"Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
Do not be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand". ~ Isaiah 41:10
Dominic is officially on the move. He is CRAWLING! Well, by crawling I mean army crawling. But that is more than his PT or OT expected of him. I can imagine it would be hard to crawl when you don't have much use of your right side. So, I am thrilled with my little G.I. Joe! He still needs to figure out how to keep his right arm in front of him, but today he crawled about five feet to get what he wanted in under a few seconds. And he was thrilled to show off his new moves at PT and everyone was impressed. We were all thinking he'd never crawl and just go straight to walking. He probably won't ever crawl the conventional way, but as with everything else, he'll do it on Dominic time and the Dominic way. I'm just really proud of him for figuring it out on his own and how to compensate. He's a stubborn and driven little boy and I know he'll be able to anything he wants if he sets his mind to it!
Aside from that exciting news, life is usual around here. We got to enjoy the last warm day this weekend before it turned cold and rode bikes to church. It was great but I was sporting some back sweat for the people in the pew behind us. My mom also decided to pop up for a visit and we've been having fun with the boys and her and I enjoyed a girl's night out to see The Hunger Games. Woop woop!
Breaking out the bikes
Love surf and turf Sundays!
Backyard fun!
Lunch with Grammy
We are heading to the East side of the state this weekend. I am joining my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws for a women's retreat. This will be much needed alone time with The Man upstairs and I am really looking forward to it. Mike will have a boys weekend with my father-in-law and I'm sure visit with cousins as well. Should be a great weekend!
Life has been crazy this week for us. With this beautiful spring weather brings spring projects! We had been talking for years about getting new hardwood floors in our dining room and refinishing most of the downstairs' floors. Thanks to tax season, now is the time! I'm super excited but this has been quite the process. Everything has been moved out of the two bedrooms, hallway and dining room and is sitting in either our 3-season porch or living room. Besides the fact that I can't find anything, we're sequestered to the basement, and the house is a mess - we can't access our bathrooms! So, when Mitchell informed me he had to go number two yesterday, I threw the kids in the car and zoomed up to the library up the street to use the public restroom :o) So, we've made it work, but I'm ready to be done showering and getting ready at the gym every day. Tomorrow is the final coat of finish and they'll be done, so Saturday we can have our house back!! I'm really excited, especially now that Dominic is spending more time in his gait trainer, he'll have more room to roam.
New floors in the dining room!
Refinished floors in the 2 bedrooms and hall
Speaking of roaming, Dominic is a man on the loose! His PT put him in the 'Mustang' today and he loved it. He needs to work on using his right foot more because he tends to bump back and forth into walls because he's only pushing with his left foot. But he'll get there and he seems to LOVE being able to move on his own. They're working on getting him a Mustang of his own!
On a totally separate subject, I saw this link about Dr. Arndt and wanted to share it. We just love him and are so happy to see that he's bringing more attention to West Michigan and to DeVos Children's epilepsy program. Mike thinks I should attend the event and I'm thinking about it...
We have really been loving this awesome weather. But I'm sure it won't last and we'll be blasted with another blizzard. But, we got Dominic out on his AmTryke tonight for a spin. He loves the tryke but is NOT a fan of the helmet. I guess for now he doesn't need it. It will be a lot of fun to take him out on the tryke this summer.
Yeah for sunshine!
He does NOT like the helmet. I guess flashbacks of his crainial helmet?
Thanks to Curious George, Mitchell was determined to make
an automatic car wash for his cars and trains
Mom with her Dom
This weekend we're home the boys will be cheering me on while I run the Irish Jig. Should be a gorgeous weekend for a race! Then we are hoping to feed Mitchell's obsession with Dr. Seuss and take him to see the Grand Rapids symphony's production of Green Eggs and Ham. Saturday night Mike and I have a date...sort of. We are going to a Laughfest event with some people from work. Should be a lot of fun.
This is a short post, but very exciting for us! Dominic has been using an old gait trainer his PT lent us for use at home. But it's old and he can't figure out how to move forward. Yesterday at physical therapy, Robin tried him in "The PONY". It's a newer gait trainer. He did AWESOME! He was all over the place - forwards, backwards, side to side, turning around. It was incredible. Robin was speechless. She couldn't believe it! Neither could I :o) It really convinced Robin that Dominic needs his own new gait trainer. There is a certain one she wants to get called "The Mustang". It's pretty sweet and newer than the PONY. I swear it's on hydraulics or something. It's expensive though, and we'll have to go through all the insurance craziness which can take several months. But it's so thrilling to see Dominic move around and to see him so excited to be moving.
