May 18, 2012
Wow it has been a long time since I have updated. Without internet and life with twins I decided some things needed to be put on hold this being one of them. We now have internet so I am hoping in the months to come to add and change a few things on the website.
Our most recent news Melissa was approved for a wish from Make-a-Wish! We are still in the process of figuring out what that wish should be but we have decided that it will be something that she can use here at home long term as we feel a trip would be too stressful for her.
Melissa is doing well. She has a fire in her soul-mostly to get out of doing any type of physical work. If we could redirect that fire to have her want to do for herself it would be amazing to see what she could do.
Melissa totally clicked with the Occupational Therapist (Lori) that she started working with last summer. She started doing HIPPO Therapy (therapy on a horse) with her and we continued with her this winter doing “land” therapy. We will start Hippo Therapy again in June along with land therapy. Lori has been great for Melissa she somehow knows how to communicate with her to find a balance between making Melissa work and not pushing her past her limit to the point of frustration. Melissa’s continues to improve in strength. She can sit upright on the couch unsupported for 5-20 minutes at a time. She is using her hands more purposefully. When in an upright position she will put them flat on the floor, she will reach out and touch things instead of just hitting them, she even has times she will grasp something (her favorite is a pom pom). Lori uses soft swings with Melissa and is able to position her in many different positions while keeping her moving-Melissa loves the swing!
HIPPO Therapy has been wonderful for Melissa. Hippo is different from just riding on the horse. Melissa is put in many positions while riding on the horse to exercise and fire different sets of muscles. We saw a big change in Melissa’s strengh in just a couple months of work on the horse.
Melissa has an I-Pad that has been great for opening up many play and learning opportunities for her.
Family support got Melissa a bike this winter and we are just now begining to use it. It is way too big for our house so we are only able to use it outside. It is wonderful for mimicking the motion of walking.
We finally found a place in our house to put a swing frame that was given to us so we can use a swing with Melissa at home now too!
We are loving all these new opportunities that Melissa is getting and we are seeing a difference in her because of it.
May 24, 2010
Swimming all the time-Melissa is having a ball swimming in the pool where we are staying. She is having her ups and downs as normal while we are treating it is most common for us to see the “big” changes when we get home.
I feel like we are seeing even more understanding with her when asking her questions. She is even more consistant with shaking her head ”yes” and “no”. We are meeting with a speech therapist while we are here. She is very excited with what she is seeing with Melissa and is going to work on a picture system for Melissa. I am so excited that we are working toward giving Melissa more options to communicate. This picrure system will ultimately give her way more opportunities to communicate with us what she needs.
May 17, 2010
We are doing more hyperbaric oxygen therapy on Melissa in Madison WI. We are doing 30 more treatments when we are done Melissa will have done 136 treatments. We decided to come now while the babies will sleep about anywhere and non-mobile. I’m sure by fall I will not be wanting to be out and about as much with Melissa, Ruben, and Tayla.
My hope with these treatments is that Melissa will sit up on her own. The ability to sit up would open more opportunities for Melissa. I would be thrilled if she could learn to feed herself and a way to communicate full time without crying and complaining.
Melissa sat up without support for 10 seconds on Sat! It is a huge start consitering a year ago she wasn’t even doing that good of a job supporting her upper body let alone balancing by herself.
Her body is getting long, long, long she has grown over 4 inches in the last 1/2 year.
She continues to shake her head yes and no more often and with more accuracy. She has also improved so much on her ability to choose an item when given a choice. The hard part is trying to figure out what she wants to choose form!
We still continue to try to get her to communicate in other ways then crying but there are days that she just screams and yells at us out of frustration when we can’t figure what she wants or needs.
She enjoys tayla and Ruben I know this not because she smiles and coos when they are aroud because she doesn’t glare at them like she did when Cade (her nephew) was born. Thanks to Cade she was good with the babies with they came home. FYI she loves Cade now too.