I tried to be awesome and take cool pictures of Jodi. She's smokin' hot!
September 13, 2011
September 5, 2011
Cougar! Football!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4
September 1, 2011
count your many blessings...
name them one by one.
in response to my last post.
- video of my nephew singing Zippity Do Dah
- dancing children
- children who hold hands.
- snuggles with my girl.
- a husband who works so hard for our family.
- opportunity to help earn money for our family.
- a place to live.
- a dad who is flying me back home.
- great specialists who help my daughter.
- toys for kids to play with.
- priesthood blessings.
- technology allowing me to communicate with family.
- AC window unit.
- fans.
- a mini-van.
- food to eat.
so maybe it's not as long as my annoying list, but it's a start.
in response to my last post.
- video of my nephew singing Zippity Do Dah
- dancing children
- children who hold hands.
- snuggles with my girl.
- a husband who works so hard for our family.
- opportunity to help earn money for our family.
- a place to live.
- a dad who is flying me back home.
- great specialists who help my daughter.
- toys for kids to play with.
- priesthood blessings.
- technology allowing me to communicate with family.
- AC window unit.
- fans.
- a mini-van.
- food to eat.
so maybe it's not as long as my annoying list, but it's a start.
la, la, la...whatever...
My patience has been tried today.
Everything is driving me insane.
- non-napping children.
- non-sharing children.
- screaming children.
- lets-hit-each-other children.
- purposefully mean children.
- runny noses on children.
- putting away tons of toys only to have them ripped out again.
- dish wand sponges that constantly break.
- thinking up whats for dinner.
- slow internet
- places taking forever to take money out of accounts.
- traffic.
- feeling hungry and not wanting to eat anything.
- heat.
- husband gone = sad.
- a lizard that constantly goes stinky.
- people who aren't on time.
- bills bills bills.
- never ending laundry.
- netflix price raise.
- 7 peaks closing on monday.
- granola bar ground into the carpet.
- the cat and the hat knows a lot about that theme song.
- boingy bing song.
- knees that keep giving out.
- chronic mono/epstein-barr
-wymount charging $650 for a tiny cinderblock apt w/no ac.
- plus laundry and utilities.
ah, good. i made a list. perhaps i should count my blessings now?
Everything is driving me insane.
- non-napping children.
- non-sharing children.
- screaming children.
- lets-hit-each-other children.
- purposefully mean children.
- runny noses on children.
- putting away tons of toys only to have them ripped out again.
- dish wand sponges that constantly break.
- thinking up whats for dinner.
- slow internet
- places taking forever to take money out of accounts.
- traffic.
- feeling hungry and not wanting to eat anything.
- heat.
- husband gone = sad.
- a lizard that constantly goes stinky.
- people who aren't on time.
- bills bills bills.
- never ending laundry.
- netflix price raise.
- 7 peaks closing on monday.
- granola bar ground into the carpet.
- the cat and the hat knows a lot about that theme song.
- boingy bing song.
- knees that keep giving out.
- chronic mono/epstein-barr
-wymount charging $650 for a tiny cinderblock apt w/no ac.
- plus laundry and utilities.
ah, good. i made a list. perhaps i should count my blessings now?
August 30, 2011
Lexi Update as of 8/30/11
Occupational Therapy/Early Intervention/Orem Rehab
Lexi still receives OT twice a month. We are currently working on the "pincer" grasp, as well as other activities that involve the right hand and arm. Constraint induced therapy (CIT) (talked about later) will also be through OT. Luckily, her OT through Early Intervention also works at Orem Rehab where the CIT will be given.
Physical Therapy/Orem Rehab
At PT, we work a lot with the right leg/ankle/foot. Activities they have her do: soccer indoors, soccer outside on long grass, running up and down hills, walking in long grass (forces her to pull her foot up), stretching, bracing, stair climbing, etc. She now only has to attend Orem Rehab every 3-4 weeks because she is doing so great! Her PT recently had us get Lexi a trike, to help with the use of both feet/legs at the same time.
Primary Children's Rehab
Today was her checkup at PCH Rehab, and she did great! They looked at how well Botox worked for her (wonderfully), observed her through play, and discussed many things with me. Botox Treatments happen every 3-6 months, and so we scheduled her next treatment, on October 18. Lexi will be receiving the same treatments at the same sites (calf, thumb, forearm, ankle), as well as on her hamstring, pec, and lat; aka her whole right side. They also are going to have Lexi undergo constraint induced therapy where they will cast her left arm/hand so she can ONLY use the right. This, of course, is going to be extremely difficult for her, but will help her brain become more aware of the right side. She will only have to do this for a short amount of time, due to the extreme frustration it will cause (more on this later). They are also having her go to NW Orthodics again and look into getting an additional brace for her right leg. This one will be smaller, and requires more strength to wear, which, luckily, she seems to be gaining. This brace (called, Dafo) will be in addition to her others. Her nighttime stretch splint/brace now only has to be worn for 45-60 min/night at a 10 degree angle to provide stretch; it has been shortened because she does not tolerate the stretch well for extended periods of time. They also had us buy a children's pull/chin up bar to put in our doorway so that Lexi can play on it daily. The purpose of this is to work on stretching the right arm up, and increasing strength. She will also be staying in gymnastics (indefinitely) because of the assistance it provides to her right extremities. As she grows, the tone in her right side increases due to the different rates at which bones and muscles grow, so we will continue OT, PT, Botox, bracing, rehab, etc for a while still. An additional MRI will not have to be given unless something changes.
