I learned more about Maggie's wheelchair falling over when she came home from school. Apparently it wasn't such a slow fall*, but a crash and she landed a little to her side. The driver stopped the bus on the hill in the middle of traffic to fix things. Her nurse said Maggie was shaking with fear, but physically unhurt.
I called the classroom to check on her before I went to the dentist because I knew I would be out of touch for a while. The teacher said she was working and happy so I didn't worry. I knew, though that there would be more when she came home. And there was.
Her physical therapist comes on Tuesdays to work with Maggie in the walker. This is very difficult for Maggie. She is never upright and it's a bit scary. I'm sure you can figure out what happened. As soon as we put her in the walker she started to melt down. This has happened before, but this time it was different. Maggie was inconsolable. We immediately took her out and put her in the chair, but she could not stop crying. After a few minutes I took her out of the chair and sat with her on the couch while she just cried out all her fear.
It would have broken your heart. She was so sad and so frightened and all the hugs and kisses and reassurance could not make it go away. It was the exact same reaction she had when her wheelchair fell over in middle school. She waited until she got home to mom and then completely fell apart. She finally recovered after about 45 minutes of solid crying. By then she was exhausted. So was I.
When her bus arrived this morning her regular driver was back (that was a sub yesterday.) He knew what happened and took no offense when I said, Please use the tie downs.
They got to school without incident.
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*no one told me it went over slowly, I think I just saw it that way in my mind and wanted to believe it.
Showing posts with label walker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walker. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Walking is Hard work!
I took this video of Maggie trying to use her walker. It's the Kidwalk. She loved it at first but we've been having some problems of late. About 1/2 of the time she has been really freaking out when she gets in to it. We can't figure out why, but being in the upright position is very frightening for her.
Today was better and she was in it for about 15 minutes or more. She seemed like she was gong to freak out, but she didn't. She was smiling and really trying hard to make it work.
This is about three minutes long and you can see how much work she is doing just to be in this position. There's not much walking in this one, we are working on just getting her used to the walker and the upright position itself after those meltdowns.
For those of us who learned the typical way, let me remind you that walking is HARD WORK! Check out the concentration on this kid.
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Today was better and she was in it for about 15 minutes or more. She seemed like she was gong to freak out, but she didn't. She was smiling and really trying hard to make it work.
This is about three minutes long and you can see how much work she is doing just to be in this position. There's not much walking in this one, we are working on just getting her used to the walker and the upright position itself after those meltdowns.
For those of us who learned the typical way, let me remind you that walking is HARD WORK! Check out the concentration on this kid.
Maggie is a stud!
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Could it be??? Could it finally be?
Maggie has been waiting to get a walker for over three years. The reasons for the delay are frustrating and annoying and not worth relaying here. (but know I'm steaming just a little thinking about them...)
Today we went to the doctor and when we came back a man got our of his car and approached us. I smiled, thinking he wanted directions, but NO! He was here to measure Maggie for and try her in a model of the walker! I almost missed him because if I ever knew about the appointment, I completely forgot. No matter. We found each other and Maggie was chomping at the bit to try it again.
She loves it, but she does tire easily because it's a ton of work for her.She is using muscles she never uses and it's hard. It's also very scary for her, but she just grabs that wheel and moves herself around for as long as she can. I had to grab that vase of roses in the lower left corner of the 1st picture picture as she knocked it over.
Look how TALL she is!
Keep your fingers crossed that it actually comes through this time! It can only help her in so many ways and she can definitely have a little fun too.
Today we went to the doctor and when we came back a man got our of his car and approached us. I smiled, thinking he wanted directions, but NO! He was here to measure Maggie for and try her in a model of the walker! I almost missed him because if I ever knew about the appointment, I completely forgot. No matter. We found each other and Maggie was chomping at the bit to try it again.
She loves it, but she does tire easily because it's a ton of work for her.She is using muscles she never uses and it's hard. It's also very scary for her, but she just grabs that wheel and moves herself around for as long as she can. I had to grab that vase of roses in the lower left corner of the 1st picture picture as she knocked it over.
Look how TALL she is!
Keep your fingers crossed that it actually comes through this time! It can only help her in so many ways and she can definitely have a little fun too.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Walker Texas Ranger
After an inordinate amount of time thinking about and trying things out, it looks like they've finally found a walker for Maggie. I went to school today to see her in it. I actually thought this was hers, but discovered it still hasn't even been ordered. This is a loaner.
Maggie has some ability to move it around already and you can see the determination in her eyes as she tried to get where she's going. She will figure it out, I'm sure, but she has to actually GET it first so she can use it more often. She lasted a little more than 20 minutes and then she was exhausted, but she can build up stamina as she gets more used to it.
Where we will put this giant thing is another question entirely. It will be at school most of the time, but on breaks and long weekends, it will be great to sue in the back yard or even at the park.
Maggie has some ability to move it around already and you can see the determination in her eyes as she tried to get where she's going. She will figure it out, I'm sure, but she has to actually GET it first so she can use it more often. She lasted a little more than 20 minutes and then she was exhausted, but she can build up stamina as she gets more used to it.
Where we will put this giant thing is another question entirely. It will be at school most of the time, but on breaks and long weekends, it will be great to sue in the back yard or even at the park.
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