The "Mustang" Gait Trainer that Dominic will hopefully have in about 6 months
Well, that's all! Just wanted to share. My Flip video cam ran out of battery, conveniently. So I didn't get him on video, but here are a couple pics of him ridin' the PONY!
I haven't had too much to post about lately but I do have a few new pics of Dominic. He's progressing nicely. Still no crawling or walking, but he is moving all around. He can go from sitting to lying down to flipping over onto his belly and pushing back up to sitting. He can even get up to all fours on his own! He doesn't stay there long, but he's figured out how to do it! He loves to give kisses, and by kisses I mean he devours your whole face and covers you in slobber. But it's sweet. He babbles all the time too. He does say "Dada" now and while I don't think he's actually trying to say "I did it", he says it ALL THE TIME. So, he's trying to say something and it comes out sounding exactly like "I did it". It's hilarious.
His Kissy face
I didn't have the video camera, but here is a series of photos taken within about 2 minutes to catch how much this kid is moving!
Up on all fours on his own!
He's really turning into a typical toddler (well, except for actually "toddling" around). But we've gone out to dinner a few times over the past few weeks and he's grabbing menus and tossing them off the table. Grabbing and eating crayons. He sneaks the salt shaker a starts shaking salt everywhere. He even figured out how to get a box of candy hearts open on his own! I've realized I really need to keep my eye on him all the time. He might not be walking or crawling everywhere, but he's moving and is just as curious as any other 17 month old.
My little valentine
It's really fun to see Dominic and Mitchell interact these days. Because Dominic is stronger and more mobile, Mitchell has a lot more fun with him. He loves to tickle him and sort of wrestle around with him. And Dominic thinks Mitchell is the funnest thing ever. It's really sweet. I was worried for so long that Mitchell would resent Dominic for all the attention he got the past year, especially with his surgery. But he doesn't at all and actually adores him. I'm sure they'll fight as they get older, but for now they're very fond of each other.
Brothers :o)
We're all still battling colds around here. It seems like we all have colds for the entire winter season. I'm ready for Spring! Excited we're almost into March! Since we were all a little under the weather after a busy weekend visiting family, I decided we were going to have a pajama party day. We're staying in pajamas all day and we made a big bed on the living room floor out of pillows. We're just watching movies, reading books and relaxing all day. Sounds good to me!
We've had a busy few weeks! Between a couple illnesses and busy therapy schedules, we are as crazy as usual. We've also grieved the loss of my grandmother and Mike, Dominic and I flew to Kansas last weekend for the funeral. Mitchell had fun with his cousins and Aunt and Uncle. It was very hard but the service was beautiful and a wonderful tribute to the amazing woman my grandmother was. It was also very nice to spend some time with my mom's side of the family.
Waiting for our plane
Mike and Dominic at the funeral
Some of the Blow family
The four Blow Sissies ( with cousin Steph filling in for Aunt Nancy)
Dominic is doing great! He's making some great progress with his walking and is taking steps on his own (holding my hands, of course) all the time! He's moving around a lot in his gait trainer and enjoying being on his feet. He's also getting really good and moving himself around. No, he's not crawling, but he probably won't. He does however turn himself around both sitting and on his tummy. I wouldn't be surprised if he started scooting around soon. He's also babbling all the time and has a few words - ba ba (bottle), cheese, hi and bye-bye. No Mama or Dadda yet, he's making progress!
Here is a video of Dominic at physical therapy working on walking/stepping. Yes, that is an ankle weight around his waist. He seems to be looking for a little more input from the ground, hence the reason he likes to jump a lot. The weight gives him a little more of that input and the knee immobilizers keep him from jumping up and down. These are some of the best steps he's taken! But he's not afraid to let Robin know when he's had enough for the day :o)
He's still really fighting the constraint therapy, so his OT has decided to back off a little with that. Instead, we're focusing more on bilateral use. So, rolling and throwing a ball, shaking maracas in both hands at once, clapping etc. His right hand seems to follow his left when he's not thinking about it and when we don't take away the left. He'll hold his bottle with both hands, but try to get him to just use the right and he flips out. So, the ultimate goal is to have him use his right hand as a "helper" to the left and he's doing pretty well with it so far. He's got great shoulder and upper arm strength on his right side, though, and he's amazing at upward facing dog! Sometimes I make him practice yoga with me :o)
In other good news, Dominic is DONE with Clonazepam! After 4 1/2 months of weaning him off, he is officially DONE with it. He is now down to just one seizure medication (Keppra) which he will be on at least until August, possibly longer. Aside from the Keppra, the only other medication Dominic is on is Bicitra for his kidney stones. It's hard to believe a year ago he was on 11 meds, including steroid injections!
