That is a cool date so I felt the need to write the entire date out rather than just the month and day. Here are some pictures from Aiden's therapy session this week. He got to swing on a giant pole with a platform and thought that was pretty fun. He actually didn't like to swing on anything when he first started therapy and would ask to be all done right after getting on.
Mrs. Rusty had him do an obstacle course kind of thing this week. He had to climb up the rope ladder, put paper clips all around a sheet of paper, and then go across the monkey bars (with help). I need to remember that he is supposed to have his thumb wrapped around the bar in the opposite direction of his fingers. He likes to put his fingers and thumb in the same direction but that isn't going to help his grip strength and muscle control. After he went across the monkey bars, he had to cut a piece of paper.
He cracks me up because he asked Mrs. Rusty why her paper was so hard to cut. It was a piece of card stock, almost as thick as a think piece of cardboard. That reminds me, I was about to recycle a cereal box this morning and I should pull it out and give it to Aiden as an option for therapy. He could draw shapes on it and then cut them out!!! One of the many neat things I am learning from his therapist here is she has lots of ideas of things that I can do with him at home with stuff from either around the house or things that are pretty cheap.
Once he finally got through cutting the hard paper, he got to go down the slide on his belly and then he had to wheel barrow up a ramp. It was neat because he likes doing a "job" and then being rewarded for it. One of his favorite games at home is Treasure Map. Brad and I hide coins or tokens around the house in a few places and we give the boys directions to go find a token. They find it and then we give them directions to the next token. By accident a week or so ago, we also realized it's a GREAT exercise for them to hide them and tell us where they are. Eli doesn't do such a good job because he just runs and points to it and says where it is at. He just turned 3 though so he gets a break. Aiden has to work at it to find the right words to tell us where it is at using directions rather than just where it is. For example, rather than saying the token is 'in the kitchen on a chair at the little table' he'll say "where Eli and I eat sit to eat breakfast." It might not sound that complicated but giving us clues rather than the exact location has helped him learn how to describe things better which helps him communicate better with us.
OK. Back to the obstacle course. After his wheel barrow walk, he had to trace a stencil outline on a special sheet of paper. He had to use a thin pencil-type instrument (it's just a wood stick with a point) to try and scratch away the black crayon/covering so he could see the sparkles underneath. He said it was too hard and wasn't such a fan of that. Once he was done with that though he got to go on a zip line and then hover over the ball pit for 20 seconds (a fast-counting 20 seconds). That was great. His grip strength isn't that great so he has a hard time hanging from monkey bars and such so this was good practice for him and it was still fun. He actually asked to go in the ball pit too. That usually never happens. He's making such improvements. I'm so happy for him. We are going to start incorporating feeding therapy this week which should be good. He still has a very rough time eating and exploring new foods. On a good note though, shower time is going a little more smoothly. He won't take a bath but he will shower and he knows he has to use soap so the whining and complete meltdowns are starting to decrease. It's a quick shower. Once he finally thinks the temperature of the water is right (this sometimes takes longer than the actual shower because luke warm in his world is "hot"), he plays for 1 min or so and then I have about 2 min to soap his body and hair and rinse it all off before a breakdown occurs.
I signed up Aiden and Eli for a painting class at their daycare. This lady comes in a teaches them how to paint using various tools. I wasn't going to ask Eli if he wanted to do it but he was there when I took Aiden to see the painting of what they would be making in class. Aiden said he didn't want to do it and Eli said he wanted to. That was completely backwards from what I was thinking. I knew Aiden would be okay sensory-wise to do it because they were using brushes and a knife looking thing. I thought Eli was too young to be able to do anything. Needless to say, I signed them both up.
They did a great job! Aiden's is on the left and Eli's is on the right. Eli came home with paint in his ears and on his arms and face. He's so crazy and messy. Aiden said he had a good time too. When I asked him to tell me what he did he first asked if it was all dry. He then explained to Brad and I how to make the pedals larger by doing longer strokes and was showing us the motion. He also told us the order he did everything. The red background was first, then the center of the sunflower, and then how he did the yellow part. They are going to offer the painting class once a month. If the boys like it, I'll let them keep doing it. They had lots of fun.
I've been experiencing some problems lately and was in the ER about 2 weeks all day on a Friday. I had to drink a HUGE think of liquid and then wait for a few hours and they did a CT scan of my abdomen to see if everything was working okay. During the CT scan, they then injected some kind of dye into my IV line and took some more pictures. They determined that the problem I was experiencing was coming from my colon. They then gave me a note to give to my primary care that said I needed to be seen by a gastrointerologist ASAP. On Monday morning, a nurse from my primary care contacted me and said I had an appointment on Thursday at 1:00pm with this dr. I saw this doctor (although I had to wait forever) and he said I needed a colonoscopy ASAP so he scheduled me for Monday morning. In case you don't know (I didn't realize it), you have to prep for a colonoscopy which is actually the worst part. My doctor follows very strict guideline about what you can and cannot eat and my last meal was Friday afternoon. I had vegetable soup for dinner and then no more solids until Monday after the procedure. Needless to say, I have never drank so much in my life and was so sick of drinking by 12:00am the night before the procedure, that I didn't want to see any liquid for the next few days. We had some logistical problems about me getting to the procedure. I needed to be there at 6:00am but since I was going to be sedated, I had to have someone else there with me to drive. Well, daycare isn't open that early and I'm certainly not going to wake up the boys that early to come sit in a nasty waiting room for hours on end just so Brad can drive. I sent out an e-mail to our pastor and the spouses running club members who live in Prattville (about 7-8). Needless to say, one of the spouses agreed to pick me up at 5:20am and take me to Montgomery and wait until Brad could get there at about 8:00am. Well, to give you the reader's digest version, I was done by 7:45am and was waking up from the anesthesia. The doctor came and told me (and my driver) what was wrong, and then we were done. I texted Brad and told him not to come and we ended up meeting him for some breakfast. They found a few things wrong and did some biopsies. I go back in 1.5 more weeks to get all the findings. I had to stop by the office earlier this week so they could do one more lab. I have a medication I am supposed to be taking in the mean time but I've only taken it once. I finally sat down and did some research to see what the implications were if I didn't take the medication because I actually feel pretty good right now. Needless to say, after I read what can happen if it goes untreated, I started the medication. The medication is just a week-long dose but ..... I'm praying it's worth the effort. :)
I also been feeling extremely tired lately and am still fighting a battle to get in to see the endocrinologist. My autoimmune system is just not working quite right and I'm praying we can get it figured out. The boys (all 3 of them) are so sweet. When I couldn't eat for a couple of days, Brad took the boys out at night to eat which was really sweet. When we picked up the boys on the monday after my procedure, Aiden asked if I was "allowed to eat food now." He has such a sweet heart.
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