May 9, 2011

We love having Timmy home

Time to update those that who still follow Timmy and share the few good things that have happened since he came home at the end of January.

His family feels he's adjusted really well to being home. He smiles all the time and laughs just about as much. I wish you could look into his eyes, there is just so much life and softness in them now and he still has those long dark lashes he was born with, so his eyes are beautiful. He's never without his family anymore, his family is here with him always now and that's the way it should be. We don't use "yes" and "no" cards anymore for communication, he's really good at nodding his head yes and no. So, communication has greatly improved. And since he's come home, he's off 2 medications. He is no longer getting daily Lovenox injections to prevent blood clots and takes a baby aspirin each day instead. And he no longer takes blood pressure medicine for his fast heart rate, he doesn't need it anymore. His blood pressure and heart rate stay in a normal range. It's awesome :) And today, he started his first day of neuro physical therapy at Dominican Rehab.

Today was Timmy's first day of physical therapy with Dominican. Timmy was cooperative and smiley and even kept scrunching his nose at his therapist, like he does to others in his family. She measured his muscle tone, went through range of motion with him to see how his body responded and had him do things we hadn't tried yet, like having him try to raise his hips and raise his head while laying on his back. He did well, especially with the head raising. She then sat him at the edge of the table, with his feet on the floor. She showed us how to put a sheet low around his waist, and pull towards the person sitting in front of him, which helped to stretch his lower back. Timmy really liked that. And when it was time to put him back in his wheelchair, instead of transferring him with the lift, she kept him in a seated position and scooted him across a board from the table to his chair. She explained doing it like that helped to send signals to his brain. We are pretty happy with the treatment he received so far and are looking forward to better things to come for Timmy. Weds he will be evaluated by an occupational therapist and we are being told he's really good. So, starting this week, he will be having 3 days of therapy per week, so he'll be getting into a routine. We will also be getting a referral to see a physiatrist. And that will be nice since I consider the one he saw a total of 1 time at Kaiser was crap.

So those that still look for updates on Timmy, thank you for continuing to think about him. I know he's still in people's prayers and I thank you for that. Prayers, Timmy's family and friends believing and Timmy's will to live is what got us this far. I hope that every future update I do, will contain progress made by Timmy. So keep rooting for us, we love you and appreciate it.

Dawn
Timmy's mom.