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Just a quick note about Izzy's day.
She worked with the statewide vision specialist today.
She said she could see improvement in Izzy's vision and was interested in the program we are doing. Her exact words were, "it's working, keep it up."
She also told me she went with her to speech therapy where Izzy worked on the 'm' sound. She said Izzy made the sound successfully and did nice work there.
We are still doing three sessions a day. Matt said that Izzy was mad when he woke her up at 5:30 this morning, she didn't want to do the program ... I don't blame her.
She is doing good with the program and we are all adjusting to this schedule. Hopefully we will soon be adding another session per day.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
This & that....
I keep intending to take the camera to school and get a picture of Isabelle there, but it just hasn't happened yet...
Life is beginning to feel normal again. All the kids are in school and our routine is being established. We have moved up to two sessions a day of Isabelle's program and plan to go to three in the next couple of days. Laura came on her lunch hour Tuesday to help pattern Izzy and my dad has been coming some afternoons. Laura is putting a sign up sheet out at church to recruit more volunteers. We've been told that the program is most successful when there is a lot of help. They talked about a family in New Zealand who live in a town with only a few hundred people, but that everyone in that town helps out. I tend to try to manage and do everything on my own, but I think Izzy will benefit from having lots of helping hands so we'll see what happens.
School is going well again this year for Isabelle. She is in her same class with her teachers from last year. We both love them all! She has p.t. with Camilla who we love as well! We have truly been blessed with wonderful people all around us. We are blessed and highly favored.
Izzy is doing great! She will start horse riding again in a few weeks. We are trying to coordinate our schedules with our friends in Ponca to get more dives in. Hopefully we will be heading to Ponca next week for a couple of days.
I cannot wait until I can write an update about how Isabelle crawled across the floor, or walked a certain amount of steps. I know that day is coming!
Life is beginning to feel normal again. All the kids are in school and our routine is being established. We have moved up to two sessions a day of Isabelle's program and plan to go to three in the next couple of days. Laura came on her lunch hour Tuesday to help pattern Izzy and my dad has been coming some afternoons. Laura is putting a sign up sheet out at church to recruit more volunteers. We've been told that the program is most successful when there is a lot of help. They talked about a family in New Zealand who live in a town with only a few hundred people, but that everyone in that town helps out. I tend to try to manage and do everything on my own, but I think Izzy will benefit from having lots of helping hands so we'll see what happens.
School is going well again this year for Isabelle. She is in her same class with her teachers from last year. We both love them all! She has p.t. with Camilla who we love as well! We have truly been blessed with wonderful people all around us. We are blessed and highly favored.
Izzy is doing great! She will start horse riding again in a few weeks. We are trying to coordinate our schedules with our friends in Ponca to get more dives in. Hopefully we will be heading to Ponca next week for a couple of days.
I cannot wait until I can write an update about how Isabelle crawled across the floor, or walked a certain amount of steps. I know that day is coming!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Staying busy...
We are continuing to stay busy with Isabelle. Her new program continues to get easier and we are gradually getting things done so that the front room can be her "therapy room". Our next step will be to recruit some volunteers and do more sessions of her program daily. I know that she is already making improvements and I am excited to see how the next weeks and months go. We're planning a trip to Ponca this week to get in some hbot dives. I have been struck with some kind of allergy thing so I am waiting it out... and my birthday is tomorrow!!! So, we'll probably go Thursday.
I cannot believe school is starting Monday (August 13). The Summer has flown by and I will enjoy having our quiet afternoons back, but also miss having all my little helpers around. The four of them will be in four different schools... Isabelle - Choctaw Elementary spec ed preschool class... Emelia - Westfall Elementary 3rd grade... Bailey - Nicoma Park Junior High... and Amanda - Choctaw High School ... UGH!
We went Monday to pick up Izzy's new AFO's. They are butterfly patterned with purple straps. Quite fashionable foot splints. Today we went to a different dentist for a second opinion. This dentist pretty much agreed with the first, that she needs crowns on every tooth in her mouth. The combination of the grinding right after her accident with the inability to have water without thickener for a time while being fed by mouth has caused her teeth a lot of problems. I brush them probably six times a day or everytime I feed her anything and am now able to rinse with water. She has just recently become able to drink plain water without gagging so that helps... she also takes fluoride tabs... but, it is too little too late. I guess we will try to do it with a sedation cocktail in office and see how that works, otherwise we will have to do it under general anesthetic... I was very upset after the appointment earlier today but Matt reminded me that it is all good and that God is in control. I know that, but it is nice to have a partner in life to help me remember when things seem a little too much ...
