More Chit-Chat

One Word Wednesday

**Sunny**

Confusion

Do not be confused, there IS a difference between Hi & Bye:

A little more on the Daddy/Jesus Confusion:

True Love…

True love means finding the person who can make you feel all better when you’ve had a bad day:

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend we had our very last swim class at the YMCA.  We have had so much fun going there every Saturday morning and Ryder has gotten more and more comfortable in the water each week.  The first week he had the death grip on me for most of the class, but by the last class he was floating around on his stomach with me just having my hands stretched out under him, he would sit on the side of the pool and let me pull him in by his hands, and he even went under the water one time!  So the fact that he still likes the water and isn’t completely traumatized is wonderful!

  

 

 

After swim class it was time to go home and get cleaned up for a wedding.  My boys clean up so nice…unfortunately I only snapped one picture during the wedding!

It was a long day & night, Ryder was delirious by the time we got home!

Now today we’re just soaking up our last bit of time together before I leave to go on travel for work in the morning :(  I’ll be gone Monday – Thursday, but don’t worry I’ve got some cute videos set to post so that everyone (besides me!) can get their Ryder fix. 

The Left Side

The other major side effect of Ryder’s stroke is the weakness in his left side.  Now that he has been pulling up, we have noticed a huge improvement in the strength of his leg.  The only concern we have with his left leg right now is that his foot rolls inward when he’s standing, but until he starts walking we won’t know if it’s even an issue or not.  And, when he goes from kneeling to sitting, he often forgets to swing his left leg around, so it’s stuck under him.  We just remind him, “fix your leg”, and help him get it out.

 

His left arm is where the biggest challenge comes, specifically with his hand.  He currently doesn’t have a pincer grasp with his left hand, or the ability to point or use his fingers separately.  With that said, he is finally gaining awareness of his left hand and passes objects back and forth frequently.  In most cases, “righty” is holding something, but then Ryder sees something new that he wants, he passes the old news object to “lefty” to hold onto as he grabs the newer, cooler toy.  Somewhere in the process lefty has let go of the toy that was old news anyway, and its out of sight out of mind for that toy…unless of course “righty” decides it’s cool again.  Did I lose you? 

 

In therapy we are working on stimulation a lot with lefty.  We have all kinds of different brushes, fabrics, and vibrating machines that we rub up and down his arm and on his hand, trying to get his brain to recognize different sensations.  It’s hard with a baby because you can’t ask them “can you feel that?” or “what does this feel like?” so we aren’t exactly sure how much sensation he even has in that side.  We know he can feel it, because he’s ticklish, we just don’t know to what extent the feeling has come back. 

 

Two-handed play is a huge challenge, and I’m sad to say that Ryder is at the age now where he’s starting to get frustrated.  If there is a round ball that he wants to pick up and throw, it sets him over the edge to not be able to.  Sometimes he will completely surprise us and pick up the ball using lefty to assist, but most times he will try so hard with one hand and then swat the ball away and crawl off all disturbed, until he sees something better to play with anyway.  Take that big round ball!  We’re working on a lot of different two-handed activities in therapy, mostly just trying to get him to hold a big object with his left hand so that his right hand can play.

 

Two of the most challenging parts about his affected hand are 1) getting him to stop fisting.  He tends to ball his hand up and squeeze so tight any time he is balancing himself, concentrating on something, or eating!  And 2) is supination, which is turning his forearm over so that his palm is facing up.  That is by far the tightest muscle on him, I try to stretch it out every day, but I can tell it’s going to be one of the hardest parts for him to overcome. 

 

I feel like Ryder is doing great in therapy and coming so far, especially in his gross motor skills, but I’m not convinced that the amount of therapy we have him in (just one session a week) is sufficient for the amount of work he needs for his arm.  I’m so excited for his evaluation at Children’s Hospital at the end of the month, to see what they think about Ryder and what they suggest as far as therapy goes.  For now, I have to resort to my homeade therapy sessions.  Such as, Noodle Therapy, and Puzzle Piece Therapy!  Hey, whatever works, right?!

