Brian has made quite a bit of progress with his torticollis! Today, Elizabeth, the PT, was extremely impressed with both his turning radius and the improvement he's showing with the head tilt. He is able to turn fully in all positions now, although he still wants to bring his shoulder forward a bit when he's sitting up. And, his tilt rarely even surfaces except when he's tired. This is especially impressive given his new skill (crawling) because typically kids who have this issue, revert to titling when they are learning something new.
She dropped him down to 2 sets of stretches a day (down from 5) and we just have to keep working on his tilt exercises as much as possible until our next session in 2 weeks. Elizabeth said that if he's still looking this good next time, we will start meeting every 4 weeks!!
On a side note, Elizabeth taught Brian to go from a crawling position to a sitting position in about 10 minutes today. She wanted him to learn this skill because it forces him to use his neck muscles to keep his head up while transitioning. I was amazed that he picked it up so fast. He is getting so mobile! His crawling has gotten faster and a bit more agile, and he's getting braver with it. He's attempting longer distances, and trying like crazy to pull up on things when he reaches them. I know I will probably hate it in a few weeks when I can't keep up with him, but it's so awesome to see him movin' and groovin'!
Showing posts with label physcial therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physcial therapy. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Excellent News!
Brian and I had two appointments today. The first was PT. Elizabeth, the physical therapist, continued to praise me and Brian for his improvements. He is holding his head level most of the time now. We still need to work on full turns to the left when he's sitting and pushing up on his arms, and we will continue to do the stretches that we've been doing since PT began.
The second appointment was at the Brace Shop. Brian's helmet has been sliding around on his head a lot, so he needed to have a piece of foam added to the inside to keep it in place. Greg, the orthotist went ahead and measured his head since we were supposed to do that next week. Brian's head had a 10 mm difference on the diagonals when he was first measured before the helmet. He now has a 7 mm difference, which is about a 30% improvement! They also have some way of measuring the flat area, which I don't really understand. However, his head was showing a 6% flatness before the helmet. Now it's at 2%! So, as much as I hate the helmet, at least it's working! Yay :)
The second appointment was at the Brace Shop. Brian's helmet has been sliding around on his head a lot, so he needed to have a piece of foam added to the inside to keep it in place. Greg, the orthotist went ahead and measured his head since we were supposed to do that next week. Brian's head had a 10 mm difference on the diagonals when he was first measured before the helmet. He now has a 7 mm difference, which is about a 30% improvement! They also have some way of measuring the flat area, which I don't really understand. However, his head was showing a 6% flatness before the helmet. Now it's at 2%! So, as much as I hate the helmet, at least it's working! Yay :)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Puppy Love
For those of you who don't already know, my son is in love with my shih-tzu. I first noticed this one day when Lauren was visiting. Brian broke into uncontrollable tears for no apparent reason. After checking him for signs of hunger, wetness, pain, sleepiness, etc., we finally deduced that the crying had been a result of Ruben ignoring him. Brian had been sitting on the floor in his room trying with all of his might to get to Ruben, or at least to get Ruben's attention. However, no amount of cooing would persuade my stubborn-ass dog to pay attention to the poor child.
This puppy love has continued since that day. Brian thinks Ruben is hysterical. Rather than being afraid of Ruben's barks, Brian laughs uncontrollably whenever he hears the shrill sound. And if Brian is lucky enough to be within reachable range WATCH OUT RUBEN because Brian has grabbed of Ruben's tail quicker than you can say ruff!
