Well, what a week of excitement for us!
Mic received a k-frame walker on Wednesday to assist her with her walking. She has to be supervised with it at all times, and she is only allowed in it for a maximum of 5 minutes and then has to have a long break. The frame goes behind her and she pulls it along. The only thing that seriously hinders her now is the shoes. I tried so hard to get my baby some shoes that will fit over the splint, but I have yet to be successful. She now has to wear 2 different types of shoes. Her right foot has a size 4 and the other is currently a size 9 which is too big since the splint got shaved down. All I wanted was 2 pairs of shoes, one in a size 4 and the other in whatever size fits over the splint. You'd think this would be a simple task.....yeah right! I tried every shoe shop in Worcester and Brantano's in Malvern and still zip, zero, nada!!!!
Today Mic learned to negotiate the stairs on her bottom. Someone has to stay in front of her when she goes up or down the stairs, as there is a risk factor that she might slip etc. The whole day Mic has been itching to get up the stairs and see her room. Right now, she is about 10 feet away from me and I am loving every second. I can hear if she calls for me instead of sneaking downstairs to see if she is okay.
MJ also had a bath upstairs in the bathroom. She revelled in the fact that she could lay down in the bath and have the water warm her whole body instead of just a section at a time. Getting out was seriously tricky though. Whilst I have side rails for MJ to hold onto, getting her legs over the edge of the bath was the tricky bit. Again, I have to stay with her at all times.
When I took Cortni to school today, I noticed that the council have obviously headed our calls and had somebody doing a traffic survey. Maybe, just maybe we might win this battle. Don't forget to sign MJ's petition on her website and help the cause!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
School
We are now at the start of week 10 and I look at my beautiful little girl and love wrapping my arms around her and feeling her arms wrap around me as we give each other the biggest hugs. Something I thought I'd never get to do again. We even sway to music as we have always done at Christmas and new year. So, at least that will remain the same this year.
When I look at her now, I don't compare her to how she was before her accident, but I marvel at how much she has improved since her stay in ICU. I look at Mic and I don't see her chair as a problem, I just see it as part of Mic.
I love to watch her face as it lights up when her friends come to visit. She becomes so excited and it helps so much with her speech and her memory. I guess it gives MJ some sense of normality. She feels left out in a way that she has not yet made it to Nunnery, but she is on her way.
MJ's schooling starts on Tuesday. She will have one and a half hours of schooling three times a week. She will cover a range of subjects and the teacher is going to help Mic bridge the gap that has been created as a result of the accident. She will help MJ get her word association skills and number bonds back as well as trying to cover year 7 carriculum. So MJ's brain is finally going to get as much exercise as her body.....yeah!!!
When I look at her now, I don't compare her to how she was before her accident, but I marvel at how much she has improved since her stay in ICU. I look at Mic and I don't see her chair as a problem, I just see it as part of Mic.
I love to watch her face as it lights up when her friends come to visit. She becomes so excited and it helps so much with her speech and her memory. I guess it gives MJ some sense of normality. She feels left out in a way that she has not yet made it to Nunnery, but she is on her way.
MJ's schooling starts on Tuesday. She will have one and a half hours of schooling three times a week. She will cover a range of subjects and the teacher is going to help Mic bridge the gap that has been created as a result of the accident. She will help MJ get her word association skills and number bonds back as well as trying to cover year 7 carriculum. So MJ's brain is finally going to get as much exercise as her body.....yeah!!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
catch up photo's
Having a look through these photo's, I can't believe how far MJ has come. Just a few short weeks ago there was the possibility of her never being able to do the things she has so miraculously achieved. She continues to astound everybody with the amount of progress she makes.
She has an eye test at the hospital tomorrow and is getting quite anxious about it. I think she is nervous that she might have to stay there. I keep telling her not to worry and have made plans with her for after the test. She's still not convinced.
Physio has been going really well. As you can see from the pics, she is able to kneel and throw and catch a ball. She can't do it for long, but she is able to do it. Short term goals for this month, MJ is to kneel for longer, crawl on the floor, and stand to brush her teeth.
