One Second

I'll be two years old this week. It's hard to believe that I almost didn't make it since I had such a rough beginning. I had assumed the position though it was a little early. The doctors told my parents that if they would have waited any longer, the infection would have killed me. Or if they had come in sooner, they may have tried stopping my birth, not knowing the infection was causing it. That is basically how I came into this world. That and an emergency c-section.

Anyhow, I'm glad to be here. I've come a long way already. I was a fighter from the beginning and I'll continue to be the best I can be.

Wanna watch Elmo?

Splash, splash

I get a bath in the big tub now. I seemed to have grown out of the extra-large infant tub. It works up to two years and it was great for me, since I couldn't sit up for a long time without falling over. Now I have even started to get on my belly in the tub. My Oma always wanted me to do this and I finally can.

My Oma took care of me for almost a week while my parents were ill, bed-ridden. I know I require a lot of attention and she did a good job. Hooray for Oma!

I'm getting a new glove for my right hand. I seemed to have outgrown the one I have now. I still need it to keep my thumb from tucking in.

I am an experienced counter now. I can count to ten. I enjoy watching Wheel of Fortune and repeat the letter that is called. When someone loses, I respond with an empathetic, "Aw". I also clap along with the audience.

In other news, we're going to visit my cousins next week and over Easter. Maybe they can teach me a thing or two. It will be my third trip by plane.

One, Two, Three...

I can clearly count to five now, sometimes even to ten. We had a thought - had the seizure awakened something in my body and allowed me to speak/do more? I'm sure we're not the first people to think this thought. Our craniosacral therapist told us that she's heard other people say the same.

Hmmm... I guess we'll see what happens next.

Seizure

Last Thursday night, my dad brought me to bed with him while he was reading, since I was being fussy, and he said I was staring at him for a long time. He looked down at me and noticed my right hand spasming, fingers in an awkward position, so he picked me up, called out for my mom and got the phone. I was having a seizure. We called 911, went to the hospital in an ambulance, I was puking everywhere, my temperature was 102.5 when we got there. They immediately stripped me down to my diaper and gave me Valium through an IV. The seizure had lasted for over ten minutes. My right side, which is most affected by the PVL, was spasming really bad. The right side of my face was drooping and right arm and leg were twitching. I had many tests performed on me, including a CT scan of the head and chest x-rays. I was released from the emergency room, still puking, but out of the seizure around 3am.

Friday morning I woke up with a great attitude, as always. I was talking, playing, behaving as I normally would. It was as if nothing happened. We visited our pediatrician, Dr. Yonker, to follow-up. She didn't even have my temperature taken. She immediately called my neurologist because of the length of the seizure concerned her.

They say that febrile (fever related) seizures last only a few minutes. Did the PVL aggravated the seizure, making it last longer? Or, did the PVL cause the seizure, which caused the fever? I did become ill afterwards so perhaps they were right in saying the seizure was caused by a virus.

We're scheduled for an EEG tomorrow to measure my brainwaves. Hopefully they can put all these questions to rest and this was an isolated incident.

Here it is

I have a gait trainer now! Believe it or not, in a brief moment of Internet research, my mom looked on eBay and someone just happened to be selling the exact model that United wasn't paying for me. We contacted the seller and after a few e-mails and pictures, we bought it for 1/3 the price of a new one, and it is new. The previous owner was never able to use it. I broke it in at PT today. Here I am in my lovely purple (though I see it as a more manly, indigo) gait trainer.

I took a few steps, in an attempt to catch the camera that was dangling before me, then I was done. I also had enough free time to pose with my therapy friends, Emma and Gracie. We meet every Monday and Wednesday and we all receive PT, OT and Speech back to back. I prefer older women; they are 3 and 4.

Be Mine

This is my second Valentine's Day. I got a balloon. It was so windy and rainy out that when the balloon was on it's way to the car, the wind blew it right into a rough edge of the shopping cart and it was punctured. It was losing helium the whole ride home and almost didn't make it. When we arrived, my mom put some tape over the hole and it still managed to float about two inches above the ground. I was so happy! I could actually reach it this way! This could've been a sad story about a popped balloon, but the day was saved. Thank you transparent tape!

Thursday is my day off from therapy. I had some pictures taken by a statue and tree in our neighborhood. It's ironic that on the same day, we had a tree cut down in our backyard. We even met some new neighbors. They didn't seem too happy. I slept through all the chainsawing. I think it's a new form of "white" noise. Maybe they should try too.


Happy Valentine's Day!

The Park

Thursday is my day off from therapy and we went to the park today! We discovered a park with bucket swings that's pretty close to home. It's a little far to walk there so we drove.

There were other kids there when we got there but I couldn't play with anybody because they were all running and climbing around. I just sat and watched. I didn't even want to stand up. I did feel a little left out. Then, another little boy appeared, with his mom. He appeared to be severely handicapped. He couldn't play or sit and cried a lot. They weren't there very long at all. Maybe their presence was a sign to show me that I can still do a lot with my CP, and my horizons expand each day.

I was able to use an unoccupied bucket swing. I loved it! I didn't want to get down. I protested but eventually I did get down and went on the slide, played on the playground, played with the wood chips and attempted to eat some shell fragments. Crunchy!

I can't wait to go back.