All of this is pretty sad considering that Ruben wants nothing to do with Brian. Ruben has adjusted to Brian being in the house in that he keeps a safe distance, and basically ignores the baby whenever possible. He is still not over the fact that he's not my only baby anymore. It's so bad that we've even tossed around the idea of getting a puppy so that Brian will have a dog that actually pays attention to him to play with. This is most likely NOT going to happen :)
Since Brian has this unwavering affection for Ruben, I decided it would be to my benefit to use Ruben as my assistant when doing physical therapy exercises with Brian. Since Brian's neck is tight, we have to encourage him to look to the left as often as possible. He even has to lay on the exercise ball and practice pushing up on his arms while looking to the left. So, I make it a point to position Brian so that he has to look to the left to see Ruben in any situation. Ruben enjoys this because he gets played with more often as my usual tactic for keeping Ruben to Brian's left is to throw a toy to Brian's left over and over again.
Some dogs are trained to be seeing eye dogs. My shih-tzu is a physical therapy dog! Here's a picture from last night of Ruben assisting. He's looking up at the ball I am holding over his head. Thanks to Lauren for getting this shot!
This puppy love has continued since that day. Brian thinks Ruben is hysterical. Rather than being afraid of Ruben's barks, Brian laughs uncontrollably whenever he hears the shrill sound. And if Brian is lucky enough to be within reachable range WATCH OUT RUBEN because Brian has grabbed of Ruben's tail quicker than you can say ruff!
All of this is pretty sad considering that Ruben wants nothing to do with Brian. Ruben has adjusted to Brian being in the house in that he keeps a safe distance, and basically ignores the baby whenever possible. He is still not over the fact that he's not my only baby anymore. It's so bad that we've even tossed around the idea of getting a puppy so that Brian will have a dog that actually pays attention to him to play with. This is most likely NOT going to happen :)
Since Brian has this unwavering affection for Ruben, I decided it would be to my benefit to use Ruben as my assistant when doing physical therapy exercises with Brian. Since Brian's neck is tight, we have to encourage him to look to the left as often as possible. He even has to lay on the exercise ball and practice pushing up on his arms while looking to the left. So, I make it a point to position Brian so that he has to look to the left to see Ruben in any situation. Ruben enjoys this because he gets played with more often as my usual tactic for keeping Ruben to Brian's left is to throw a toy to Brian's left over and over again.
Some dogs are trained to be seeing eye dogs. My shih-tzu is a physical therapy dog! Here's a picture from last night of Ruben assisting. He's looking up at the ball I am holding over his head. Thanks to Lauren for getting this shot!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Bring on the Helmet!
I am sure many of you are wondering how it went yesterday at the Brace Shop. Let me start with our morning. Brian had PT at 8 a.m. This meant I had to wake him up, which he's okay about when it happens, but very cranky about as the day progresses. Due to this, he was a bit cranky at PT, instead of being all smiles like last week. Elizabeth, the PT, says he's doing really well though! His left turn radius (chin to shoulder) was 60% last week and is now 80%, which is considered all the way. She said it's due to all of our work at home! Anyway, we only have to go back every two weeks since we did our homework, which is nice. We got 2 more exercises to do 5 times daily (for 5 minutes each). Both are on the exercise ball, which Brian thinks is pretty entertaining! So now we are up to 4 exercises 5 times a day. 2 take 30 seconds a piece if he cooperates, and the other two take 5 minutes each.
After PT, we headed home for a much needed nap (for both of us, I didn't sleep much Sunday night). We both slept for about 30 minutes (not nearly enough time) before heading out to the Brace Shop. Now, I am sure I sound cynical when I say that many people whose kids need these caps, are in the situation because they are crappy parents who leave their kids lay all day long. I might sound cynical, but it's purely an observation based on the waiting room yesterday, which was very depressing and made me feel like a crappy parent just from being in the company of the others. One of the crappy parents made me even more nervous by telling me that Brian would hate the helmet and cry all the time. Just to justify my crappy parent comments, this particular woman had a 2 year old, 10 month old (in helmet) and a baby in NICU that had only made it to 26 weeks. She reeked of smoke and so did the man with her. The father of the 10 month old was definitely not the father of the 2 year old and the mom was kind of slow to be honest. This may all seem mean to say, but I am still upset about how upset she managed to get me before Brian and I headed in to get his helmet.