She was on BBC Hereford and Worcester radio on Monday, and she commented that she thinks she may have dropped money and bent to pick it up when the car hit her..... As for the rumours that MJ was playing chicken, all I can say to the person who started this rumour...You were not there, just as I was not there, so don't make assumptions about something you know so little about. If you read my very first entry, you will see quite clearly that I in no way, shape or form ever admitted to knowing what happend that day, I have never blamed anybody, so what gives you the right???? What I do know is that my child is and always has been safety conscious. She was crossing busy roads, by herself, long before many of her friends and she started to walk home, by herself, long before any of her friends.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Beacon Centre
Today MJ went for her first outpatient physio session. It was great. No tears! MJ tried really hard with weight transferring, log rolling on the mat and kneeling. I was most impressed by the kneeling, as the last time I saw Mic go on her knees, she cried bucket loads and couldn't handle the pressure on her knee for too long. Today, she was completely different. She managed to stay on her knees and balance for some time. She stood by herself too. She even managed to flex her toes on her left foot. The movement isn't huge, but at least there is movement. I bet anything that before next week, Mic's big toe will be flexing back quite a bit.
She really enjoys the physio sessions and sees a lot of the activities as games. It helps when she's bored and wants to wind her sisters up, so she gets them to participate.
Hopefully the teachers will be in contact soon so that MJ's mind can get the work out it requires so all of her heals at a rapid pace.
She really enjoys the physio sessions and sees a lot of the activities as games. It helps when she's bored and wants to wind her sisters up, so she gets them to participate.
Hopefully the teachers will be in contact soon so that MJ's mind can get the work out it requires so all of her heals at a rapid pace.
Feels like Christmas
Week 8 since the accident: Just over 6 weeks ago, if someone told me then that MJ would be home again with me, I would not have believed it. I was dreading Christmas. Now, it feels like Christmas everyday. I can't stop smiling.
MJ had her first session of physio this afternoon since she has been home. The new exercises she has been taught are really fun. She was shown an exercise to stretch her right arm, which entails her touching her nose and then touching my finger. She laughs so much as she streches to reach my finger as I move it about, and yes, she still tries to cheat as she becomes more excited. The mischieviousness in her has certainly not been lost.
Tomorrow we have to go to the community centre to for a session there. MJ just wants to walk and get out of her chair and splint. We've told her she needs to be patient and that it will happen when it happens. It's good that she has the determination though.
School should begin again in earnest for MJ next week, so no more slacking. It will be good when she gets her word bank back. Perhaps she will learn to say more than yeah/stuff/no when asked a question. Her 'favouite' saying right now is: my nail broke!
For those that want to visit MJ, please get my number from Di/Mandy/or anybody else that has it and I will pencil you in.
Well, as it is past 1am, I think I should try get some sleep. P.S. Thanks Katie and Aunt Cath for coming to the rescue yet again. Love you guys.
MJ had her first session of physio this afternoon since she has been home. The new exercises she has been taught are really fun. She was shown an exercise to stretch her right arm, which entails her touching her nose and then touching my finger. She laughs so much as she streches to reach my finger as I move it about, and yes, she still tries to cheat as she becomes more excited. The mischieviousness in her has certainly not been lost.
Tomorrow we have to go to the community centre to for a session there. MJ just wants to walk and get out of her chair and splint. We've told her she needs to be patient and that it will happen when it happens. It's good that she has the determination though.
School should begin again in earnest for MJ next week, so no more slacking. It will be good when she gets her word bank back. Perhaps she will learn to say more than yeah/stuff/no when asked a question. Her 'favouite' saying right now is: my nail broke!
For those that want to visit MJ, please get my number from Di/Mandy/or anybody else that has it and I will pencil you in.
Well, as it is past 1am, I think I should try get some sleep. P.S. Thanks Katie and Aunt Cath for coming to the rescue yet again. Love you guys.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
McAyla is home!
Today would have been the start of Mic's 8th week of being in hospital, but instead she is home with us!
It's so unbelievable to have her home. The whole week she has been really anxious about coming home, and now that she is here, I don't think she can quite believe it herself. She keeps waking up in the night and saying how she wants to go home, and I keep reassuring her that she is home.
She also worries continuously about her medicines running out and also when she can have the hospital bracelet off. She is still experiencing a lack of short term memory, so if you visit her and she goes over the same things, don't get annoyed, it's just her brain trying to get the messages across.
