Big day! This morning we visited a place called Rehab Without Walls, recommended by Heath's physiatrist, to see about scheduling an intensive three-week block of therapy for him in January. The daily, two-hour sessions would be aimed at helping Heath reach a specific physical goal. I think if we asked Heath what he most wants to work on, the answer would be a loud and clear, "Walk! Walk! Walk!" So, our goal will be to help get him going in some type of assistive walker. First we tried him out in this thing, called a gait trainer....
No problem, there! This thing might be helpful for him to do some mall-walking workouts to build muscle, but it's too easy to be his main set of wheels. By January, we hope that finding some stability in a posterior walker will be a reachable goal. Here he is taking a couple of tentative steps with a helping hand from Hunter.
Heath was clearly having a ball in this place, which was filled with trampolines, harnesses, weighted pulleys, wheeled contraptions, bodysuits full of resistance bands, and millions of toys and games to make boot camp as motivating as possible. We met a three- or four-year old boy who used to rely on a walker and is now walking independently. It was hugely inspiring to think, "That's gonna be Heath!"
In other news, we had an absolutely fantastic Halloween. We reunited with a few of Heath's tube weaning comrades, all of whom are either eating independently or just getting some supplementary fluid through the tube now. We love you, little eaters!! Check out Matthew in the back who is dressed as a hamburger! :-)
Heath was terribly excited to go trick-or-treating and even said "Thank you!" in sign language. He went as a park ranger....
And Daddy went as J.R. Ewing. Looking good, fellas!
Heath has received three wonderful gifts recently and we are so grateful.
Big thanks go to Grandpa Ed, who got the bright idea to make Heath a set of parallel bars. These will be great practice for developing grip and balance he can use in the walker! Right now he's getting comfortable standing in them while he watches football.
And my mom picked out this wonderful art set, which has brushes with easy-to-hold handles. Thanks Grandma! I'm sure you'll be getting some original paintings very soon!
(Heath's first sentence was "Art up!" Meaning, "Dad, check out all that great ART I did, which is UP on the wall!")
Finally, Food Face was a present from Uncle Brooks, and Heath loves to giggle at his daily makeovers.
In other food news, Mama has been gaga over The Sneaky Chef! OMG!! This lady deserves an award for service to humanity. Her cookbooks are full of creative ways to get super-healthy foods into kids' meals. So far, I've wowed Heath with brownies containing spinach and blueberries, easy-to-chew meatballs full of yams and carrots, and a "Sneakwich," made from flattened, crustless wheat bread with healthy fillings hidden inside and the edges crimped with a fork. My skills at pureeing foods (for tube feeding purposes) are coming in handy again as I learn how to cook and bake with veggie, fruit, and bean purees that slip clandestinely into yummy, fun-looking foods. I can't recommend The Sneaky Chef highly enough to parents of new eaters or kids with a limited repertoire of "safe" foods. You just might figure out how to make those foods a whole lot healthier! OK, pitch over. I'm going to go help myself to a Brainy Brownie....
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
I am SOOO happy that you took Heath to that place. It seems like he is so happy and i'm glad to see that they are not afraid to try the gait trainer or any other assisted device!(btw, can't they just strip it down and use it as a walker for now?) How wonderful to see him running like that! And the Sneaky chef is cool. We have the first book for Anna. The only problem is that she won't even eat the food I'm supposed to sneak the good food into (except for the goodies of course). Oh wait, it's GIA that has the eating issue.... ha ha ha.
Everyone looks great for Halloween. Hope Heath enjoyed his candy!
Posted by: daria | November 12, 2010 at 06:04 PM
Great Halloween costumes! I look forward to your updates all the time. :)
Posted by: Tara | November 14, 2010 at 07:47 PM