Anyway, we finally headed in to the helmet fitting room and Greg, the orthotist, gave me some instructions and then went to work on the helmet. The helmets come in with tiny ear holes, so the orthotist has to adjust it by making marks with a crayon and then going somewhere to cut it. So, he put in on Brian's head, made marks, took it off, and disappeared for awhile. Brian did not seem to care about this initial encounter. Greg had to adjust it a second time, and then he put the helmet on for good (or for an hour really because the first day it's an hour on, an hour off all day long). Again, Brian didn't seem to care. After asking all of my questions, we were out the door with the helmet on.
Then we got in the car. Now remember, Brian isn't the best traveler on earth. He was also very tired and hungry and with the sun coming in the back window, his new helmet was very hot. I made the mistake of trusting our GPS to get me home and we were in the car about 20 minutes longer than necessary because of that mistake. I still don't know if the GPS chick got me lost, or if I did it myself by not being able to hear hear over the screaming child in the backseat. Either way, we were pretty lost. And, yes, there was a screaming child in my backseat. He cried the entire way home :(
So needless to say I was tired, hungry and well over the edge by the time we arrived at the house. Brian wasn't much better! However, once inside, I put him down to play with his toys, and he was just fine. Smiley and normal. He ate his lunch (sweet potatoes-his favorite) without any fuss, and then it was time to take the helmet off.
The day went on pretty much as normal-except that I was taking the helmet on and off Brian's head every hour. Brian was just fine. He smiled at any people we saw, and they smiled back. He played and slept and ate, all like normal. I'm really not sure he even noticed he had the helmet on. Today, I'm happy to report, has been much of the same. (Today by the way is 2 hours on, 1 hour off all day long). I'm so glad I have a calm, happy and cool kid! He keeps Mommy sane :)
The new cap requires a little more work on my part. It has to be washed daily, as does his head to cut down on stinkiness. Apparently he will be sweating quite a bit at least for the first 2 weeks, so keeping it clean is key. For the next several days I have to keep a schedule (on for some amount of time, then off for some amount of time). Also, we have to go back to the Orthotist on Monday to have it checked and then every 3 weeks as long as he has it. However, overall, it hasn't been as bad as it could have been. Now, he hasn't had to sleep in it yet, so I'll let you know how that goes! Wish me luck!!
After PT, we headed home for a much needed nap (for both of us, I didn't sleep much Sunday night). We both slept for about 30 minutes (not nearly enough time) before heading out to the Brace Shop. Now, I am sure I sound cynical when I say that many people whose kids need these caps, are in the situation because they are crappy parents who leave their kids lay all day long. I might sound cynical, but it's purely an observation based on the waiting room yesterday, which was very depressing and made me feel like a crappy parent just from being in the company of the others. One of the crappy parents made me even more nervous by telling me that Brian would hate the helmet and cry all the time. Just to justify my crappy parent comments, this particular woman had a 2 year old, 10 month old (in helmet) and a baby in NICU that had only made it to 26 weeks. She reeked of smoke and so did the man with her. The father of the 10 month old was definitely not the father of the 2 year old and the mom was kind of slow to be honest. This may all seem mean to say, but I am still upset about how upset she managed to get me before Brian and I headed in to get his helmet.
Anyway, we finally headed in to the helmet fitting room and Greg, the orthotist, gave me some instructions and then went to work on the helmet. The helmets come in with tiny ear holes, so the orthotist has to adjust it by making marks with a crayon and then going somewhere to cut it. So, he put in on Brian's head, made marks, took it off, and disappeared for awhile. Brian did not seem to care about this initial encounter. Greg had to adjust it a second time, and then he put the helmet on for good (or for an hour really because the first day it's an hour on, an hour off all day long). Again, Brian didn't seem to care. After asking all of my questions, we were out the door with the helmet on.
