April 24, 2008
Conductive Learning Center
We are pretty excited to be involved in this program. It is great to connect with another place that seems to know quite a bit about spina bifida. We have added many new stretches to our list. Whitney does not seem to mind them too much. We are doing them 2-3 times per day at home and going to the center once a week to start with. Their goal for Whitney is to stay on track developmentally. This means that instead of her sitting up whenever, which could be when she is 1, they get her to sit up around 6 months like normal. The short term goal is to increase her circulation and for her to kick her legs more. The long term goal is to potty train her and have her walking with a walker. It seems to me that her goals are realistic we just need to help her reach them. I am excited to watch Whitney continue to develop and grow. I know God has big plans for her life.
April 21, 2008
Catch-up
It is time to catch everyone up on Whitney. The urologist appointment went well over all. It was a little discouraging. What it boiled down to was that there are two extremes: catheter every 4 hours the rest of her life or constant bladder infections, of which neither is good. It took me awhile to not look at the extremes and to think of it in terms that Whitney will fall somewhere in between. We will discover this overtime and in the meantime we do not have to cath her which is great news. We did discover that she does have her first bladder infection which we have begun to treat.
We also had an appointment with the plastic surgeon. This went really well. Prayers have been answered and her skull is not fusing together prematurely. For this we are very thankful. Whitney's head shape is doing great as well. Her heard was beginning to get too long as a result of being on her side for the first months of life. We have had her sleeping on a special pillow to minimize this, which she did not appreciate. She was happy to hear that she is no longer in need of it. One less thing to worry about.
The latest news is that we had Whitney assessed by the Conductive Learning Center which just happens to be 5 minutes from our home. A friend had mentioned this to us before Whitney was born but our plates were full at the time. Conductive learning is an alternative physical therapy which was founded in Hungary in 1945. It is very common in Europe and is still getting a name for itself in the US. We are still learning all that is involved but we have decided to begin the program and see how it goes. This involves going there once a week for an hour and will increase over time. They mainly work with Cerebral Palsy and Spina Bifida children to help them become as independent as possible. Our first appointment is tomorrow. We are so thankful that this is available to us near our home. There are families that have moved here and others who fly in frequently for conductive learning. Here is the link http://www.aquinas.edu/clc/
Thank you for checking up on us and keeping us in your prayers.
We also had an appointment with the plastic surgeon. This went really well. Prayers have been answered and her skull is not fusing together prematurely. For this we are very thankful. Whitney's head shape is doing great as well. Her heard was beginning to get too long as a result of being on her side for the first months of life. We have had her sleeping on a special pillow to minimize this, which she did not appreciate. She was happy to hear that she is no longer in need of it. One less thing to worry about.
The latest news is that we had Whitney assessed by the Conductive Learning Center which just happens to be 5 minutes from our home. A friend had mentioned this to us before Whitney was born but our plates were full at the time. Conductive learning is an alternative physical therapy which was founded in Hungary in 1945. It is very common in Europe and is still getting a name for itself in the US. We are still learning all that is involved but we have decided to begin the program and see how it goes. This involves going there once a week for an hour and will increase over time. They mainly work with Cerebral Palsy and Spina Bifida children to help them become as independent as possible. Our first appointment is tomorrow. We are so thankful that this is available to us near our home. There are families that have moved here and others who fly in frequently for conductive learning. Here is the link http://www.aquinas.edu/clc/
Thank you for checking up on us and keeping us in your prayers.
April 7, 2008
Wonderful
Whitney is now 3 months old and we are doing wonderful which is why we have not posted. Just to let you know, it is a good sign when we do not post. (: All is well. We did have an appointment last week with the neurosurgeon and it was very encouraging. He reminded me of the signs of shunt failure which was a good reminder. Because things have been going well I have not been stressed about her shunt and honestly do not think of it much. So, he encouraged me to continue to be observant. A healthy reminder.
Today we went to the hospital to have a renal ultrasound done. This was an ultrasound of her bladder and kidneys. I tried to 'read' the ultrasound while it was being done but unfortunately I could not decipher what I was looking at. Wednesday we will go to the urologist and he will interpret them for us. My understanding is that they are checking to see if any urine is backing up into the kidneys and if so how much. I will tell you more later this week. She has not needed a catheter up to this point so our prayer is that we would not have to begin and that her bladder and kidneys would function properly.
Today we went to the hospital to have a renal ultrasound done. This was an ultrasound of her bladder and kidneys. I tried to 'read' the ultrasound while it was being done but unfortunately I could not decipher what I was looking at. Wednesday we will go to the urologist and he will interpret them for us. My understanding is that they are checking to see if any urine is backing up into the kidneys and if so how much. I will tell you more later this week. She has not needed a catheter up to this point so our prayer is that we would not have to begin and that her bladder and kidneys would function properly.
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