Protesting Vital Stim

Logen decided he did not want the "shockers" on Monday! He was ticked!!! Mom just happened to have the camera for black mail :)

1st Time to Pass Out In The Highchair

Parker Burrito!

Parker rolled himself into a baby burrito :)

DHS Bites

AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.....................
So, I've been trying to get of our case worker for Logen's medicaid. We have medicaid as a secondary form of insurance. Andrea (Luke's Momma) informed me that we could have our hotel, milage, and food payed for on our St Louis Trip. The purpose of the trip is to take Logen to the St Louis Cerebral Palsy Center (One of the BEST CP centers in the states!) I didn't even know we had a case worker, for one. I've been calling DHS since Friday, leaving messages- nice ones too. Many of you know, I can get kinda hateful when things don't go my way! But, Andrea told me I should be NICE to the case worker so I can get what I want. However, I'm beginning to think nice doesn't work for some people! My mom told me to start by calling 3x today, 4 tomorrow, 5 the next, etc until she calls me back! Maybe that'll work b/c she will be sick or hearing my voice on her voicemail!

I just called and got a mean chica to answer the main line. I said, "I need to speak to Diane regarding my son's TEFRA" She said, "well you don't actually expect to talk to anybody on their lunch break, do you?" I was thinking- you could just send me to her voice mail and let me leave a message. I guess that would be to hard for you to do. She told me to call back after 1pm. Hmmm... I'll probably still get the dang voice mail! So, why does it matter if I leave a msg during her lunch break or not???? I should be able to leave her a msg at midnight if I want to!!!!!!!!!!!

This is me.... on a high horse.... I ride them alot!

Now, Parker's "yucky!"

Parker woke up last night (ok, so he was up ALL night) with a little cough, watery eyes, clear snot, sneezing, etc. All the signs of an allergy flare-up! Boy, it's going to be nice when both of the boys are healthy!! The doctor is going to call him some allergy meds. I hope the meds don't do the opposite effect and keep him up!

The 'Roids Are Driving Us CrAzY!!!

AGGGGGGGG......... I needed to get that one out! The steriods are making me nuts! Logen is soooo crabby, irritable, clingy, whiney, restless, etc! He fought and fought us with bed time last night. And, his little eyes were so black! I know he was exhausted. He finally went to bed after 10pm. Then, was up from 4 to 6:30. And, woke up for good by 8am! So unlike him! He usually sleeps until 10ish! So, 8 was a killer. I've been up since 4 (Adam left at 630, Parker was up nursing- it's been nonstop somebody needs Mom for something since 4).
He will be off the meds Wednesday- and it usually takes a day or so for the meds to get out of his system. Oh, man am I going to be a major grump by the end of the week!
If you wouldn't mind-- say a prayer for my sanity! And, of course, for Logen to stop having all the lovely side effects of drugs.... haha.

Kinesio Taping

Sherri (Logen's PT on Fridays) brought up something to me last week. Logen has begun walking with his toes pointed in a bit. It's mainly when the AFO's (his are jumpstarts) are on. The reason being, when the braces are on- his ankles are in the proper position. The Kinesio Taping for Logen would be on his gluteal muscles. The point would be to strengthen the hip flexors. As I get more info on this- I will post it.



Here is a link that I found very interesting. However, ths study is on the upper extremties.



http://kinesiotaping.com/content.asp?CustComKey=13776&CategoryKey=210438&pn=Page&DomName=kinesiotaping.com

Logen's Schedule This Week

Monday:
Preschool in the AM hours
2:45-4 Vital Stim at the Hospital (Lori)
4:30 - 5:30 OT (Tabi)

Tuesday:
10 -12 Preschool
12 - 1 PT (Claudia)
2:30 - 3:30 OT (Tabi)
3:30 - 4:30 Speech (Jenn)

Wednesday:
9:30 - 10:30 OT (Tabi)
11 - 12 Preschool
12 - 1 PT (Claudia)
1 - 3 Preschool
3:30 - 5 Vital Stim @ hosp (Lori)

Thursday:
9:30 - 10:30 OT (Tabi)
11 - 12 Preschool
12 -1 PT (Claudia)
3-4 Speech (Jenn)

Friday:
9:30 - 10:30 PT (Sherri)
11 - 2:15 Preschool
2:45 - 4 Vital Stim @ hosp (Lori)
4:30 - 5:30 OT (Tabi)


** Claudia (The PT) has changed her schedule to 3 days a week for the summer, so on Friday's we will now be seeing Sherri at Tabitha's clinic. We may consider dropping Claudia all together (Logen loves her dearly and she's a wonderful therapist) but, that way all (except, Vital stim) therapies would be done at Tabi's clinic. Which, would eliminate SOOOO much time in the car! I spend atleast 3-4 hours a day in the car getting Logen from one place to another. **

"Sickling"

We took Logen in the the after-hours clinic yesterday b/c he woke up with a nasty cough! It turns out he's got severe allergies and an upper respiratory infection. He was given Azithromycin and Orapred (a steriod) for inflammation. Once the meds are gone, they told us to start giving him OTC Claritin for children during allergy season. The poor kid has been "drugged" on benedryl the last month for snot and a minor cough. They said the claritin is a bit stronger so snot *should* be a thing of the past! Woohooo!

Logen's Vital Stim Treatments

Logen started vital stim therapy in March. We had a good swallow study that revealed he didn't need his thin liquids as thick. We went from Honey to Nectar consistency. He has done well with the change. At the time, the SLP said that since he was progressing on his own she didn't think the treatments would be necessary. I told her we wanted to try it for a few different reasons.

1) To improve swallowing function & hopefully elminate the need to thicken his thin liquids (stop aspirating)
2) To get his tongue into a neutral position
3) To improve oral motor skills & to strengthen all of those muscles
4) Stop the drooling!
5) Speech!!!!!

Talking with a wonderful woman I met online (Andrea, her blog is below- A day in the life of Luke) I learned that at TWU they consider if unethical to proceed with VS treatments less than 3x per week. We had been doing 2x per week. When I told Lori (the SLP who administers Logen's VS) about this, she said she would be more than happy to "up" Logen's treatments to 3x per week. So, next week we will begin the treatments 3x per week!

* Please say a prayer for Logen throughout this. It's hard on his to have 4 electrodes "tickling" your neck & throat muscles. Also, pray for improvement!!! Thanks :)