I have been so busy I almost forgot to look for this! Here is the blog post over at the Original Kinesio Blog that has Jadon in it! I love the pic they used!!
Original Kinesio Blog
They contacted me about a month ago and said that they loved the blog. They asked if they could use some of the pics from Jadon's Journey that have Jadon using Kinesio tape therapy in some of their publications. I agreed! They told me they would include a link back to our blog. What a great way to continue to spread the word about Brachial Plexus injuries and educate people!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Lovin' This Reach!!
We had a great therapy session today! Jadon has really been working hard in therapy lately! His therapist is so impressed with his progress. I got some great pictures today of Jadon reaching for the bubble wand.
I could look at these pictures all day long! I can't wait to see the progress he makes after his shoulder/tendon transfer surgery! Exciting things!
I could look at these pictures all day long! I can't wait to see the progress he makes after his shoulder/tendon transfer surgery! Exciting things!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Therapy and Other Stuff
Jadon has been doing great in therapy. His occupational therapist, Ellen, had her baby so she is on maternity leave. I was a little worried about how he would handle the transition to another new therapist but he did great. It really helped that Karen was there for several therapy sessions along with Ellen before she left for maternity leave. Jadon has been working really hard in therapy and his therapists are really good at making sure that there are new and fresh activities each week. Jadon's hand function continues to be pretty weak so we have been working on fine motor activites. Little peg puzzles and blocks are perfect. I keep praying that his hand continues to strengthen.
Jadon continues to use righty more and more without us reminding him which is wonderful. It is important the he continues to try and use righty for everything he possibly can. Here are some pictures from last weeks therapy session. He is chillin' in the bean bag chair and playing with legos.
Surgery time is closing in. Only a couple more weeks. I have clothes in about three different sizes. I am just not sure what is going to fit over the casts after surgery. It should be interesting packing things in his normal size for before surgery and then things in a couple different sizes for after surgery.
The closer is get the more and more anxious I get!
Jadon continues to use righty more and more without us reminding him which is wonderful. It is important the he continues to try and use righty for everything he possibly can. Here are some pictures from last weeks therapy session. He is chillin' in the bean bag chair and playing with legos.
Surgery time is closing in. Only a couple more weeks. I have clothes in about three different sizes. I am just not sure what is going to fit over the casts after surgery. It should be interesting packing things in his normal size for before surgery and then things in a couple different sizes for after surgery.
The closer is get the more and more anxious I get!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Preparations
It is only four more weeks until we leave for Philadelphia for Jadon's shoulder/tendon surgery. I have not really purchased a lot of shirts yet. Just can't seem to decide what size is going to fit best. A friend of mine has given me a box of 4T shirts to use during that time. I originally thought that I was going to have to alter the shirts to get them to fit over the cast but I read that one mom was able to just stretch shirts that were about 3-4 sizes bigger than what the child normally wore over the casts. I am hoping that works! It would be nice to be able to use those clothes later when Jadon is actually that size.
Another thing we are realizing we are going to need to before we leave is a new car seat. I don't think the one we currently use is going to work because the sides curve in toward Jadon. With his arm in a cast out this his side we are going to need a seat that allows that. We are going to go check out car seats next weekend hopefully!
Grandma Cindy will be traveling with us on the next trip. She has commented that she would like to go and the more that Matt and I thought about the more we liked the idea of having some more hands to help us out. Especially after surgery.
Before we even go for surgery we have another BIG event. Jadon is turning two this month! I don't know where the time is going. He is growing up so fast! We are looking forward to this birthday party and hoping he can really have fun at this one. Last year he had one of his pain episodes right before the party started and was either miserable or asleep for the rest of the party. A few months later we would finally figure out what was causing the 4-6 hour pain episodes.....double inguinal hernia's!! Poor baby!!
Jadon has been doing really great in therapy. His correct Benik splint finally arrived and it really helps him with his hand function. His therapist also created a new splint for his elbow. We would like to see more elbow extension and this splint keeps it in that position and gives him some more function while he is wearing it. The therapist is very happy with the results she is seeing so far.
Here are a few pictures from one of Jadon's last therapy sessions where he got to use Righty to play the Lucky Ducks game!
