Month: July 2017

Madi enjoyed a beautiful day outside at camp. Her favourite activity of the morning was playing ringette. She is loving her time at March of Dimes!

Madi worked extremely hard this week, and with a bad sleep last night she was very tired today. She tried her best at Physio with Stephanie but needed many breaks. Stephanie was so great at keeping her going – they worked on walking, core work on the ball, using her scooter and walking with canes. For the first time Madi can now go forwards in her scooter! Hard work!

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Madi spent her evening at Station Creek Golf Course as an ambassador of Variety Village. The tournaments charity of choice was Variety Village so she walked around to meet people and helped Mommy give a little speech to thank everyone. Mommy and Madi have been talking a lot lately about the importance of helping others and giving back to communities that have been so important to us – so this was the perfect opportunity for Madison to help, for a place that is so special to our family.

Madi was up bright and early this morning to head to the eye doctors. Jack was also out the door early so the two helped each other with their shoes and gave hugs to say goodbye for the day.

When Madi got to the eye doctor she needed to get her drops in right away. She was a bit fussy about the drops so she opted for the spray instead. Madi then put on her shades and a hat and went with Mommy for a walk to the beach while the drops kicked in. 

Once her pupils were good and dilated, she went back. She did some of the same tests as she did on Tuesday like trying to read letters, describe colours, look at big and small shapes etc. It was confirmed Madi is far sighted and requires glasses. She of course picked out pink ones. She picks them up in a week. These glasses will be for a trial over the next month to see how she tolerates them, check in on the prescription and observe what she is needing them for. She will then get an altered script and can pick out another pair. We were unaware of the age recommendation for vision screening in Ontario – by the time a child is three they should have their vision checked. Another thing we learned today was there is a program that pays for glasses for children entering kindergarten. Madi is super excited about her glasses and thrilled they are pink. Here is a flyer that describes more about the program:

Today Madi spent the whole day at camp and had a great day. They built inukshuks, did some activities outside and she did some good walking with her pink canes. She was also a great helper and teacher to her friends in camp. 

After some down time at home, Madi headed to Grandview for Physio with Kate. They did some treadmill walking, transition activities, lots of core strength building and practiced some stand ups from the ground.

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For the past 3 weeks Madi has been taking 7 pills a day to help her kidney challenges. She is a super star and is taking her meds very well. She is also responding really well! 3 weeks of negative urine readings means everything is operating as it should. She will see her doctor in a few weeks to decide on next steps of she is in fact in remission.

Madi had an excellent morning at conductive Ed camp! She used her canes or walked independently all morning. They are learning about First Nations and Madi was so interested in making some herbal medicines and dream catchers while working hard on her exercises.

While Madi was at camp, Jack was at the Early Years Centre exploring paints, play dough and free play during toddler time!

After camp Madi headed to Variety Village to work out with her trainer Melissa. They worked hard for an hour walking around the track, climbing and practicing going up and down stairs. She was tired today but loves seeing Melissa and had a super fun time.

It was then time to head to the eye doctor. Mommy and Daddy had no big concerns, but wanted Madi to have her eyes checked before starting school in the fall. Mommy was so glad Madi was looked at because it was discovered that she is extremely far sighted and will most likely need glasses or to do some patching to strengthen some of the eye muscles. Madi has never complained or shown any real issues so it was interesting to find out. She will be going back later this week to do another assessment with drops and decide on glasses. Her only question to the doctor was if she could have pink glasses. 

After the eye doctor Madi picked up some flowers for Nana to celebrate. Nana has had some rough times over the past years. She has been “tethered” to a feed system in a PICC line for most of that time and needed help with her System for all of that time. Her progress since her recent hospital stay has gone very well. Nana’s determination lead to a wonderful event today. Dr Allard and her transplant team think that the TPN is a thing of the past. They are so confident that they removed her PICC today so Madi went over to celebrate!

Madi & Jack were up at the crack of dawn for the family garage sale. Madi decided she wanted to sell some of her things for her friend Cruz who will be going for his life changing SDR surgery April 2018. She did an excellent job selling and loved taking play breaks with Nate and Jack. Once the rain came, all leftover items were boxed up and are being donated to the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy. Madi is thrilled that she raised $300 for her friend Cruz! Thank you to everyone who donated or purchased things from Madi!

Madi walked proudly into Variety Village this morning as she followed Jack to the pool for his first swimming lesson without Mommy, all by himself! Madi watched from the window and waved and cheered. 

After some down time at home and some lunch, Madi headed to Whittamores Farm to pick strawberries with Tiffany! They had an awesome afternoon. Madi did lots of hidden therapy crawling around the patch and doing lots of squats to standing while she picked. Thanks for a great afternoon Tiffany!

Madi did so much walking in her walker today! All through Variety Village, the berry patch, Home Depot with Daddy – her endurance has really picked up!

Madi had a super active day and was great! She had energy, was happy & most importantly was proud of herself and her effort.

She had a great morning at conductive Ed camp, did lots of practice with her canes and took 9 steps!

Madi then had a Physio session with Stephanie at Variety Village. The focus was walking! She practiced her independent walking for almost the whole hour! She also did some work on the total gym. Madison was scheduled for another round for serial casting on Monday. After Stelhanie’s measurements today we were able to cancel the casting for now because Madison has been able to maintain the same range since she was last measured in St Louis. She will get measured again in August and as soon as she starts to have a change we will book the casting. 

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After Physio, Madi headed to the pool to meet up with Ryan. She was so excited that she swam under water with her goggles and blew lots of bubbles and told Mommy she kicked like a mermaid. 

Mommy did some coaching later in the afternoon, so Madi joined Nate and Jack at Nana’s for a play!

When Madi got home she had a very exciting package in the mailbox. Her case manager from Resources for Exceptional Children sent her a booklet she made to help Madion get ready for Kindergarten! It showed pictures of her school and all the different places in the school she will be during the day, picture of her classroom & teacher and listed all the names to learn. Such a great prep tool!

Madi had a wonderful morning at camp! She loves being there with some of her buddies and is progressing each day. Today she did 19 steps with Monika!!!

Madi spent her afternoon with Janine and Suzanne and had a nice visit with Great Grandma Gregoire and her bird Pebbles. She tried giving Grandma some party planning ideas for her upcoming 90th!

Madi was full of energy when she got home and wanted to practice her standing….she was solid for 1 minute!!

After a great morning at conductive Ed camp, Madi headed to Grandview for her Physio session. Today’s Physio was in the pool. They did lots of kicking, walking, sitting to stand and water running.

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Madi finished her day with a visit to Shannon for massage.