I’ve been doing a lot of research on a program called Constraint Induced Movement Therapy.  It involves putting a cast on the good arm, which forces use of the affected arm.  I know, it sounds like torture, but the results that can be seen during and after the casting are AMAZING!  So it makes me feel like it would be completely worth the month of frustration, to reap benefits that could last a lifetime.  So here is my make-shift version of Constraint Therapy, haha.  Mine only lasts about 5 minutes in the evenings and is made up of his straight arm stabilizer & a gray sock, but the real deal puts a permanent cast on for a month.

 

As you can see in the video it really does work!  If he hadn’t had the cast on, he never would have initiated doing something with his left hand.  So, it’s something I’ll continue to look into and see what is available for Ryder.  If we do find a program to get him into, I most likely would wait until he’s around two.  I want him to be able to fully understand the statement “use your left hand” to hopefully eliminate some of the confusion and frustration that will come along with casting his strong arm.

So, that’s where we are today with lefty!  Time is critical right now because his brain is so plastic.  The more we go over and over and over things, the better the signals are getting to his brain and creating muscle memory, so that he can learn to do things the right way.  I know I say this all the time, but I’m so confident in Ryder, he’s strong and determined, which I think is exactly what it takes to overcome an obstacle like this.  And, it helps that Lefty has such a huge cheering section, on the sidelines for support.  Don’t know what we’d do without you all!

Mobility Update

One of the major side effects of Ryder’s stroke is that he is a little behind on his motor skills.  It took him a while to be able to sit up on his own unsupported, figure out how to scoot along, and get the strength to pull himself up.  All he needed was a little extra time because before we knew it, he was doing all three!  Now, he has been working so hard lately on getting around and is getting stronger and stronger by the day!  He has hit three major milestones in the past few weeks and we couldn’t be more proud of our little guy!

First, is transitioning to a sitting position.  This has been extra hard for him because he doesn’t crawl on his hands and knees, so he had to figure out how to get from a completely flat position to sitting up, which would basically require all upper body strength.  Strengthening his trunk was something we had to work really hard on with him, and I’m SO happy to say that it paid off.  He is now able to use his arms to push himself up until he can get his legs underneath of him and sit.  It amazes me every time I see him do it because I know how much work he is putting into it!

Second, is crawling on all fours!!!  I know it sounds silly to be excited about this when he’s almost 14 months old, BUT this is a huge step in developing his motor skills.  Crawling on all fours is very important because it makes him straighten his left arm, it allows him to bear weight on it to strengthen it, and its great for balance. 

By no means is he using this as his way to get around, in fact, the only reason he got up and crawled was because he didn’t like the way the carpet felt on his stomach!  But, I’m still rejoicing because that means that A) he has the strength to do it, and B) now I know how to get him to do it more!  He knows that he can get along so much faster slithering on his belly, so that is what he always resorts back to…but we’ll keep working on it!

And third, he took his first steps with a push toy!!  This absolutely amazed me.  I know he’s still a ways off from walking, but just to see that he’s learning the skill and understands the concept is a HUGE step in the right direction!

So those are the three big things that he has accomplished in the past few weeks and I couldn’t be more proud of his determination!  He still pulls himself up all over the place, on everything, and has even started cautiously cruising along tables and couches, so he’s doing great in the mobility department.

A lot of the credit for this can go towards his will and determination.  Considering everything he has been through and how much more difficult things are for him, he really does not let much slow him down.  And a lot of the credit can go to everything he learns in therapy, it has really helped him come a long way, and teaches me what I need to work on with him to help any way I can.  They bring really neat stuff to help him, here he is working on his trunk strength, he has to sit on the step and bend down to pick up a ball, then put it in the tube:

 

And here he is with his “hip helpers” on trying to learn how to crawl, these shorts are sewed together at the legs, it helps to pull his legs together and keep his hips lined up so he can get his knees under him:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therapy is great for Ryder, he thinks it’s an hour of play time, but as you can see he’s learning really big things!  Even though they are things that come completely natural to other kids, he needs some assistance in getting his body to do things the right way, so I’m very thankful that we have Miss Sharon (his OT) to help us along!  The hard work is definitely paying off, and the best part is, he’s none the wiser…working this hard is normal to him, and besides, I think he likes a challenge! :)

Now if only I could get the insurance company to cooperate so that we can get Ryder ALL the help he needs for the best possible chance at rehabilitation…but I’ll save that for another post, probably titled “I’M SO STRESSED THAT IT’S MAKING MY EYE TWITCH!”

Another update coming soon on the progress we’re making with “lefty”!