination to use them effectively. It's viral based and is self limiting. Even with it stopping to advance after a week or so, it takes weeks to a few months to fully recover. Bringing her home will present some challenges. We have a lot of stairs in the house but we will be converting the office on the main floor into a bedroom so she can have access to everything without the sairs being a big issue. She will likely need to crawl for a while assuming her arms and legs work well enough for that but she may not have the coordination for that for a few weeks. We ordered her a wheelchair today since she can't walk and it may be 2-3 months before she's fully functional again. This will allow us to get her to her Therapy appointments every day without needing to carry her as well as take her places with the rest of the family. She's been a happy kid throughout the ordeal. She likes having a TV in her room and trays of french toast being brought in every morning. She was sedated for the MRI and the medication for that has knocked her out most of today but for the rest of the time she's looked like this...