A Day In The Life Of Annabel

Therapy Thursday... at least that is what we refer to it as. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Annabel's days of therapy outside of school. On the T days, Annabel starts the mid-morning off with back to back therapies. At 11:30am, begins her occupational therapy. As the pictures show, her therapy begins with swinging on the platform for a few minutes. When Annabel really enjoys the swing she will talk and laugh and giggle... it's too funny. After that, she got to play with vibrating toys to help work on her tactile defensive nature with her hands. She also wrote her name a couple of times on paper with a vibrating pen. Finally to round up her session, she worked on sitting straight up and using her hands to play with toys in front of her. She has really come a long way since she first started therapy, but since she has been sick it has set her back physically.
At noon comes speech therapy to work on her eating and mouth movements. Here her therapist attaches stem to her cheeks and throat. This stimulates the muscles to help make them stronger. It also helps her to develop the proper technique to swallow and chew.
The third therapy before her lunch break is physical therapy. During this time, Annabel works on her standing and sitting. We are trying to build muscle strength so that hopefully one day she can walk. Her surgery and being in the hospital have really set her back but hopefully starting next week she will be back in the stander and working hard again. Once physical therapy is finished, we go have lunch and head over to her grandma's house for a nap.
To finish the day off, Annabel goes to speech therapy in the afternoon. Here she works on her motor development skills. She uses her hands to pull and pick up toys. She also listens to music while working on learning animals and objects.
By the time we get home Annabel is ready to sit back and relax on the couch while watching some cartoons. Hope everyone enjoys this little insight on what all therapies that she receives during the week. Her urine has been back and forth lately. One day it is crystal clear and the next it is murky. She hasn't shown any outward signs of feeling sick so hopefully this is a good thing. On Tuesday she didn't feel very good, but since then she has been all smiles. I have begun to use her feeding machine as an IV during the night to make sure that she takes in enough fluids. I try to continue to pump water and bottles into her during the night. During the day, she gets water and cranberry juice through her button and eats all her meals by mouth. Thanks everyone for all the help and the support each and every day!! God bless.