First Few Day at Mt. Washington
The 1st few days at Mt. Washington have proven to be busy ones, good but busy. Ian has done many things, some 1st and some not...
The most important thing that happened was Wednesday afternoon, Becca got to come visit. Visitors have to be 7 or older to come to Mt. Washington...so no hebrew school for Becca on Wednesday, it was getting picked up by Nana at school and coming to see Ian at Mt. Washington....both kids were extremely happy to be able to see each other and catch up for a little bit. Tango chats have worked wonders while Ian was at Hopkins and for days/nights when Becca can not come to Mt. Washington. Tango chats have also worked wonders for Nana and PopPop, Nana and Pop, Aunt Susan, Uncle David, Kiki, Josh, Devin, Uncle Eric and Noah, Uncle Mike, Jen, Kirsten, Hayden, Gabe and Lucas...as well as some special friends.
Speech therapy has started and with that has come the ability to eat...at least a little bit. On Thursday, he had some yogurt and lemonade. On Friday, he had some pureed peaches and more lemonade...only about an ounce each day. He will continue to be able to eat about an ounce each day with the speech therapists until he has a swallowing study done to help the doctors determine if he will be able to continue to eat. Also with speech therapy on Thursday, he started using the speaking valve. He was only able to have it on for 15 minutes. Friday he had it on for about 20 minutes. They will continue to work with him with the speaking valve while here until they feel he can have it permanently.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Ian got into his wheelchair for about 30-40 minutes. This morning, his physical therapists and occupational therapists came to work with him....bright and early (actually for those of you who have been around for a long time....Friday morning at 7:30 is our normal outpatient slot so they came to see him). They worked on getting him into his chair and set up a protocol for Ian to be in his chair daily 2-3 times a day gradually increasing the length of each sitting. I am not sure how often they will be coming to do therapy with him. I will have to look in to that on Monday. I am not sure he will get much physical therapy or occupational therapy while here but we will see.
On Thursday, Ian had a special visitor.....Yuba the therapy dog....
and as you can tell they became instant friends. Yuba, was quite happy getting up on Ian's bed and resting...Yuba came back to visit today, while Ian played some games on the IPad....oh wait, Yuba took a nice nap.
Yuba did make one more visit on Friday early evening to say good night to Ian and to tell him to have a nice weekend. Yuba has off on the weekends and on Mondays...so we will not see him again until Tuesday. I know Ian will miss his new friend...as well as we will need to wash all of Ian's blankets before he does get to go home...not sure Joey will be very happy.
Today, Ian started school with his tutor here. She was here for about an hour. They did some math and reading. Being the wonderful parents that Brian and I are, we asked about homework. She said she was going to give him a break since it was a long weekend. Our response....he has had a 6 week break...he can have homework....so Ian has homework...
Well tonight is my night with Ian, he is finally asleep, which allowed me to update the blog...he wanted my attention tonight...so we sat and watched movies, and I got to hold his hand....XOXO....
Now time for me to get to sleep. Rest well everyone.
The most important thing that happened was Wednesday afternoon, Becca got to come visit. Visitors have to be 7 or older to come to Mt. Washington...so no hebrew school for Becca on Wednesday, it was getting picked up by Nana at school and coming to see Ian at Mt. Washington....both kids were extremely happy to be able to see each other and catch up for a little bit. Tango chats have worked wonders while Ian was at Hopkins and for days/nights when Becca can not come to Mt. Washington. Tango chats have also worked wonders for Nana and PopPop, Nana and Pop, Aunt Susan, Uncle David, Kiki, Josh, Devin, Uncle Eric and Noah, Uncle Mike, Jen, Kirsten, Hayden, Gabe and Lucas...as well as some special friends.
Speech therapy has started and with that has come the ability to eat...at least a little bit. On Thursday, he had some yogurt and lemonade. On Friday, he had some pureed peaches and more lemonade...only about an ounce each day. He will continue to be able to eat about an ounce each day with the speech therapists until he has a swallowing study done to help the doctors determine if he will be able to continue to eat. Also with speech therapy on Thursday, he started using the speaking valve. He was only able to have it on for 15 minutes. Friday he had it on for about 20 minutes. They will continue to work with him with the speaking valve while here until they feel he can have it permanently.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Ian got into his wheelchair for about 30-40 minutes. This morning, his physical therapists and occupational therapists came to work with him....bright and early (actually for those of you who have been around for a long time....Friday morning at 7:30 is our normal outpatient slot so they came to see him). They worked on getting him into his chair and set up a protocol for Ian to be in his chair daily 2-3 times a day gradually increasing the length of each sitting. I am not sure how often they will be coming to do therapy with him. I will have to look in to that on Monday. I am not sure he will get much physical therapy or occupational therapy while here but we will see.
On Thursday, Ian had a special visitor.....Yuba the therapy dog....
and as you can tell they became instant friends. Yuba, was quite happy getting up on Ian's bed and resting...Yuba came back to visit today, while Ian played some games on the IPad....oh wait, Yuba took a nice nap.
Today, Ian started school with his tutor here. She was here for about an hour. They did some math and reading. Being the wonderful parents that Brian and I are, we asked about homework. She said she was going to give him a break since it was a long weekend. Our response....he has had a 6 week break...he can have homework....so Ian has homework...
Well tonight is my night with Ian, he is finally asleep, which allowed me to update the blog...he wanted my attention tonight...so we sat and watched movies, and I got to hold his hand....XOXO....
Now time for me to get to sleep. Rest well everyone.
Annelise Sullivan Great news! Hope he keeps working towards the goal of getting home. Is Becca camping this weekend?
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Audrey D Kline Great update, Marci. So glad to hear about Ian's progress, Becca's visit, and Ian's new pal, Yuba! Had to laugh about the homework. Hope you have some good rest tonight.
Marci Weinberg Scher Annelise Sullivan yes Becca and I are camping this weekend. I will be meeting everyone up there a little later.
Carye George Everett I am going to be there Monday from 1-4. Let me know if you are up for a visit. Glad things are going well. I hope you are finding things ok.
Kendra Bober Have been busy bit thinking about you guys! Glad to see Ian in his new setting...it looks better for you all! Big hugs all around!
Traci Kodeck Loving Yuba just relaxing with Ian!!! Mt Washington has good people!! Keep up the good work Ian
Alana Vickery So glad to here Ian is doing well! And of course, great news w/ speech!! He's making good progress :)
Lisa Goldberg Burgunder Awesome! I'm so happy things are continuing to move in the right direction :)
Adam Ziman I am glad to see Ian is on the road to recovery and thank you for taking the time to do the update.
Alyssa Faye I'm also so happy that Ian is beginning to do more and that he got to see his sister. Keep hanging in there!