Saturday 2 February 2013

January was definelty a marathon month for appointments!  Glad that is done!

 James now has a nighttime resting splint for his right hand.  He also had injections in his right arm and shoulder to relax the muscles that are working overtime.  It seems to be helping in some areas.  His thumb and his wrist are much easier to move and I have caught him using that right hand a bit more.

 There is now an exercise therapist coming to the house and working with James twice a week.  He has physio three times a week,  so he has an awesome 5 day a week physio scheduel now! 

The swallow assesment went well.  He has trouble drinking from a straw,  but thick puree,  and liquid from a cup went well.  He is down to 1.5 cans of tube feed a day now,  although I am using the other 1/2 can a day instead of milk on his weetabix or oatmeal in the morning.  I am hoping that I can have him drinking a cup of juice at each meal by the time we go to his next swallow assessment in mid March.  If he is taking in enough fluid and calories by then we can figure out when the feeding tube can come out!

We are waiting for a prism lense to come in for James'  right eye.  He has gained back a lot of movement in that eye,  but still has some double vision close up,  due to the up and down movement of the eye still being difficult.

He is able to do his own transfers in and out of his chair now.  His balance is improving slowly,  and he is getting better on the walker. He still needs a spotter close by when he is on the walker though.

We now have a speech therapist working with James on vocalization! She is seeing him once or twice a month when she has a cancellation spot right now, Then in a month or two, she will see him once a week.  He did well with her last week.  He was sure tired afterwards !  They worked a lot on diaphram breathing and making a few different sounds.