Then we got in the car. Now remember, Brian isn't the best traveler on earth. He was also very tired and hungry and with the sun coming in the back window, his new helmet was very hot. I made the mistake of trusting our GPS to get me home and we were in the car about 20 minutes longer than necessary because of that mistake. I still don't know if the GPS chick got me lost, or if I did it myself by not being able to hear hear over the screaming child in the backseat. Either way, we were pretty lost. And, yes, there was a screaming child in my backseat. He cried the entire way home :(
So needless to say I was tired, hungry and well over the edge by the time we arrived at the house. Brian wasn't much better! However, once inside, I put him down to play with his toys, and he was just fine. Smiley and normal. He ate his lunch (sweet potatoes-his favorite) without any fuss, and then it was time to take the helmet off.
The day went on pretty much as normal-except that I was taking the helmet on and off Brian's head every hour. Brian was just fine. He smiled at any people we saw, and they smiled back. He played and slept and ate, all like normal. I'm really not sure he even noticed he had the helmet on. Today, I'm happy to report, has been much of the same. (Today by the way is 2 hours on, 1 hour off all day long). I'm so glad I have a calm, happy and cool kid! He keeps Mommy sane :)
The new cap requires a little more work on my part. It has to be washed daily, as does his head to cut down on stinkiness. Apparently he will be sweating quite a bit at least for the first 2 weeks, so keeping it clean is key. For the next several days I have to keep a schedule (on for some amount of time, then off for some amount of time). Also, we have to go back to the Orthotist on Monday to have it checked and then every 3 weeks as long as he has it. However, overall, it hasn't been as bad as it could have been. Now, he hasn't had to sleep in it yet, so I'll let you know how that goes! Wish me luck!!
Monday, January 26, 2009
PT and Flu Shot
Today was Brian's physical therapy evaluation at Children's in Northern Kentucky. Shawn got to go since he had taken the day off tonight. We met with a PT named Elizabeth Oliverio. She was very nice and young, and Brian liked her a lot. This is not unusual, of course, since he tends to like everyone!
It turns out that Brian has torticollis, which means his neck muscles are tight on one side (in his case the right side). This is correctable with physical therapy. She gave us 2 exercises to do with him 4-5 times daily and we have to hold him in a specific way to make him use his neck muscles in a way that will strengthen them. We will go back to Children's to see Elizabeth bi-weekly until he's "cured." Mostly this is on us to correct at home. She will just be checking in to make sure it's working and to adapt the exercises as necessary.
After the PT appointment we ran across the street to Dr. Price's office and Brian got his booster flu shot. He was asleep in the waiting room, and woke up when we put him down on the table for his shot. He didn't even notice that the shot went it and actually SMILED at the nurse when she was putting the bandaid on. She said that NEVER happens! He has such a wonderful disposition :)
He's napping now, and gets to enjoy an appointment free day tomorrow. So we will wait for 2009 blizzard that's supposed to arrive tonight and with any luck enjoy a snow day tomorrow!
It turns out that Brian has torticollis, which means his neck muscles are tight on one side (in his case the right side). This is correctable with physical therapy. She gave us 2 exercises to do with him 4-5 times daily and we have to hold him in a specific way to make him use his neck muscles in a way that will strengthen them. We will go back to Children's to see Elizabeth bi-weekly until he's "cured." Mostly this is on us to correct at home. She will just be checking in to make sure it's working and to adapt the exercises as necessary.
After the PT appointment we ran across the street to Dr. Price's office and Brian got his booster flu shot. He was asleep in the waiting room, and woke up when we put him down on the table for his shot. He didn't even notice that the shot went it and actually SMILED at the nurse when she was putting the bandaid on. She said that NEVER happens! He has such a wonderful disposition :)
He's napping now, and gets to enjoy an appointment free day tomorrow. So we will wait for 2009 blizzard that's supposed to arrive tonight and with any luck enjoy a snow day tomorrow!
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