After 2 n half weeks of not doing the ABR MANUAL excercises, Richard's joints seemed stiff. Although the machine was used regularly ~ 12 - 15 hours/ day it wasn't enough to 'stimulate' the whole body and loosen up the joints.
Applying the manual excercises takes time and patience, (besides skill), which none of us have at home except for Marita! So when she went on Home leave, we didnt do any of it!
Richard is just so happy to have Marita back! Well, so are we!!
His ankle bones were sticking out of/ protruding out of the skin creating open wounds...in just 3 weeks of lack of massage and movement. It was a sorry sight!Marita came back rather shocked to see this deterioration and thought of wrapping his ankles in a plastic bag before we bathe him so that the ankles would not get wet. Lo n behold! that worked! By keeping the ankles dry, his ankle wounds are closing up fast! What an ingenious simple and practical solution!
No swimming in school then til the ankles are completely healed.

New School Year

It was great to return to school this week after 7 weeks of holiday.
The holidays were spent very much at home doing therapy and watching TV. Everybody else was running around busy with exams and then preparing for the festive celebrations...so it's great to be back at school. At least that's an 'outing' for Richard 3 times a week with Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, feeding group, music therapy and just being with friends. A new teacher and 3 new friends in class with 3 'old' friends from last year.

caregiver on home leave

Richard's caregiver is on home leave so we haven't had time to do the manual ABR application. Thank goodness for the machine... yes we use that more frequently during the day and definitely throughout the night. In total it's on for about 13 - 15 hours a day. He's comfortable using the machine and sleeps well with it.
School starts tomorrow and we'll be assigned a new teacher. We've had wonderful teachers throughout our 3 1/2 years in school.