Life is still crazy and stressful but it's encouraging to see Dominic continue to progress. He is a happy little guy and continues to bring us joy everyday!
As I've mentioned, Dominic has turned into quite a stinker. Therapy is becoming more of a challange and some days it seems to be a waste of $180 per visit. BUT, he'll get there! I started working a little harder on it at home. He's figured out how to still use his left hand despite being constrained by the brace and covered with a sock. So, I've learned the best way to force him to use his right hand is to tie his left arm to a chair with a scarf and bribe him with yogurt melts. It seems to be working so far!
He even figured out how to get out of this!
We're also still working on standing. He's doing great and even takes several steps when I hold his hands. I'm not sure how long it will take, but this boy will walk!
Dominic's OT has been working with Dominic a little more on feeding because he seems to be having some issues. He appreas to have tounge weakness and has trouble moving food around in his mouth. This is why he has decided to stop eating anything that requires a lot chewing. She taught me some oral exercises to do with him but he may need some more help down the road.
Other than that, a pretty usual week for us. Monday we had surprisingly warm weather and enjoyed a nice winter family walk. Mike and I are looking forward to a date night tonight and tomorrow we are heading the East side to spend some time with friends. Should be a fun weekend!
Another busy week in the Dunlap house. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have my sister come up and visit for a few days before she starts another gruelling semester of law school. It was so great to hang out with her and she was such a help with the boys.
Dominic had his usual OT with Early On on Monday and this time she brought out another OT to observe along with a vision consultant. I was informed for the first time that Dominic is not only peripherally blind in his right eye, but also his left. This was news to me and something I had not heard before. She said he would have a difficult time walking and going down steps. But that he would have an especially hard time reading. I didn't take it to heart since this woman had never met him and was no neurologist or opthomoalogist. Unfortunately, she was right. We saw Dominic's Opthomologist on Wednesday and she confirmed the same thing. He lost his peripheral vision in BOTH eyes on his right side. Needless to say I was a little upset that no one had ever mentioned this to me before. She said we had probably been told by the neurosurgeon and neurologist, but that when we were told that he would lose his peripheral vision on the right side, it was implied that it was the right side in both eyes, not just one. The optic nerve from each side of the brain splits and is responsbile for different areas of vision in each eye. So, removing an entire hemisphere will remove vision that that side was responsible for. So, basically he can see fine when he looks straight ahead but if he tries to look to his right without turning his head, he will be totally blind. So, that's great. His opthamologist did remind me that this was a down side to the surgery, but that it had to be done to stop the seizures. Fortunately he will not know any different and will learn to compensate. I guess even though I know he's a little delayed, I thought that someday he would catch up and live a normal life like anyone else. I feel terrible for knowingly doing this to him, but I guess what choice did we have? If we didn't stop the seizures, he could have easily ended up a vegetable. I suppose it's the lesser of the two evils.
You can see where the optic nerve splits. The blue is what was removed thus leaving Dominic blind on the right side of both eyes.
Here is Dominic during Early On last week. He LOVES this monkey Linda brings. His right arm is getting stronger each day and he can now support himself solely on his right arm and play with his left.
On a good note, we found out he doesn't need glasses! The last appointment we had with the opthomologist she was leaning toward glasses. But after dilating his eyes and a three hour office visit, she decided his eyes were correcting themselves and glasses weren't needed.
Dominic pretty much dominated the treadmill this week at PT. He is becoming quite a feisty little guy. He's learning to hit and hearing the word "NO" a lot more from me. He also puts up quite a fight when Robin is stretching him during therapy. But with that he's getting stronger and more mobile. He got his AFO on Friday and it should give him a little more support when he's standing/walking.
Dominic's AFO. Short enough that he can move around but gives just enough ankle support
The man eating breakfast rockin' his new footwear
Mike was supposed to be gone this weekend but with all the snow, he's staying around here. Which is a good thing, since I was layed up on the couch all day yesterday with the flu. Dominic may be getting more of a 'tude, but at least he entertained himself in his jumparoo for two hours yesterday so I could nap while Mitchell was at school. I'm definitely looking forward to a low-key weekend at home with my boys :o)
