Hydrotherapy

Jeez, so much has happened and my head spins with the thought of all the stuff still going on. Since my last update, MJ has started hydrotherapy. It's fantastic to teach her balance and help restore those core muscles. These are her stomach and back muscles, which help keep you upright. When MJ laughs, she kinda falls forward, so I'm always grabbing on to her to make sure that she stays up. As you can imagine, she laughs quite a lot, so my fists are permanently clenched around whatever item of clothes she happens to be wearing. She thinks this is very amusing, as you can imagine, so we often have a laugh about her stability, or rather, lack of it.

Anyway, the pool is really warm, so she is only able to do a half hour, as it relaxes the muscles and takes the strain off of her legs. She was very tired after last weeks session, but is very excited about returning tomorrow.

I took her back to BCH on Monday for her psych assessment. For 2 hours they questioned MJ to test what she is able to recall and what level she is at. We have to return to get the results.

Last Thursday we were at BCH for MJ's eye test. This also took 2 hours. They did the normal eye test, then she did a field test. This test was to check her peripheral vision, so she had to spot where the light was, while staying focused on the hole in front. After that, they put drops in her eyes to dilate the pupils. This made her eyes sting and very sensitive to light. We then saw the consultant who advised that the optic nerve is still swollen and will still need to be monitored. I pray it comes right by the next visit in April/May.

After the consultant saw MJ, she advised that photo's of the inside of the eye would need to be taken. This is when things became interesting for me. The photo looks like a red planet and the bit they are concerned with is the white disc shape - the optic nerve. They explained that on a healthy eye, the outline of the disc is clearly visible. In MJ's eye, the bottom of the nerve is not clearly visible. They will send us a copy of the photo's so we can post it on the website.

SLT advise that MJ's voice might never return to normal as the vocal cords might have been damaged because of the ventilator and subsequent chest infection MJ had in ICU. The SLT is also going to investigate if MJ's taste buds are non existent - as in non-receptive to texture and taste - or if she has to have more therapy to learn to chew again. If MJ doesn't chew, the gums don't get the massage they require, thereby leaving the gum susceptible to disease and subsequently her teeth will fall out.

On the plus side, we went to Nunnery and visited the centre where MJ will be when she eventually returns to school. It's called the Base. There is disabled access to the base, so MJ doesn't have to negotiate the stairs, or the thousands of kids that go to the school, and her friends can get to have lunch with her in the base, so she doesn't have to fight her way through the cafeteria lines either. Also, they have fantastic facilities inside there, so MJ will get lots of support. I think she may get to type her work out rather than write, as the ability to hold a pen is still not easy for her. I'll be able to tell you more after the meeting we are having on Thursday, so watch this space for further updates.