MH SDR Post Op Week 3 and summer update

Mark Henry continues to do well with his reovery at home. Last week was his first full week in PT at Courage Center. Megan his primary PT was amazed to see his new legs and how well he is doing as well as his motivatation to move. She agreed that the hardest part will be keeping him down. We have to try to not let him walk for the first couple of weeks at home. She and the PT team will be teaching him to walk with the walker the correct way and we dont want bad habits. Once we have his one month post op check at Mayo and he is cleared for the pool she will get him back in PT pool therapy which he loves and will also be helpful for him to start walking in the water. So at home he can crawl and pull to stand, creep holding on to furinture with us spotting or holding hips and he must have his leg braces on most of the time while he is upright to support his legs and ankles. He has enjoyed re discovering his home and toys he missed while away and quite happy to lay on the floor and play with his cars. The weather has been great, perfect long summer days in the 70s, so we have been working hard to locate to rent or buy a bike so he can enjoy a few more weeks of warm weather. He needs some independence and biking is great therapy too for strengthening those legs. We were about to pay too much money for a new adapted bike, priceless really for his independence, some summer fun and gaining strength in his legs. But just as we were at the bike store ready to bite the bullet, the email came over my phone that one I had seen online used for sale became available! We left the store and went directly to check it out. We snapped it up and with some serious clean up and a few new parts it was ready to ride. He is enjoying laps around the neighborhood while we or his caregivers try to keep up nearly running along side to help with steering! We ordered a nice bathing chair before we left the hospital and its been great to shower him at home as its a few more weeks of healing before he can get back in his much loved bath tub. Its a bit of a project on shower nights to get him clean without flooding the bathroom and us all getting wet but we manage it. His new leg braces are great and fit well, but with the warm weather and wearing them most of the day, his feet get sweaty and the skin on his toes is peeling. So I just ordered some thin special socks which are supposed to be designed for with the braces and more breathable. For what they cost 10x the cost of regular socks, they had better work well, at least lets hope- but then again if they are comfy for him its priceless. We are getting into a busy routine of PT every weekday and back to his speech and OT twice a week. School starts back the 2nd week of September. He will be in the same integrated preschool but in a new class with a new teacher and a few old friends but mostly new kids.M, W, F mornings he will go to school but the first month he will miss Fridays in order to do his daily PT. T/TH he will have OT and speech and PT in the afternoons. I have a calendar just for him in order to keep track of all his appts! We are hoping to spend a few more weekends outside while the weather holds, plans to get to the zoo, the lake and the great Minnesota get together- the annual state fair. We learned the first year we lived here do not go on a weekend day and do not bring kids. It's always hot, crowded and not so fun waiting in line for the one accesible restroom! Last year Mark and I went on our own one evening. It was a lot of fun, to roam around, eat, drink, see the exhibits and a nice cool evening. It's really eclectic, from farm equipment displays, live animal showings, the live birth pavilion, all you can drink milk for $1, concerts, beer, corn on the cob, logging competitions, prairie dogs, and the people watching is like no other!!! rivals any large airport by far. We never drive parking is terrible. We take the bus from nearby for $5 and it drops us at the main gate. We bought tickets and our blue ribbon coupon book ahead of time and saved $. Anything you can want to eat is available, on a stick; candybars, pickles, chicken, bacon, twinkies, you name it its available on a stick! We had a major storm last week including golf ball to baseball size hail. Unfortunately, we didnt have the cars in the garage and both were damaged with dents all over. We also sustained roof and gutter damage and our AC unit took a hit, our grill cover made of teflon was ripped open! Thank goodness for insurance, and these are all covered and repairable. It could have been worse but what a hassle to get things repaired. Our insurance company alone had over 10,000 claims in our area. We have the cars scheduled for repair late Sept, early Oct as the body shops are so booked up! Still waiting for the adjustor to come and look at the house to get the repairs going, hopefully soon so we can work done and completed before winter arrives! With all the work getting organized for the surgery, I forgot to share our pug Peanut was diagnosed with diabetes. Just what we need a diabetic dog. Fortunately we caught it early and he is doing ok. But we are now trained on giving insulin shots twice a day and has to go monthly for checks at the vet. Thankfully, when we was diagnosed just two weeks before MH surgery and none of our local boarding places would take him, our two caregivers agreed on a schedule to house and pet sit while we were away. They are both great gals and we hope to have them continue to work with us. Their schedules change in the fall and we may need to find more help. One is back to OT graduate school full time and has limited availability and the other just passed her nursing aide test and is looking for work at the nursing homes. So we are again looking for help to fill in where they cannot, but hoping to keep them both in part time capacity. Mark was thinking of also going back to work part time once we get MH back to school and ensure we have caregiver coverage. However, if we can locate a new dog for service training he may be busy with that. Our local pediatrician is well connected in the dog world, with breeding and training dogs. She knows a family that raises and trains poodles for show and also knows a world reknowned vet and labrador retriever breeder. We are finding out if either might be available. We would like to get a dog and bond it with MH and then train it for service for him. Several families have had good experiences with these breeds know for their intelligence, trainablilty and service. Its a lot less expensive to get a dog and then train it. The other route is years long wait list for an already trained dog that may or may not bond with your child after you have invested a lot of cash. Given our realtionship with the local ped, we are considering the first option. Knowing that it will be a big time commitment for training on our part but worth it in the long run. We did invest in an invisible fence at our new house and in less than a month the dogs were trained. Peanut tested the trainers limits and statement that they never met a dog they couldnt train. He is a stubborn dog and after multiple training sessions and extra visits to turn up the collar he is now finally staying in the yard and not running through! Initally, anything outside the boundries was game, he would run through the flags and take the zap for the neighbors dogs, a walker passing by or a random squirrel! We could also train the service dog on the same system for the cost of an additional collar. Although pricey, it was less than a solid fence and has turned out to be a good investment. The dogs are happier and so are we! We are really enjoying our new home and neighborhood. We are gradually making a few updates, painting the bathrooms and changing out faucets and shower heads. Mark widened the shed door to fit his landmower and free up space in the garage. We removed an old sandbox and re sodded the yard. There is more painting and projects to be done a bit a time. Hope you are all having a good summer and thanks again for all the well wishes, cards and gifts for MH!