10 Months after SDR!

Holy moly where has time gone?! Oh I know, stretching, exercising, walking, last minute trip to Texas for intense therapy oh and raising 4 other kids! I miss my blog and hate that I don't have time to write. My youngest just turned ONE! I am still not even sure how that happened. My beautiful baby girl is already one and I have a 13 year old! Sheer craziness in this house.

Anyway as I said we are 10 months post SDR. Brendan is older so his progression is slow and he needs a hamstring release soon but he is working hard and learning what he is capable of.

Over the last 8 months we have still been working very hard. He went to Texas in the beginning of November to work with the infamous Mike Poole at Walk this Way USA. We really needed this. We all needed a reboot and to change it up. Brendan was starting to walk horribly and was losing motivation. Mike Poole gave him confidence, a new work out plan and was able to show Brendan and I just what he was capable of. It was a great week! We are going back in June for two weeks and we are hoping he will take some steps in canes. This is huge. Canes would be life changing even for short distances. He also has had a new personal trainer for around 5 months and I love her. She is great with him and MOST days gets him to work. We all have our days. He works out up to 6x a week so life hasn't let up one bit.

What life is like after SDR
Brendan works out 3 days in a row and then has 1 day off and then 3 days in a row again

Before School Brendan spends 30 minutes in the morning doing 1 of 4 things:
* Stands in his stander (while in his stander he brushes teeth and eats breakfast)
* Lays on peanut ball and reaches to put legos into container
* sits with back against wall and knee immobilizers on (he can eat breakfast or go on laptop)
* old stretch routine

After school:
Works out with trainer 3x a week
Walks in walker
Works out with mom if the trainer is not scheduled'
Leg presses on Total Gym
Standing and balancing for 10 minutes with and without canes
occasionally comes to grocery store but has to Walk in his walker

On the weekends
Walks in walker off and on throughout day
Mom helps him complete work out plan
Leg Presses
Floor time for 1-2 1/2 hours to get out of his chair and use his body differently


As you can see he is a busy boy! Most days he is fine with everything but sometimes he protests but honestly I can't blame him. I don't know anyone who has kept up with working out for 10 months straight after a major surgery. He hasn't even been sick so he really hasn't taken time off. We have given him very few breaks. I think at this point his body wants it. His brain wants it. He was getting bored over vacation break, I don't think we worked him enough. One day I didn't feel like doing his work out plan but asked if he wanted to and he replied, fine so guess what?! We did it. I wasn't expecting that answer but had to take advantage.


Where is he at?

I got rid of all SUPPORTS on his croc walker while we were in Texas!
He has stood in canes for up to 5 minutes!
We can take his walker with us while out and about and leave the wheelchair at home or in the van
He can walk up steps (with major assistance) with so much more ease
He can leg press easily (we blasted out 60 reps the other night---piece of cake)
He can self transfer from walker to bathroom bars and pull down his pants with left hand to use the bathroom (super proud of this one)
He can pedal his handicap accessible bike for about 1 mile with ZERO assistance. He can also get himself into the driveway which has a large hump to pedal over
He can get himself into this wheelchair from the floor in 1-3 minutes (depending on his mood)
He can hold half kneel position on his own
He can wheel himself down our handicap ramp and up the driveway to wait for his bus ALL ON HIS OWN! He LOVES doing this!
I can help him walk a short distance only supporting him on the right side and walking with him
He is off all medication INCLUDING RITALIN!
His right hand is hardly ever fisted anymore. He looks more relaxed and content in pictures especially while on the floor. I notice an overall difference in his entire posture from fingers to toes.


As you can see he is doing a lot of amazing things. Progress won't stop. He is gaining muscles I have never seen on him. Overall he feels so much stronger and sturdy. It is hard to explain but he can hold his own now. I try to give him as little support as possible so he does the work and keeps building strength. He has more confidence and tries to do more on his own.