Month: October 2017

Madison was super excited this morning to hurry out the door for school. Today was her first fieldtrip! They have been learning about the growth cycle of a pumpkin at school so today they visited the pumpkin patch at Whittamores Farm. She was thrilled to go on a school bus! They had a leader tell them all about how they grow their pumpkins and then went on a hay ride around the field. They then had free time to play at the sandbox or playground and then visit with the animals. At the end they picked a pumpkin to bring home! Madison walked in her Walker for most of the trip, but had moments where she had to take breaks and leave the group to rest from all the walking. Overall it was a great experience and we will brainstorm some ideas for mobility on trips moving forward.  

After the trip Madi headed to March of Dimes to work with Monika. She worked on reading sentences, new words and did walking and standing in her SMO’s.

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Madi spent the rest of her day with Janine and Brian at riding. She loved visiting with them and showing off on her horse Max. Pam & Medford also visited her session so she had a great cheering section. 

Madi was super thrilled to share with everyone that she had homework tonight! Her class is reading a book about pumpkins and for homework they are taking turns reading the book to their families and then writing a page in the class book about what they read. Nana and Madi worked hard on the book and Madi was so proud!

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Madi and Kate had a great session today. They worked on standing up with canes, navigating through an unpredictable environment with canes and stride length.

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Madison and Jack were picked up after school by Nana and they headed back to the house. No appointments today – just some fun at the house.

They played outside in the backyard and went up and down the slide, went on the swings and played restaurant in their clubhouse. 

They went inside to have dinner and read their new Halloween books. Madison had her medicine(she’s finally testing negative!) and then had a bath with their favourite bath bombs.

Thanks Nana!

One of Madison’s favourite parts of her sessions at Neurochangers is when she gets to fly at the end and flap her wings. They always find ways to motivate her and make her hard work fun!

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Madi did a great job with Jo-Anne today. She loved playing with the new remote control Thomas toy and walking on the blue magic horse. She worked so hard- Mommy was very proud!
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Madison and Jack loved their weekend sleepover with Nana & Papa. When everyone was up this morning they met up with Aunt Nadia and Nate for breakfast. Thanks for holding down the fort Nana & Papa!

Madison had physio at the house with Claire this afternoon. A big focus in all of Madison’s therapies is to build up her leg strength to be able to wear her SMO’s more and more. Claire and Madison did lots of standing and walking work to help her continue to get use to them – much less supportive then her AFO’s but she’s getting better each time. 

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Madi spent her afternoon at March of Dimes doing Conductive education for her afternoon therapy. They did lots of work on standing up from the floor today which is one of our main focuses right now in all her therapies. 

After MOD Madi headed for a ride with Max. Since her SDR surgery we have noticed lots of other positive changes, not necessarily just physical. She has really found her voice and confidence. Listen to her command Max in this video of her riding session today. 

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It’s so wonderful to still witness progression each and every day since her surgery. We are in the process of starting her 6 month check in which will be the beginning of November. We will be sending notes and lots of videos to St Louis to get more direction, focus/next steps. 

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Today was one of those days where you have to stop and think…who is planning this journey for us? we are clearly on this path for a purpose or plan…still not 100% sure why Madi was chosen for all of this but we’re hoping to figure that out soon.  She is not responding again to her current dose of Meds for her kidney disease – Nephrotic syndrome. We are going to try a high dose for one more month and then meet with her specialist to discuss next steps. We also found out today that the colour of kidney disease awareness is the same as CP awareness and transplant awareness…green! Crazy!!!

Madi was back at Grandview today for some Pt with Kate after a long break. Goals for this block: standing up from the floor, learning how to fall, “off roading” with her tripod canes, introducing single point canes, work on length of step/stride and transitioning to her SMO’s. 

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Madi had a good day at school. Her literacy centres revolved around the letter ‘I’ and healthy eating – apples! In gym class she played soccer and ‘What time is it Mr Wolf’.

After school Madi & Nana hung out and then went to ballet where Madi and Kiera were partners in class!

Madi has been having a hard time lately with her Nephrotic Syndrome. She was responding really well to the steroids, but lately her protein numbers in her urine have gone back up. We have been decreasing the daily pill count, but had to start going back up again today and will see her specialist tomorrow to discuss what the next plan is. The journey continues…