Month: November 2016

One of Madison’s favourite parts of the day is walking down the ramps after school to go to the car. She is so strong and confident now in her walker that she tries to lift her legs in the air to ride down the ramp in her walker.

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Madison and Jack spent some time with Pam and Medford this afternoon while Mommy was coaching. They had a great time having dinner and playing together all over the house. After dinner Nana & Papa picked them up to go home while Mommy and Daddy were at Parent night at Madison’s school. Papa chased Jack all over the house while Nana and Madison played with Madi’s play food and read books before bed.

Mommy & Daddy met with Madison’s teachers to discuss her goals for this school year, checked out her favourite activities and saw lots of work samples. They also presented Madison’s written plan for the year. She is happy, participating, being challenged, being independent and doing so well! CICC is the best!!!!

Madison was super proud to share her home journal from school today. She cut out her first triangle and diamond shapes all by herself!

After a fun afternoon at conductive ed, Madison headed to the pool. She wore her mermaid bathing suit tonight and did an amazing job in the pool. She tried doing some swimming by herself doing doggy paddle, practiced bubbles, bobs, walking and most impressively- she did some back floats with Ryan only having to hold her up using a few fingers. She is getting more and more confident and strong in the water and LOVES it!!!! 

She was so proud of herself after her shower at the pool. She stood on the bench to stand under the hair dryer all by herself! 

Madisons physio today went really well. The focus during her sessions with Kate have turned to exercises that strengthen Madisons feet and legs to prepare her for surgery. They played different games that incorporated squating to standing, strengthening her dorsiflexion muscles, leg lifts to strengthen her lower quad muscles, raising up and down on her toes to strengthen her calf muscles and doing leg curls to strengthen her hamstrings. Madison started these exercises about 3 weeks ago and we are already seeing a huge improvement with her ability to do each exercise and the strength she has exhibited in doing them.

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​​Being able to provide Madison with all of her different therapies that have given her strength and mobility has been truly life changing. She would not be where she is without the love and support of family and friends who have moved mountains for her. Having family support her through the Mike GREGOIRE Memorial Golf Tournament has been a big  reason why she can do all of the things she does like physio, swimming,  horseback riding, conductive education etc. and recently, help her get ready for her surgery in the spring. The tournament is in remembrance and honor of Mike GREGOIRE who left us far too soon, but was always a big supporter of family and helping others. When Lisa presented the funds raised from the tournament last night she mentioned that Mike would be very happy to know that Madison was one of the receipients from the tournament. Thank you Lisa, Patrick, Jessica and the entire committee for always thinking of Madison, cheering her on and giving her the gift of mobility through all of the things she will continue to be able to do to prepare her for St. Louis. 

Madison loved her time with Sassy today! She worked hard and loved showing Suzanne and Michelle all her tricks – like lying down and reaching forwards and to the side. 

Mommy and Daddy had a super exciting meeting tonight so Aunt Nadia babysat! Just as Mommy finished tidying up all the toys before leaving, Jack and Madison ripped through them all and the room was a disaster. Madison loved playing with play dough with Aunt Nadia!

Tonight was a very important night in Madisons life. Around 35 friends and family gathered for an information sharing meeting on the SDR surgery that Madison will be receiving this coming spring. Although she was approved a few months ago, tonight truly felt like the beginning of her amazing SDR journey. Mommy and Daddy were very overwhelmed with the amount of support that filled the room and felt extremely grateful for the positive energy, willingness to help and pure love for Madison to help give her the amazing opportunity of living life spasticity free. Information was shared on why the surgery will be of benefit to her, what the surgery involves, when it will happen and some of the logistical factors surrounding an initiative of this scope- such as fundraising. Lots of great questions were asked and a follow up meeting will be scheduled in about 4 weeks to discuss more specifics of what needs to happen and to share ideas. 

After the information sharing was complete, everyone enjoyed lots of yummy treats and mingled to discuss ideas and options for moving forward with certain things for the surgery. Mommy and Daddy were then presented with a cheque from the golf tournament from Lisa, Kathleen and Theresa and on behalf of the other golf tournament committee members. They presented a cheque for Madison for $13,000! She is well on her way to what is needed for surgery! Thank you again to everyone who donated to the tournament, participated or helped out! We feel truly blessed to have such supportive friends and family to give Madison the chance at living the life she wants, in the way we know she wants to live it. 

Madi and Jack had a great morning with Nana & Papa being silly, playing games, doing puzzles, telling jokes, dancing and having lots of laughs.

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Madison was excited to go see Aunt Emily and spend the rest of the day at The Royal Winter Fair! She loved feeding the goats, seeing the piglets, watching the horses jump and petting a cow. They even watched Daddy do a mounted unit demonstration with the Toronto Police. Madi did an awesome job walking around in her walker and LOVED taking the Go train home. Thanks Aunt Emily for a great adventure!