Getting MJ in and out of the car with the wheelchair is a bit of a mission, but she handles it all really well. The process we go through is: we push her to the front door on the commode (portable loo), she then has to stand up, step off the stair at the front of the house, turn, sit in her chair, push her to the car, stand, turn and place her bottom on the seat. Voila she is in the car. We are also having to assess places we can go with her, for disabled access, long before we even get there.
All things said and done, I'm just really glad she's home. I'll go through all the hardship of transferring, as long as she is home with me.
During this last week MJ has learned to stand for a lot longer, she has managed to transfer her weight from one leg to another, physio had her in the parallel bars, so she could learn to walk. MJ walked the length of the bed whilst one of the physio's held her waist and the other held her right arm.
Mic is a changing picture every week. All the medical staff have been so amazed by her progress. I took Mic back to ICU earlier in the week to give them a thank you card. Very emotional for me to go back in there. None of the nurses that looked after Mic were on duty at the time. There was a docotor that remembered us though, although he couldn't quite remember why. When we left, he obviously had a look at the records and soon after came up to the ward. He spoke with the nurses and then came to chat with me. He told me that he couldn't believe the progress Mic has made thus far. He admitted that they never thought Mic would ever wake up fully. There were 2 other cases of kids being knocked over by cars when MJ was in ICU. The doc told me that whilst each of the kids were doing different things, MJ was by far the least responsive. He also said that he was going back to ICU to tell everyone what wonderful progress Mic has made. (I gave them the details of the website so they can keep up to date with her progress.)
I'm going to rush downstairs now to see if my little princess is awake and make her some pancakes for breakfast.
It's so unbelievable to have her home. The whole week she has been really anxious about coming home, and now that she is here, I don't think she can quite believe it herself. She keeps waking up in the night and saying how she wants to go home, and I keep reassuring her that she is home.
She also worries continuously about her medicines running out and also when she can have the hospital bracelet off. She is still experiencing a lack of short term memory, so if you visit her and she goes over the same things, don't get annoyed, it's just her brain trying to get the messages across.
Getting MJ in and out of the car with the wheelchair is a bit of a mission, but she handles it all really well. The process we go through is: we push her to the front door on the commode (portable loo), she then has to stand up, step off the stair at the front of the house, turn, sit in her chair, push her to the car, stand, turn and place her bottom on the seat. Voila she is in the car. We are also having to assess places we can go with her, for disabled access, long before we even get there.
All things said and done, I'm just really glad she's home. I'll go through all the hardship of transferring, as long as she is home with me.
During this last week MJ has learned to stand for a lot longer, she has managed to transfer her weight from one leg to another, physio had her in the parallel bars, so she could learn to walk. MJ walked the length of the bed whilst one of the physio's held her waist and the other held her right arm.
Mic is a changing picture every week. All the medical staff have been so amazed by her progress. I took Mic back to ICU earlier in the week to give them a thank you card. Very emotional for me to go back in there. None of the nurses that looked after Mic were on duty at the time. There was a docotor that remembered us though, although he couldn't quite remember why. When we left, he obviously had a look at the records and soon after came up to the ward. He spoke with the nurses and then came to chat with me. He told me that he couldn't believe the progress Mic has made thus far. He admitted that they never thought Mic would ever wake up fully. There were 2 other cases of kids being knocked over by cars when MJ was in ICU. The doc told me that whilst each of the kids were doing different things, MJ was by far the least responsive. He also said that he was going back to ICU to tell everyone what wonderful progress Mic has made. (I gave them the details of the website so they can keep up to date with her progress.)
I'm going to rush downstairs now to see if my little princess is awake and make her some pancakes for breakfast.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
A hectic week of progress
Wow! We are at the 7 week mark! It feels like a life time.
Mic has progressed so much, so quickly, myself and staff are amazed.
On Monday MJ wasn't able to colour in a picture, she was just barely able to keep the pen on the page and she kept colouring the same spot. By Thursday, MJ was able to colour half a picture. MJ was also assessed for her wheelchair and by Friday, OT had to phone the wheelchair service and have them change the order.
On Wednesday, MJ tried kneeling and sitting with her legs crossed, but her left knee is still quite swollen, so it pulls when stretched. She persists though and tries to get through it as best she can. I have to say that the cheating doesn't stop with thumb wars. If MJ can cheat in the physio session to achieve the goal, believe me, she gives it a go. The physio's don't let her get away with it all the time though.