Another thing we are realizing we are going to need to before we leave is a new car seat. I don't think the one we currently use is going to work because the sides curve in toward Jadon. With his arm in a cast out this his side we are going to need a seat that allows that. We are going to go check out car seats next weekend hopefully!
Grandma Cindy will be traveling with us on the next trip. She has commented that she would like to go and the more that Matt and I thought about the more we liked the idea of having some more hands to help us out. Especially after surgery.
Before we even go for surgery we have another BIG event. Jadon is turning two this month! I don't know where the time is going. He is growing up so fast! We are looking forward to this birthday party and hoping he can really have fun at this one. Last year he had one of his pain episodes right before the party started and was either miserable or asleep for the rest of the party. A few months later we would finally figure out what was causing the 4-6 hour pain episodes.....double inguinal hernia's!! Poor baby!!
Jadon has been doing really great in therapy. His correct Benik splint finally arrived and it really helps him with his hand function. His therapist also created a new splint for his elbow. We would like to see more elbow extension and this splint keeps it in that position and gives him some more function while he is wearing it. The therapist is very happy with the results she is seeing so far.
Here are a few pictures from one of Jadon's last therapy sessions where he got to use Righty to play the Lucky Ducks game!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Newborn Birth Injuries: The Untold Story
Hi Everyone! I just got an email from Anise at Cameron's Smile about a great new video that the UBPN just released about Brachial Plexus Injury Awareness. PBS is airing this awesome video to help spread the word! I am so excited about this! One of the most frustrating things for me has been what to me feels like secretiveness about this injury. I feel this is because it IS caused by the hands that are supposed to above all do no harm. This tends to make people feel uncomfortable and awkward. I am hoping that maybe, just maybe this video and the help from PBS can open up a dialog. The medical community needs to make a change in protocol when it comes to delivering babies! Please, please pass this video on to all you know!!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Shoulder/Tendon Surgery Scheduled
I finally got Jadon's shoulder reduction/tendon transfer surgery scheduled out at Shriners. Dr. Kozin will be doing Jadon's surgery on March 3rd. We have to go in on the 2nd for the pre-op work so we will have to be out there by that Tuesday evening. From what I understand Jadon will go home the following day (or at least back to the Ronald McDonald House) then we have to return in 4 weeks. At that pre-op visit we will be in Philly for the entire week so that Jadon can have 5 days of physical therapy after his cast is removed.
I am glad to have a date so we can start preparing ourselves for this big trip. I am hoping after this surgery we will be done with surgeries for awhile!
I am glad to have a date so we can start preparing ourselves for this big trip. I am hoping after this surgery we will be done with surgeries for awhile!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Update
We got home tonight from Philadelphia. We are so glad to be home. Jadon's appointment with Dr. Kozin was a little rough. After being on the road for two days, being completely out of his routine, and not sleeping well Jadon was apparently not in the mood to have anyone mess with him. The minute Dr. Kozin and his therapist walked into the room he was grumpy. He would not let anyone mess with him. He was not in the mood to play with any toys.
Dr. Kozin suggested that the therapist take him up to the therapy room where all the toys were to let him play. They thought maybe they would be able to get him to cooperate if they gave him enough space. Ha! We tried all sorts of toys. Each time the therapist even touched him he got mad. I let him play with my cell phone to try to distract him and he still had a fit. We tried candy even! It was a little embarrassing for Matt and I. He is such a sweet boy normally. He was definitely not showing the good people at Shriners that!
It took a really long time but eventually between watching Jadon play from a distance and the few times we just forced him to cooperate she saw what she needed to evaluate. The therapist said she was really impressed at how well Jadon incorporates "Righty" into his play. She called Dr. Kozin to come up so we could talk about what she saw. He sat and watched Jadon play for a little while also. Both the therapist and Dr. Kozin feel that the elbow extension is definitely there. Also that finger extension has improved since the last visit also. The big issue at this point is Jadon's shoulder. We discussed the fact that the shoulder area is always really tight and hard for us to stretch out. We also mentioned that his external rotation is not very good. Dr. Kozin examined Jadon's shoulder (against Jadon's will). He said we needed to get an MRI to diagnose shoulder subluxation. When I looked up the definition of shoulder subluxation it is the separation of the humeral head from the glenoid cavity, resulting in strain on the soft tissues surrounding the shoulder joint. Clear as mud right???
