James and his speech therapist at rehab called me with some exciting news today!  James had another swallow assessment today and he passed with flying colours with the puree!  It will still be quite a while before he can replace a meal because he needs to build up his swallowing muscles.  But he is heading in the right direction!  He is going to start working with the speech therapist on monday next week with taking a little bit of puree by mouth everyday!  Then next Friday is discharge day!  He will be really home at the end of next week!  He also came home with a walker the last two weekends.  He is doing quite well with it and we will be able to borrow one from red cross.  He is still  needing a spotter when he walks,  as his balance and reflexes are still not great.  But I notice a difference each weekend! 

Last weekend Mark drove down island to pick up an adult trike bike that was offered to us from some friends of Gramma's for James.  We had an opportunity to take James to the local school parking lot to try it out today.  James loved it!  He didn't want to get off and rode it home!  After we got home he asked when we could go for a family bike ride!  He rode it for about half an hour and would have liked to continue!  I guess whenever we get a break in the weather on the weekends we will be taking him back to the school to practice!

 

We had a nice longweekend with James home this past weekend.  I picked up a connect four game and he had a great time winning against all of us!  James is working hard on all his therapies.  He has a lot of exercises to do each day for his speech and language therapy.  His swallow is still a bit slow and not timed well enough to take anything by mouth yet.  He also has a bit of a cough that wont go away.  We are hoping that the exercises will help and he is going to get another assessment done either the last week of October or the first week of november.  If his swallow still isnt better he may have to go to a specialist for a scope of his throat.  It is possible that there is some scarring that could be getting in the way.  Last week he had an EEG because the doctor thought that the tremors in his right arm could be seizure activity ( I didnt think it was, since it shakes all  day and then stops when he falls asleep)  He was on the EEG for an hour and a half and his arm shook the whole time,  but no seizure activily showed up.  So they are pretty sure it is a brain injury related tremor.  It may just go away with time,  but the doctor sent a video of the tremor to a specialist in Edmonton.  James new chair should be arriving in the next week!  Then he will have an ipad mounted on it at the end of October.  The ipad will have his communication program on it.  James is super excited about halloween and I am planning to bring him home on the 31st for a super long weekend that week.