Nutrition
Lexi has a cow's milk protein intolerance which also leads to forms of soy protein intolerance. She is able to eat some dairy, but cannot have straight milk, or some ice creams. She currently is drinking almond or coconut milk. They are having us mix in something called Duocal (a new product), which is pure calories (42 cal in 1 T). We also sometimes mix in a scoop of Alimentum (the hypoallergenic formula she has been on) into her milk as well. She is on the small side, and we are trying to encourage her to eat as much food as possible. There is only so much you can "make" a kid eat, so we are keeping track for 3 days of her food intake and it will be analyzed by her Nutritionist.
Overall
Overall, Lexi is doing incredible! We are so proud of her and all the hard work she does! She is one tough cookie with such a happy demeanor, we couldn't ask for a better or more special little girl! She is a smart little cookie, as well, and we've been so lucky that none of her seizures, or her stroke affected anything but the right side! We work really hard with Lexi, and it is good to hear that we are doing what we are supposed to! Parents are the biggest advocates for their children, and more often than not, the best therapists as well and we have been so blessed by our Heavenly Father with the capacity to encourage his sweet spirit to reach her potential.
Lexi still receives OT twice a month. We are currently working on the "pincer" grasp, as well as other activities that involve the right hand and arm. Constraint induced therapy (CIT) (talked about later) will also be through OT. Luckily, her OT through Early Intervention also works at Orem Rehab where the CIT will be given.
Physical Therapy/Orem Rehab
At PT, we work a lot with the right leg/ankle/foot. Activities they have her do: soccer indoors, soccer outside on long grass, running up and down hills, walking in long grass (forces her to pull her foot up), stretching, bracing, stair climbing, etc. She now only has to attend Orem Rehab every 3-4 weeks because she is doing so great! Her PT recently had us get Lexi a trike, to help with the use of both feet/legs at the same time.
Primary Children's Rehab
Today was her checkup at PCH Rehab, and she did great! They looked at how well Botox worked for her (wonderfully), observed her through play, and discussed many things with me. Botox Treatments happen every 3-6 months, and so we scheduled her next treatment, on October 18. Lexi will be receiving the same treatments at the same sites (calf, thumb, forearm, ankle), as well as on her hamstring, pec, and lat; aka her whole right side. They also are going to have Lexi undergo constraint induced therapy where they will cast her left arm/hand so she can ONLY use the right. This, of course, is going to be extremely difficult for her, but will help her brain become more aware of the right side. She will only have to do this for a short amount of time, due to the extreme frustration it will cause (more on this later). They are also having her go to NW Orthodics again and look into getting an additional brace for her right leg. This one will be smaller, and requires more strength to wear, which, luckily, she seems to be gaining. This brace (called, Dafo) will be in addition to her others. Her nighttime stretch splint/brace now only has to be worn for 45-60 min/night at a 10 degree angle to provide stretch; it has been shortened because she does not tolerate the stretch well for extended periods of time. They also had us buy a children's pull/chin up bar to put in our doorway so that Lexi can play on it daily. The purpose of this is to work on stretching the right arm up, and increasing strength. She will also be staying in gymnastics (indefinitely) because of the assistance it provides to her right extremities. As she grows, the tone in her right side increases due to the different rates at which bones and muscles grow, so we will continue OT, PT, Botox, bracing, rehab, etc for a while still. An additional MRI will not have to be given unless something changes.
Nutrition
Lexi has a cow's milk protein intolerance which also leads to forms of soy protein intolerance. She is able to eat some dairy, but cannot have straight milk, or some ice creams. She currently is drinking almond or coconut milk. They are having us mix in something called Duocal (a new product), which is pure calories (42 cal in 1 T). We also sometimes mix in a scoop of Alimentum (the hypoallergenic formula she has been on) into her milk as well. She is on the small side, and we are trying to encourage her to eat as much food as possible. There is only so much you can "make" a kid eat, so we are keeping track for 3 days of her food intake and it will be analyzed by her Nutritionist.
Overall
Overall, Lexi is doing incredible! We are so proud of her and all the hard work she does! She is one tough cookie with such a happy demeanor, we couldn't ask for a better or more special little girl! She is a smart little cookie, as well, and we've been so lucky that none of her seizures, or her stroke affected anything but the right side! We work really hard with Lexi, and it is good to hear that we are doing what we are supposed to! Parents are the biggest advocates for their children, and more often than not, the best therapists as well and we have been so blessed by our Heavenly Father with the capacity to encourage his sweet spirit to reach her potential.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