Here is how I understand it.....Basically because the arm has not been used the muscle/tendons are not growing equally. The shoulder joint is also not developing properly, and because of this the shoulder is internally rotated. This means that his shoulder is always turned in towards his body. This really limits his use of his arm. Dr. Kozin said "I think we are going to have to go in and do something about that shoulder. It is really limiting all that he is capable of doing with that arm". He said we will wait for the MRI results then he will call us and come up with a plan.
The next surgery is called an arthroscopic anterior capsular release. From the sounds of things we go out for the surgery. I am not sure if he is in a cast afterwards. We come home for a couple of weeks then we go back out. When we go back out we would stay for a full five days of therapy before we can come home again. Yippee!!
Another interesting little bit of info we found out. Jadon's Benik splint he has been wearing since August.....Yeah...Made for the wrong hand!! Yup that is right! We put it on Jadon so she could check to see if it was fitting right and she paused. Then looked at us and said "This is made wrong!". There was a bar across the top. It was supposed to be on the bottom to help position his wrist. No harm was done but the splint was also not doing what it was supposed to do. So she took the splint from us in case she had to send it back to the company in order to get us a new, correct one. Ugh!
Hopefully I will be able to get the MRI scheduled on Monday and we can go from there!
Dr. Kozin suggested that the therapist take him up to the therapy room where all the toys were to let him play. They thought maybe they would be able to get him to cooperate if they gave him enough space. Ha! We tried all sorts of toys. Each time the therapist even touched him he got mad. I let him play with my cell phone to try to distract him and he still had a fit. We tried candy even! It was a little embarrassing for Matt and I. He is such a sweet boy normally. He was definitely not showing the good people at Shriners that!
It took a really long time but eventually between watching Jadon play from a distance and the few times we just forced him to cooperate she saw what she needed to evaluate. The therapist said she was really impressed at how well Jadon incorporates "Righty" into his play. She called Dr. Kozin to come up so we could talk about what she saw. He sat and watched Jadon play for a little while also. Both the therapist and Dr. Kozin feel that the elbow extension is definitely there. Also that finger extension has improved since the last visit also. The big issue at this point is Jadon's shoulder. We discussed the fact that the shoulder area is always really tight and hard for us to stretch out. We also mentioned that his external rotation is not very good. Dr. Kozin examined Jadon's shoulder (against Jadon's will). He said we needed to get an MRI to diagnose shoulder subluxation. When I looked up the definition of shoulder subluxation it is the separation of the humeral head from the glenoid cavity, resulting in strain on the soft tissues surrounding the shoulder joint. Clear as mud right???
Here is how I understand it.....Basically because the arm has not been used the muscle/tendons are not growing equally. The shoulder joint is also not developing properly, and because of this the shoulder is internally rotated. This means that his shoulder is always turned in towards his body. This really limits his use of his arm. Dr. Kozin said "I think we are going to have to go in and do something about that shoulder. It is really limiting all that he is capable of doing with that arm". He said we will wait for the MRI results then he will call us and come up with a plan.
The next surgery is called an arthroscopic anterior capsular release. From the sounds of things we go out for the surgery. I am not sure if he is in a cast afterwards. We come home for a couple of weeks then we go back out. When we go back out we would stay for a full five days of therapy before we can come home again. Yippee!!
Another interesting little bit of info we found out. Jadon's Benik splint he has been wearing since August.....Yeah...Made for the wrong hand!! Yup that is right! We put it on Jadon so she could check to see if it was fitting right and she paused. Then looked at us and said "This is made wrong!". There was a bar across the top. It was supposed to be on the bottom to help position his wrist. No harm was done but the splint was also not doing what it was supposed to do. So she took the splint from us in case she had to send it back to the company in order to get us a new, correct one. Ugh!
Hopefully I will be able to get the MRI scheduled on Monday and we can go from there!
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