Day 4

Day 4 of therapy was a GOOD day.  No meltdowns and Ben did lots of great work.  He pushed an age-appropriate button (which just means it was on a toy and it was large) independently and he pulled therapy putty exactly how Miss Jane wanted TEN TIMES!  She nearly cried she was so impressed!

He *finally* let grandma help him eat today.  He's been very adamant about only mommy helping him with that until this point for some reason.  He even said he wanted to use Lefty to help! 

It was cooler and rainy today so no park for us today but we did go out to Steel City Pops which is a local popsicle shop which sounds kind of strange if you're from Iowa but they are not like regular popsicles; they are really creamy, more like ice cream in a popsicle but doesn't melt as fast and a different texture.  Difficult to explain but they were amazing.  My mom and Ainsley had Blueberry Cream, I had Vanilla Bean and Ben had Peanut Butter.  They said the Buttermilk tastes like cheesecake.  I *really* wish these were in Iowa.

Part of our homework tonight was working with therapy putty.  We also got to practice throwing balls.  We picked up some craft stuff at the Dollar Tree to do this weekend too.

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday and we'll have one week done already!  This is flying by! 

Day 3

We are getting into the routine of therapy.  We know what to do when we arrive and what to expect.  Ben usually tells Miss Jane he wants to do puzzles first, she calls it child directed therapy - ha!  Miss Jane has tons and TONS of awesome toys and therapy games and objects.  Today we built a robot with all kinds of magnetic objects.

We did puzzles, read a book where Ben turned the pages with his left hand, and made a card for Grandma Barb using lefty and co-flex tape to assist holding the markers. We got to take theraputty home to play with tonight and we practiced holding a ball in lefty for 5 seconds.  We also got to take home Miss Jane's "magic wand" which is a magnetic wand that we used to practice picking up small magnetic objects by flexing and turning our wrist.  

We had our picnic at the park and played and then stopped for cupcakes to eat later.  These are from Dreamcakes and they were just as good as they look!  Caramel Sea Salt Mocha...I die. 

For dinner we tried Saw's BBQ which has been featured in Paula Deen's magazine.  Ah-mazing.  I had a stuffed tater which is a gigantic baked potato stuffed with BBQ chicken, bacon and green onions.  Oh my Lawd. 

So...I'll just be looking at real estate down here ;)  Have a good night y'all! 

Day 2 of CI Therapy

Well I guess Ben feels at home.  We had a special visitor today - a therapy dog - and when he was asked where he was from he said, "I'm from Alabama!" 

Today was the first real day of therapy where we worked hard for about 3 hours and Miss Jane and I pushed Ben to do things he's never been asked to do before.  It was amazing when they put the cast on how almost instantly the left hand starts to do more.  Now don't let me fool you, the right hand still wants to do ALL the work.  We have to "park it in the garage" aka tie it down so it isn't just automatically doing the work. 

He built these peg towers with his left hand, with help.  We are doing lots of hand-over-hand right now which means Miss Jane puts her hand on his hand to guide him to do the activity or motion she wants to see.  This is how I'm working with him at night and feeding him now too. 

We had our first meltdown at therapy today.  He wanted to eat his snack like a puppy.  He can't feed himself with his left hand so he likes to eat like a puppy and just pick the food up with his mouth.  He's adaptive for sure!  Of course Miss Jane said he was not allowed to eat like a puppy and that led to an epic meltdown but we established who was in charge and that Miss Jane and I were in agreement and want what's best for him and guess who ate their granola bar with lefty (with help)?  Yep, Ben!

In a show of solidarity Ainsley decided to try on Ben's other cast.  Also, FYI, this is her picture taking spot and she can't take a picture these days without making a silly face.  

We found a fantastic park after nap time and I *really* don't mean to rub it in but we played outside with just sweatshirts in January!  It was fabulous! 

A picnic might be in order tomorrow!  Have a good night y'all! 

Initiation (Day 1 of CI Therapy)

Well first off, Siri failed us.  Again.  She navigated us to an alley of dumpsters.  No lie.  Luckily it was across the street from Children's on 3rd where we go for therapy so we were able to use our common sense and drive across the street (with a little creative driving and some U-turns).

So our therapist is Miss Jane and she is AMAZING!  She has been doing this since before I was born so she knows her stuff and she's also worked in multiple other areas of healthcare including the NICU, a burn unit, and pediatric psychiatric in-patient unit. 

Miss Ainsley joined us today at therapy and joined us for parts and hung out with grandma other times (aka when she was having a meltdown).  I think ultimately we'll have grandma and Ainsley drop us off at therapy while they are here with us and they can find something fun to do for awhile and then maybe join us for the last half hour or so.

Ben was a ROCKSTAR getting his casts made.  He got two and he chose red and blue.  He didn't cry AT ALL!

He has to wear this ALL. THE. TIME.  Twenty-four hours a day.  It's removable so we can take it off to check his skin and to take a bath.  But that's it.  He also has a contraption that ties around his waist to keep the arm down so he's not swinging that cast all over and really limits the mobility.  I realize this may sound like torture but lots of kids have survived it ;)

Ben did great the entire time at therapy and didn't cry or have any meltdowns at all while we were there.  Once we got back to our hotel and he realized I really wasn't going to take this cast off he kind of freaked.  Any task is nearly impossible.  He can't feed himself.  He can't play with toys.  He can't pick up a cup and drink.  It's harder to catch himself if he falls.  He's lost his independence.  And he's understandably frustrated.

