Friday, November 26, 2010

New Steps

Missy and I recently returned from another ABR Clinic at Eastern Creek NSW, where we had our assessments/photos taken, workshop and 2 training session.
We had felt we had reached a bit of a plataeu with Missy's phsyical development but when taking the photos at the assessment, Missy did the best walking I have ever seen her do. She had slowed down, had a great length of step on both legs and was incorporating her knee and upper body in a close to natural gait pattern with my support at her waist. We had mentioned to Leonid and ABR Asia about the increased crouch position of Missy's attempts at walking, which was explained that as the pelvis capabilities improve the weakness of her knees are more exposed. Well over the last couple of weeks Missy is really experimenting with her knees and has now got greater control of them and is really using them postively in her walking. She is so proud of her walking and wants to show everyone that comes to our house, you can see that she feels like the shackles have been broken and she can step out.
I will endeavour to post some photos.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Powerchair decisions

Well, there is so much to blog about and not enough hours in the day. My computer has been having issues, like shutting down whenever it feels like it. So I am now on Missy's Dynavox, great now that they are also a computer as well as an AAC device.
Anyway back to the powerchair decisions, there is so much to consider, we narrowed it down pretty quickly by making the vertical lift and mid wheel range as necessities. Trying to have powerchair that suits all our requirements is really impossible. We needed the chair to have a tight turning circle yet be able to handle the rough terrain outside.
So we had narrowed it down to the Quickie Rhythm http://www.sunrisemedical.com/products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302127931&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524447440969&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395285139&bmUID=1201631831443
and the Magic Frontier http://www.magicmobility.com.au/frontier-x5 the video of the frontier looks great along with Extreme X8 which is a 4WD, amazing video footage of it's capabilities. While the Frontier toughest looks great its is about4 inches longer than the Rhythm which can really count in the classroom and our little house.
To add to the decision a new Glide powerchair is coming out which from talking to a number of reps will be superior to most chairs on the market in particular in the way it suits a variety of terrains and great durability. This chair should be out in February 2011.
It's just not a decision on the wheelchair base, but we had to choose and trial various seating systems, controller options, tilt options and the many accessories that are needed to complete the setup.
The Quickie Rhythm with all the accessories came in at $27,000 - wow!!!!!
Obviously we will putting in an application(with the help from our OT at The Spastic Centre) to Enable for assistance, who knows what they will say and how long it will take.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

over 3000 hits

Hello
It's hard to believe Missy's CP Journey Blog has now had over 3000 hits and it's just been 12months since we started it.
Thanks to everyone who has followed Missy's Journey so far via this blog, I was hoping it is a way to stay in touch with others, share ideas, be inspired, share in celebrating Missy's life.
Stayed tune, I will write about Missy's fantastic school excursion.
Off to ABR Clinic in a few days.
Cheers