Please continue to pray for Izzy's program to help her brain make new pathways and to wake up dormant cells... also please pray for her dental problems to work out.
We appreciate all the prayers offered up for Izzy and our family. It is what has made the biggest difference in this whole situation.
I cannot believe school is starting Monday (August 13). The Summer has flown by and I will enjoy having our quiet afternoons back, but also miss having all my little helpers around. The four of them will be in four different schools... Isabelle - Choctaw Elementary spec ed preschool class... Emelia - Westfall Elementary 3rd grade... Bailey - Nicoma Park Junior High... and Amanda - Choctaw High School ... UGH!
We went Monday to pick up Izzy's new AFO's. They are butterfly patterned with purple straps. Quite fashionable foot splints. Today we went to a different dentist for a second opinion. This dentist pretty much agreed with the first, that she needs crowns on every tooth in her mouth. The combination of the grinding right after her accident with the inability to have water without thickener for a time while being fed by mouth has caused her teeth a lot of problems. I brush them probably six times a day or everytime I feed her anything and am now able to rinse with water. She has just recently become able to drink plain water without gagging so that helps... she also takes fluoride tabs... but, it is too little too late. I guess we will try to do it with a sedation cocktail in office and see how that works, otherwise we will have to do it under general anesthetic... I was very upset after the appointment earlier today but Matt reminded me that it is all good and that God is in control. I know that, but it is nice to have a partner in life to help me remember when things seem a little too much ...
Please continue to pray for Izzy's program to help her brain make new pathways and to wake up dormant cells... also please pray for her dental problems to work out.
We appreciate all the prayers offered up for Izzy and our family. It is what has made the biggest difference in this whole situation.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Izzy's new "programme"
Well... we are knee deep into Izzy's new program and it is getting easier. Having said that... it takes about 90 minutes to complete and they would like us to strive for six sessions a day. Our goal (realistic goal) is four sessions per day. We were told to start with one for a week or month or whatever. We decided that we will do one session per day for 21 days (I read somewhere that it takes 21 days for something to become a habit). School will be starting soon which will complicate Izzy's schedule and also take away my helpers during the day hours. In addition to the session(s) we are doing daily, we are doing 30 masking treatments along with CVS flashcards, and also new oral exercises that are done before any feedings.
My goals are:
1. get the front room converted to Izzy's "therapy room"
2. get rid of the big red chair and piano in the front room...
Izzy is supposed to be prone on the floor anytime she is not being fed, loved, or programmed...
Her program looks something like this... This program was tailor made for Isabelle and where she is in her physical abilities at this point.
- spinning in chair
- swinging in blanket
- mask & cvs cards
- ice and vibration to limbs
- head turning
- basic vision
- tracking
- convergence and divergence
- tactiles ABC
- arm unlocking
- homologus patterning
- leg and ankle stretch
- leg loosening
- hip roll
- rolling
- mask and cvs cards
- basic vision
- tracking
- convergence and divergence
- gustatory
- mask & cvs cards
- beckman oral exercises
- swallowing reflex
- rolling
- hip roll
- trunkal patterning
- homologus patterning
Thats about it... each one of these exercises take one to five minutes.
We are seeing little things even after the first week. I am optimistic that we are on the path we need to follow. We continue to put our faith and trust in God, and are eager to do whatever we can to help the process that is Isabelle's healing.
Please pray that Isabelle's brain continues to make new pathways awakening cells to gain control over her body so that she can run and play and dance like she used to.
-
My goals are:
1. get the front room converted to Izzy's "therapy room"
2. get rid of the big red chair and piano in the front room...
Izzy is supposed to be prone on the floor anytime she is not being fed, loved, or programmed...
Her program looks something like this... This program was tailor made for Isabelle and where she is in her physical abilities at this point.
- spinning in chair
- swinging in blanket
- mask & cvs cards
- ice and vibration to limbs
- head turning
- basic vision
- tracking
- convergence and divergence
- tactiles ABC
- arm unlocking
- homologus patterning
- leg and ankle stretch
- leg loosening
- hip roll
- rolling
- mask and cvs cards
- basic vision
- tracking
- convergence and divergence
- gustatory
- mask & cvs cards
- beckman oral exercises
- swallowing reflex
- rolling
- hip roll
- trunkal patterning
- homologus patterning
Thats about it... each one of these exercises take one to five minutes.
We are seeing little things even after the first week. I am optimistic that we are on the path we need to follow. We continue to put our faith and trust in God, and are eager to do whatever we can to help the process that is Isabelle's healing.
Please pray that Isabelle's brain continues to make new pathways awakening cells to gain control over her body so that she can run and play and dance like she used to.
-
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