Here's a video of him eating goldfish.  I told him he can't say "I can't" but he can say "it's hard" or "I need help" so he quickly learned how to get the goldfish.

We got outside after a nap and got some fresh air which seemed to help.

We have to go get our nightly homework done!  Y'all have a good night!

We Made It!

Day 2 of travel went much smoother than day 1 and we have arrived at our destination and our settled in!

While we were awake by 6am we took our time eating breakfast and let the kids run around a little and got on the road about 9am.  We were into Tennessee right away and decided to stop in Nashville and see Opryland.  We actually intended to see Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry but Siri navigated us to Opryland, home of the ginormous new Grand Ole Opry facility, resort, and of course, in true American fashion, gigantic mall.

We made it to our hotel - we're staying at an extended stay place so we have one bedroom, a pull out sofa, and a little kitchen.  I'll try to get pictures tomorrow!  They happened to give us a handicap accessible room, I think it was because it was what was clean and ready when we checked in, but it didn't have a bathtub and Ben isn't really keen on showers so we asked if there was any possibility we could change rooms.   We could but we'd have to wait at least an hour.  So we could stay in our current room and "maintain" it.  Yeah, sure buddy.  You try "maintaining" a hotel room with 3 year old twinadoes.  So we went to Wendy's and Wal-Mart.  We stocked up on groceries and all the other random things you never knew you needed until you went to Wal-Mart. 

When we got back to the hotel our new room was ready.  But it was in a different building.  And on the third floor.  So we had to carry all the groceries upstairs (note: there's an elevator but it's slow and I'm impatient) and then I had to go across the parking lot to the building we started in, get all our belongings, which were thankfully on a cart, and take them downstairs, through the office, outside, across the parking lot, inside the new building, up to the third floor (in the elevator) and unpack in our new room.  Phew.  That was my work out for the day.  We had to turn on the air conditioning because it was hot.  No joke. 

Everyone got baths tonight and we are ready and excited to start therapy tomorrow and see what this is all about! 

Other random thoughts:

Why is the speed limit in Tennessee 24 MPH?

How is it January and these flowers are still so green?!  And why do I still live in Iowa?!

Bama Bound

We're on our way!

We got out the door (almost) on time this morning.  We picked up Grandma Barb and headed east.  For anyone who didn't hear, Ainsley got to come with us!  She will be flying back to Iowa with grandma Barb next week.  This way Ben and Ainsley aren't separated as long and Mom and Ainsley aren't separated as long.  We borrowed a DVD player so the kids were able to watch movies, they colored and ate tons of snacks.  Ainsley didn't nap at all before we stopped for an early dinner.  Which ended up in a total meltdown for both of them.  As soon as we got back in the car they both promptly fell asleep.  We made it to Kentucky just a few miles from the Tennesee border.  We have about 3 and a half hours of travel time left for tomorrow so hoping to do a little sight seeing in Nashville and then get settled in when we get to Birmingham.

Thanks for all the prayers and messages!  I'll be sure to continue to answer them as I can!

Happy New Year!

A year ago today I woke up in the hospital.  Well, that's not really accurate.  I didn't actually sleep much to have a real "wake up moment."  Those hospital beds are NOT comfortable.  And it's noisy with the beeping and whatnot.  I was blessed to walk out of there the day after I walked in and go about my life like normal (mostly).  The new year and the year anniversary of the day my pulmonary embolisms were found has been good for reflection.  And for looking forward!

At the time I joked about it.  I downplayed it.  "Yeah, I had multiple bilateral PEs.  NBD."  But it was a big deal.  It is a big deal.  Do you remember Marlise Munoz?  She was the woman in Texas who all but died from a pulmonary embolism while making her son a bottle but happened to also be 14 weeks pregnant...begin a weeks long battle about keeping someone "alive" to support the growth of a fetus.  Well, that's all a different story for a different day, but that could have been me.  We both had PEs.  She died.  I didn't.  God decided I get to stay here.  And let me tell you, I'm thankful every. single. day.  My knee-jerk response is still to joke and downplay it though.  It's hard to be this serious all the time, depressing even.  But I take my health seriously and I do what I have to do!  Even if it gets annoying to check my INR all the freaking time. 

I sincerely thank my friend and personal nurse Jonna for convincing me to go to the ER that day.  As I'm sure you all know my only symptom was shortness of breath.  But not OH-MY-GOD-I-CAN'T-BREATH-I'M-DYING shortness of breath even.  Just kind of like winded but only sitting on the couch.  And it would come and go.  By the time I had my EKG and CT scan at the ER I was feeling completely better and was 100% certain they were going to admit me to the psych ward for my phantom symptoms.  So what I want to say here is trust your gut...if something feels off - get it checked out!  Don't worry about what other people think.  If your nurse friend says to get it checked out, RUN, don't walk to the doctor.  They know what they are talking about.  They've seen stuff.  Didn't Oprah always say to trust your gut?  Oprah's a smart gal.

 

So why am I rambling on about this you ask?  Because it's my blog.  And I do want I want!  Kidding (sort of).  My point is take care of yourself!  Do it for your kids, your spouse, your parents, your friends, but maybe even more important do it for YOURSELF!  Because YOU are worth it!  Listen to your body.  Do things that are healthy.  Eat real food.  Exercise.  Meditate.  Practice yoga.  Try something new this year!  I'm going to blog about some of the new things I've found passion in this past year like yoga and macronutrition.  Don't worry, this isn't a health blog now.  My last meal still includes McDonald's french fries with extra salt. 

So enjoy the NEW YEAR!  The whole thing.  Every. Single. Day. of it!