MJ has also received the machine that can talk for her. She types : I love u, quite a bit. I tell her to tell me rather than type it out. She has hardly used the machine this weekend though. The nurses are also encouraging her to speak more rather than use the machine.
MJ is able to pull herself up to a sitting position which she couldn't do last week. She is also able to assist with transferring herself from the wheelchair to the bed. Her legs are not strong in the least, but at least she is able to pick them up and with loads of support she can take two steps. She is not yet able to stand, I might add, but at least she is trying.
She is also talking louder now. She seems to be scared when she hears her own voice, but when she is relaxed and laughs with friends, nurses and family, she forgets and becomes louder as she laughs.
MJ also had her first trip outside of the hospital on Saturday, with me (Mum) and Cortni. It was very cold and MJ did not enjoy the trip. I think she became aware of people staring and also of the fact that she couldn't see me as I was pushing her. That in itself must have frustrated her as I think she knew she should be walking. I don't think she liked the crowds and noise either.
I learned that the wheelchair is a lot heavier than I imagined, and I also became aware that I couldn't navigate the streets as if pushing a buggy/pram. I kept having to look where she could get off/on the pavement and how bumpy the pavements and streets are. I also became aware that some shop aisles are just not wide enough for a wheelchair, and dodging people is not as easy as if pushing a baby in a pushchair.
Today at the hospital, MJ was learning to push herself in the chair. Obviously her right hand is not quite strong enough, so she might not manage to get to the right place, and she doesn't have the strength to push herself too far, but the girl has guts and she tries.
Thanks again to the friends who have visited and for the gifts they have given to McAyla and Cortni. Thank you Mandy, Keith, Kim and Ash for your special gift, it is very much appreciated.
I have loads of photo's to post, but will do a catch up on those another day.
Mic has progressed so much, so quickly, myself and staff are amazed.
On Monday MJ wasn't able to colour in a picture, she was just barely able to keep the pen on the page and she kept colouring the same spot. By Thursday, MJ was able to colour half a picture. MJ was also assessed for her wheelchair and by Friday, OT had to phone the wheelchair service and have them change the order.
On Wednesday, MJ tried kneeling and sitting with her legs crossed, but her left knee is still quite swollen, so it pulls when stretched. She persists though and tries to get through it as best she can. I have to say that the cheating doesn't stop with thumb wars. If MJ can cheat in the physio session to achieve the goal, believe me, she gives it a go. The physio's don't let her get away with it all the time though.
MJ has also received the machine that can talk for her. She types : I love u, quite a bit. I tell her to tell me rather than type it out. She has hardly used the machine this weekend though. The nurses are also encouraging her to speak more rather than use the machine.
MJ is able to pull herself up to a sitting position which she couldn't do last week. She is also able to assist with transferring herself from the wheelchair to the bed. Her legs are not strong in the least, but at least she is able to pick them up and with loads of support she can take two steps. She is not yet able to stand, I might add, but at least she is trying.
She is also talking louder now. She seems to be scared when she hears her own voice, but when she is relaxed and laughs with friends, nurses and family, she forgets and becomes louder as she laughs.
MJ also had her first trip outside of the hospital on Saturday, with me (Mum) and Cortni. It was very cold and MJ did not enjoy the trip. I think she became aware of people staring and also of the fact that she couldn't see me as I was pushing her. That in itself must have frustrated her as I think she knew she should be walking. I don't think she liked the crowds and noise either.
I learned that the wheelchair is a lot heavier than I imagined, and I also became aware that I couldn't navigate the streets as if pushing a buggy/pram. I kept having to look where she could get off/on the pavement and how bumpy the pavements and streets are. I also became aware that some shop aisles are just not wide enough for a wheelchair, and dodging people is not as easy as if pushing a baby in a pushchair.
Today at the hospital, MJ was learning to push herself in the chair. Obviously her right hand is not quite strong enough, so she might not manage to get to the right place, and she doesn't have the strength to push herself too far, but the girl has guts and she tries.
Thanks again to the friends who have visited and for the gifts they have given to McAyla and Cortni. Thank you Mandy, Keith, Kim and Ash for your special gift, it is very much appreciated.
I have loads of photo's to post, but will do a catch up on those another day.
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