This morning Noah and I made our monthly trip into Children's Hospital. Since January I would say our appointments at Children's have spaced out a bit and we generally average one trip in a month. We usually see Noah's OT, Jessica, once a month and the other team of doctors; his neurologist, the stroke clinic, and CP clinic, we are now seeing about every 6 months. This has made things a lot easier for us as getting into the Longwood Medical Area isn't much fun. I have tried scheduling appointments at different times during the day but I've come to the conclusion it doesn't matter. The fact is it's a hard place to get to but it's worth it and I'm very happy with the care he receives there.
Today instead of seeing Jessica we had a follow-up with one of the physical therapists. She works with the CP clinic and has experience working with children with strokes so we have had several "check-in" appointments with her to monitor Noah's progress. The main purpose for today's visit was to have her take a look at Noah's brace and make sure everything was fitting properly. We last saw her about 6 weeks ago, at the end of March. It was at that time that Noah was at the height of his fussiness/frustration and to put it simply was a nightmare at the appointment! He screamed the whole time and refused to do anything with her. He was still butt scooting at the time and had no interest in trying to pull up or walk. We made it through the appointment but it was a disaster. We have had several of these "disaster" appointments with therapists and they are always extremely hard for me. It breaks my heart that Noah gets so frustrated and that we have to make him do things he doesn't want to. I always have the thought in the back of my head that it's for his own good but that doesn't make it easier. Luckily today was the total opposite! As Brad had pointed out yesterday since Friday Noah has been getting more confident and walking more independently every day. I was amazed today how he buzzed around the therapy room showing off his new skills. Of course he was so happy with himself and smiling the whole time. The therapist said he looked "wonderful" and gave me some pointers on exercises to do with him at home to help encourage him to stand without pulling up. She also looked at his brace which she thought looked good (of course tonight I noticed a red spot on his foot so may be headed back to the brace shop..).
After our appointment we headed down into the lobby to take a look at the fishes and have our "treat." I have kind of made this a routine after appointments so Noah can have a little fun and I can just take a minute to recoup. Sometimes Noah's appointments can be overwhelming and there is a lot to digest. I like to be able to take 10 minutes after, watch the fishes swim by and share an oatmeal raisin cookie with Noah. It's so much fun to see how excited he gets to see the fish and I always end up feeling good when we leave-even if is was a "disaster" appointment. Today was no different and I happily watched as he cruised around the tank yelling with delight at each fish he saw!
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