Same Ole, Same Ole, Plus Some New

Not too much new going on here. Nolan continues with his PT, OT and SLT every week keeping his daddy very busy during the week.

Two weekends ago, we had friends we met at Nolan's first daycare over for dinner and so that the boys could play. Cole was able to show Nolan how to use some of the toys that he has been afraid of, i.e. Sit 'N Spin, motorcycle. The boys had a lot of fun and got to sit for dinner at their very own table.

Cole's mommy, Cindy, said it is the most he has ever eaten for dinner. Nolan showed him the way.

Nolan just loves to write on the easel he got from Grandma Domrase for Christmas. He especially likes to use both hands. You can see more pictures at the top right of this page.

Nolan continues to love trying to walk. He is so persistent. Check out his video at the top left. He is so precious to me. I love his spirit.

We took Nolan to his first Pistons game on Sunday. We didn't even make it until the start of the game. He all of a sudden got really fussy so we had to leave. When we got home, he had a fever of 103. Jeff took him to the doctor and he has an ear infection. Then, today he had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics just when we thought we were in the clear. I regret giving him the antibiotics in the first place.

We do have some exciting news. We will be having someone come to our home starting this Saturday for the next fews weeks to start teaching us ASL. We are so excited. We have heard from many parents that this will ease Nolan's frustration with not being able to talk. So, we will be using ASL and talking at the same time. I am nervous about being a good student!

Oh Boy, More Goals!

I used to like goals, now they stress me out. :o) Nolan went for his speech evaluation yesterday and he was diagnosed with severe expressive language disorder and dysarthria. I have much research to do, but here is the basics of it. Expressive language disorder is the ability to understand language better than speaking. It is due to his brain injury. In retrospect, I do find him engaged when I speak; however, he does not participate or imitate. Dysarthria is a disorder caused by paralysis, weakness, or inability to coordinate the muscles of the mouth. This goes hand in hand with eating problems. So his stroke has caused his oral motor muscles to be weak, therefore creating difficulty in eating and speaking. His stroke has also impeded him from being able to formulate words and simple sentences. The therapist needs to see him twice a week along with providing a home program for us to follow. We have been practicing since yesterday and I have realized we have a long way to go. At first thought, this is very overwhelming. However, we are going to work with all of our therapists to find exercises that engage him physically and mentally that make the most effective use of our time. I am a little nervous about the outcome and his prognosis because at this point, there is none. However, in retrospect, I felt the same way when he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. We will just need to work hard, be consistent and pray. It worked for his physical disabilities and I am sure it will work for his communicative disabilities. I just forgot how overwhelming this is in the beginning.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Does it ever end? I know...no. We've been working on patching Nolan's eye and he is doing extremely well tolerating it. We are up to 45 minutes a day and it gives us the opportunity to play at the table and work on fine motor skills. He loves his beading toys and his puzzle pieces. We have realized that Nolan doesn't use his right eye much, who knew? He is getting noticeably better at focusing and controlling his right eye and hand. I am very pleased with what he has gained in just a few days.Friday night was the best night ever. I was standing at the kitchen counter and I saw Nolan take two steps. He fell and got up and took four steps. I took him out to the living room and he took a few steps and fell a couple of times until he stood up and took 10 steps. I couldn't believe my own eyes. His perseverance is admirable. I am so proud he is my son and that we get to share this journey together as a family. We never knew when or if this day would come and it was worth the wait! I took video of our night and it is posted in our videos at the top right of the page.

Saturday I was in a very scary accident. I thank God that I made it through and I couldn't wait to see Jeff and Nolan afterwards. God protected me that morning...He knew I was needed here. If you accidentally saw that video first instead of Nolan's first steps, sorry about that.

Sunday we went to Donovan's 4th birthday party at the Bounce House. We had a great time and it was great to see Nolan enjoy himself and really get involved. It can be hard going places because we are usually on the sidelines watching others. But this time, he got to participate. It was so much fun. He was a little nervous at first, but once he got going he absolutely loved it. Then of course they served his favorite...pizza. He couldn't have had a better day. I think Jeff enjoyed it just as much. He was sore the next day. I kept having to remind him it wasn't his party.

Nolan is up to four therapy sessions a week and it consumes most of Jeff's free time although I do know that he enjoys his days with Nolan. We go tomorrow for his speech evaluation and plan of care. After that, we have only therapy and no more appointments for three months! Yeah!

Nolan's New Adventure

Today was Nolan's ophthalmology appointment. Doctor said that Nolan's right eye is wandering out more as Jeff and I have been seeing. It is intermittent, which is good. Doctor also said that eye is a little higher as well. So, it looks up and out to the side. The doctor said that his vision is good, his eye health is good and he doesn't see double or anything strange. He said that kids Nolan's age can ignore the bad eye and just use the good eye. Over a period of time that will make his weak eye worse and harder to correct. Our job for the next two months is to patch his good eye for two hours a day to force him to use his bad eye. This will help to strengthen his weak eye. I about fell off the chair at this point of the appointment because Nolan is extremely adverse to anything near his face, let alone on it. Tonight, we got in about 10 minutes of patching. I took it off just before I thought he was going to pass out from hyperventilating. This will be just like everything else we do. We will need patience, consistency and have to work ourselves up to the goal. Here's how we did tonight...

If anything good came of the situation, Nolan seriously drained his sinuses.

Oh, there were two huge successes in the exam room waiting for the doctor. Nolan clearly said, "Yessssssssssssssssssssssssss." We have been practicing that for months. The "s" sound is difficult for him. Then, he crawled to the center of the room, put his hands on the floor and stood up with no support. He then squatted down, picked up his blanket and returned to the standing position without falling or needing support. This is necessary for him to be able to walk and he has been practicing this for months as well. I see his first steps coming very soon...

Christmas #2, New Year's and Great-Grandma's Wedding

We had a busy vacation. On Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with the Domrase side. Nolan had a lot of fun seeing his cousins Macy and Reed. He certainly missed seeing his cousins Katherine, Shannan and Eryn.

Here's a picture of Nolan with his Grandpa Harry. They were giggling after playing a game of peek-a-boo.Then, Grandpa Harry brought out the polka music. Nolan loved dancing to it with his daddy.

Nolan opened a lot of nice things from Grandpa and Grandma. The biggest hit of all was probably the box that his easel came in. He got to play with it for one day at home before it had to go out for the recycling.

We couldn't stay for long because Nolan did not take a nap so we were working on borrowed time. We couldn't get a picture of all of the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa, but we tried.Nolan loved to push his cousin Reed in the swing...sometimes faster than Reed wanted to go.

New Year's Day, we headed back for Jeff's grandmother's wedding to George. They make a wonderful couple.

Nolan and the rest of us all got sick Thursday through Sunday to round our vacation. We're all still recovering and needing a lot of rest.

You can check out more pictures from the holiday at the top, right of the screen under Our Pictures.

Nolan continues to excel at therapy. We are so proud of him. He amazes his therapists every week with his progress. This week, we will be going back to the ophthalmologist to see about correcting his weak eye and next week, he will undergo an extensive speech and swallow study. I have been told that the therapist that we will be working with is the best they have for children with swallowing issues like Nolan's. I pray that she will help us to help Nolan want to eat something besides Organic Morning O's. We have another long road ahead of us, but persistence, discipline and perservance have given us much success before and hopefully, it will again.