James got his transfer to Victoria rehab on Thursday last week!  So James and I are in Victoria now.  He is doing well and enjoying his therapy sessions.  He tryed to pull his feeding tube out this weekend though.  He got all the clamps and "hardware" off of the tube yesterday morning and had to go to x ray to make sure that it was still in place.  I have asked physio to come up with lots of weekend homework for him this week!  This boy needs to keep busy!  There are no therapy sessions on the weekend so I think that it had a lot to do with boredom.  It was interesting too,  I woke up last night with a start early in the morning hours.  I was having a dream that James was trying to pull the tube out again.  This morning I got to the hospital to discover that he pulled the tube apart again early this morning!  He didnt sleep really at all last night and was totally exsausted this morning.   He could barely keep his head up,  or his eyes open.  He was a trooper though and did all his therapies.  He perked up a bit during physio though,  and then had a great nap mid day.  His feeds changed today too.  He was being fed all night at a slow rate,  now he is being fed at a faster rate,  three seperate times.  Tonight is the first night in a long time that he can sleep without being disturbed or having to stay sitting up.  He will be able to lie right down from 11:00 tonight until 530am.  He has a special call bell on his bed too,  and he has used it.  It is a flat disc that he just needs to push.  Today in physio he got to try a new machine in the gym ( after an assisted walking session with the physio team)  The machine is called Nu-step.  He sits on a seat and it has walking peddals.  It also has "ski pole type" bars for your arms.  He really enjoyed it and had fun trying to make it go as fast as he could.  He did a great 5 minute session on it and we will increase the time he spends on it each session.  The wheelchair he has here is a lot different than the one he had in Comox too.  This one has very little support and no head rest.  He is doing really well with it.  I do try to get him to have a couple of short lie down in bed times during the day right now to rest his neck and shoulders.  He seems to need to have a break from the chair less each day though.  All in all things are going well.

Still waiting for transfer to Victoria for rehab.  If nothing has happened by the time we reach a week of waiting I am going to see about nagging.  The squeeky wheel gets the grease!  Yesterday James got to try the parallel  bars for walking.  Rick was right there for help and correction and had to help with mostly verbal instruction and and correction  quite a bit,  but James did the work.  He did awesome!  Before bed I had him standing and sitting at the edge of his bed quite a bit too. 

When the nurse came on shift last night she popped in to see James and myself.  She had picked up a gift for James!  She is going off shift for 4 days and wanted to get it to him in case we were gone when she came back.  It was so sweet. He reached into the bag and pulled it out on his own. She got him a series of little stuffed animals and a stuffed flower.  She wrote a note to explain the significance of them.  The flower is because a flower blooms year after year and so will James.  The lion is for bravery,  The donkey for stubborness ( which will take him a long way in rehab) and the giraffe to remind him to keep his head up ( physically and emotionally).  Those are definetely going to Victoria with him!

Alot has happened this week!  James used a regular walker yesterday for physio.  Rick( physio guy) was unsure about how it would go, but was game to try it.  He put a belt with handles on it on James and had him hang on to the walker.  He warned him that he may wind up on the floor,  but that he (Rick) would make sure it was a slow easy landing.  James kept strong on his legs the whole time!  He was not ready to stop when time was up!  He is constantly signing "I walk" and has been mad at me because I have to keep telling him that he has to wait for Rick!  He is desperate to come home and often signs, " I can go home!"  and "I want to go home". Tonight he signed to me that he wanted "Rock, Roll" and the name of a band he wanted to listen to that is on his mp3 player!  He has been cooperating beautifully with the staff this week,  and tube feeds are no longer a fight!  He wants to use the bathroom in a bad way,  and we have gotten him in there a few times,  with success.  But the bathroom is so small that it is difficult to get him in and out of there safely. He also needs to practice his mobility more to become better at it and he only gets physio for a half hour at a time 3-4 times a week.  He has also started to finger type on the keyboard with fairly good results.  He has also started drawing recognizable letters on the ipad with his finger.  He rocks at playing tic tac toe on the ipad too.  He always either wins or ties.  Speech and language has been very impressed with him too.  He is doing some great work with doing exercises with his lips and tongue.  He is following direction to open his mouth and let her look in his mouth with a tongue depressor.  He is now putting on his own shoes with just a little help,  and brushes his own teeth.
Now the big news!!!  James is on the transfer list to go to Victoria to be assessed for rehab at Vic General! 

I told James tonight that i thought that it was unfair that he is making me blog twice in one day! So tonight I put James back to bed ( without a sling! He transferred himself!) and he got very upset after he was in bed. I did eventually guess that he wanted to walk some more! When I was trying to guess at what was upsetting him, and he started trying to write in the air with his finger. I could not for the life of me figure out what he was writing though. I started showing him the sign language alphabet and he was copying me mostly with his right hand, the second time through I said the letter and he knew the first half of the alphabet! His speech and language therapist is going to be shocked when she sees him next! She has been trying to get him to stick out his tongue. He not been wanting to cooperate. Today he started sticking his tongue right out and moving it around when asked. Being able to manage his tongue is a big part of being able to start to eat. Tomorrow James' doctor and Speech and language therapist should be stopping by. I am super excvited to tell them about his week!

Oh My!!!!  Today has been amazing and it is only 11:00 am!  James was not suposed to have physio today,  but when I arrived this morning he was rip roaring ready to go and trying to sit up in bed and putting his legs over the edge of the bed.  I told physio what he was doing and Rick came in to work with him.  He suggested that we see if he can sit on the edge of the bed.  We put the walking sling on him but did not hook it up.  James` girlfriend, Rae, was visiting today,  so after James got himself sitting on the edge of the bed with just a little bit of help,  Rick got Rae on one side of James and myself on the other.  He instructed James to put his arms around our shoulders and move his hips to the edge of the bed.  Then he told James to stand up.  James followed instructions beautifully!  He was antsy to take steps, so starting slowly we walked with him around the room.  He picked up speed and coordination as we went.  Rick kept having to nag me to keep up because James was taking big steps and picking up speed!  Lol!  We were hoping to walk out into the hallway,  but James stopped when he realized we were headed for the door,  we turned around and stayed in the room and he kept walking.  Tomorrow we are going to try the big walker again and just use a transfer belt instead of the walking sling.  He still has no speech, but he is starting to use signs and we are starting to hear different vocalizations.  I am hoping he can go to rehab soon!  At this rate it very well could be rehab in Victoria!