Today Madison went downtown to the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine to teach physiotherapy students about how she moves. She was an awesome teacher! The program she visited is called O.I.E.P.B.

The Ontario Internationally Educated Bridging Program (OIEPB) is designed to provide educational opportunities for physical therapists educated outside of Canada, who already possess specified qualifications, to develop the additional knowledge, skills and clinical reasoning required to meet Canadian entry-to-practice standards. The University of Toronto, Department of Physical Therapy and the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration are in partnership to offer this program.

Today, the OIEPB learners were introduced to paediatric physiotherapy. The learners were asked to conduct portions of assessments that were unique to paediatric clientele or clientele with a neurological, cardiorespiratory or orthopedic condition that was diagnosed in early childhood.

Madison did an awesome job! She took part in different activities to show her different transitions and movements that she can do independently. They watched her do things in and out of her AFO’s, passed around her equipment for the students to observe and did different stretching and range activities to teach how to assess and measure her catches and range. 

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Michelle went with Madison to learn about what different things Madison does everyday and took lots of notes for a written profile assignment for school that will be about Madison and her upcoming surgery. Thanks Michelle!

The students then spent their afternoon problem solving different movement goals Mommy presented to them that they will pass along once they finish the assignment. 

Madison did a fantastic job with Stephanie at physio this afternoon. Mommy has been worried about the plateau Madison had experienced after her change in AFO’s and Botox that lasted much longer then usual. She has slowly been getting back to her level of mobility and independence she originally progressed to – and both Mommy and Stephanie felt like Madison was back to herself today and doing extremely well!

Madi and Jack had a great night with Nana and Papa! They played with some puzzles and had a nice dinner together. 

Madison was excited to have a little taste of Christmas today. She participated in a photo shoot at Varity Village for their Christmas card. The card is going out to all their major donors and sponsors as a thank you for their support. Without them, many of the programs and facility costs would not be possible. We are truly grateful that Madison has access to such a wonderful place that is fun, accessible and promotes inclusion- so we were happy to help out and give back by sharing Madi’s infectious smile. Stay tuned for some pics.

Daddy spent the afternoon with Madi and Jack at the mall. They wondered around and got to each pick one thing from the dollar store. Madi chose a snowman candy box and Jack chose a bag of coal. 

Madison had an exceptionally good morning at school. She used the treadmill during gym class and used the potty successfully!

Janine and Suzzane picked up Madi after school and they spent the afternoon together for Janine’s birthday! They went to the beach to enjoy the beautiful weather, went for a walk along the boardwalk and played with an ice cream play dough maker after some lunch. 

Madison then went to Nana’s house for some dinner and played with lots of puzzles with Nana. 

Then it was time for swimming with Ryan! They worked on more bobs, floats, kicking and floating in her life jacket and swimming with her buddy Jessica who helped out tonight. Madison even worked on walking in the hot pool with her ropes! She did an amazing job trying to do bobs while holding onto the ropes and walking to Ryan! Her confidence and comfort continues to build weekly- it’s so exciting to see! She kept her goggles on for the whole lesson tonight thanks to Ryan and Jessica both wearing pink goggles too so they would match Madison.

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Madison and Jack had a list of appointments at Grandview today. It’s so amazing that all of their therapists and doctors plan together to make the visits easy and logistically stress free. 

Madison’s first appointment was with her Developmental Peadiatrician to have a “meet and greet” to go over some specifics that she will be writing in a letter of recommendation for Madison for surgery. She always has the best stickers for Madison to choose from.

Jack then had physio where they did various stretching exercises for his neck as well as taped his left side. The tape is acting as a cue for when his right side drops he will feel the pull on the left to cue himself to lift his head up straight. 

Madison worked in physio on her walking, different exercises to strengthen  and stretch her ankle/foot dorsiflexion and reaching up tall when standing with flat feet.

After physio it was time for OT! They worked on proper pencil grip, colouring in different lines, spatial awareness on a page by drawing faces, cutting and gluing. 

During OT she also started working on developing self help skills in preparation for kindergarten next year. Today she learned how to put a sweater on herself by placing it on the ground, sitting on a bench, reaching her hands in the arm holes and flipping it over her head. She also worked on zipping it on and off. Other self help skills we will work on are: pants on and off for the potty, opening her snack and drink on her own and putting her jacket, gloves and a hat on. 

Madison was thrilled that Daddy watched her at ballet tonight. She said her favourite part of class was walking like a duck and shaking her bum. 

On the way home from dance, Madison and Jack stopped by to see Shannon for their massage. Such a nice way to end the day! Muscles worked on, taped, pajamas on and then home to bed. Thanks Shannon!