Trip to ICD

After Justin got off work on Wednesday, we finished loading everything in the car and took off for Salina. We arrived much later than we wanted too, but seeing how we had a 10am appointment with the ICD (Infant Child Development), arriving the night before is always better for everyone.

Justin has not stayed in a hotel with Boogie in a long while ... I warned him that we might get little sleep (something I'm beyond over but very much use too) ... and indeed, little sleep we got.

Jocie finally went to sleep at 10:30pm only to wake at 2am. Of course since we were all in the same room, once she was up, we ALL were up. I couldn't help but laugh. Justin was less enthused to say the least. All of us ended up getting about an hour nap before our appointment which was greatly appreciated.

I absolutely love getting to go back to Salina to see my ICD friends. The only thing I don't love? That the time together is far too short, and I don't get to see all my other friends while there. We have so many special people in our lives (many of which live in Salina) and it makes me sad that I don't get to see them more often. :(

When we got to the ICD Thursday morning, we had a truck load of stuff to bring inside. I was tremendously grateful that Justin was able to take leave to help me. Some of this special needs equipment is HEAVY!!

Our van totally rocks though. It was able to transport the following:

• 2 adults & a sweet kiddo (obviously!)
• 2 different walkers (one of which was huge!)
• A wheelchair along with the base
• A trike
• A jogging stroller
• A vibrating therapy plate
• Luggage
• Spare parts/tools to go along with everything
• And we even had room to spare!!

If you don't have a van, you're seriously missing out!! haha

Anyways, some of the stuff we donated and other things we had fixed/adjusted and so forth.

We spent two hours with our infamous physical therapist Joyce (who can do more in 2 hours than some can do in 2 months!!!) and got so much accomplished.

The first thing we did was check the fit of Jocie's DAFO boots (which are getting tight) and decided a plan of action. Once insurance approves everything we will make a new cast of her feet and get two different boots this time.

 

Hopefully.

One boot will be just like the one she has but bigger, and the second boot will have a hinge so we can gradually stretch her achilles and calf muscle. Even with the botox injections and all the therapy we do, Jocie's legs are getting pretty tight and we are on our way to a heel cord contracture. This is definitely not what we want. I tease and say she can put any ballerina to shame with her pointed toes.

After deciding on boots, we checked out a scooter that they made for super cheap to help kids crawl and be more mobile. It will be simple for us to make and will only cost about $30! Woohoo!!!! All we will need to do is cut/shape a piece of plywood, add foam, a non-slip covering and some casters. Easy-peasy and you got yourself a pretty good piece of equipment.

Boogs actually took to it fairly fast, but for her, we will have to make ours a little bit different shape. Easy enough fix though. :) Here is what Jocie looked like on theirs.

After playing on the scooter, we switched gears and picked out a new trike!!!!

 

Jocie's will be slightly different than this one, but not by much. We decided on a different seat (its called a snappy seat) to increase her comfort and safety. I couldn't be more thrilled to have a bigger trike coming that is more sturdy and fits her better. They are even going to attach a license plate with her name!! Isn't that the cutest??

We then moved on to show off how we use the vibrating plate while sitting, standing and on all fours to increase strength, endurance, bone density, circulation, muscle contraction that she could not otherwise do, etc. Its a wonderful piece of equipment. Joyce fell in love with it and decided the office without a doubt needed one :) Even my other friends Carrie and Allison tried it out. I think the general consensus was that being on the plate feels weird, a tad scary, jiggles undesirable body parts and all were surprised that Jocie could perform so well on the plate. Smiles all around!!

The last two things on the agenda was to make adjustments on the wheelchair (which Joyce did in a no time flat) and then we got to try out an adapted power wheel that they had.

We are wanting to get a power wheel (a jeep type preferably because they are bigger) and adapt it so Jocie can activate it with a switch or a joy-stick. This would be a wonderful precursor to learning how to use a powered wheelchair. And besides, its just plain fun right? We already have a seat that we can use to keep her secure and we even have a switch we can use. The important piece, to us anyways, is that we want a remote to go with the power wheel so we can override it when/if needed, and to steer it for her until she learns how to use a joy-stick.

I snapped some pics.

{This is Joyce! She's so pretty, energetic and fun!}

I actually wanted to keep this blog short (I kind of failed haha) but here's a quick video of Jocie's first try in a power wheel!!