Head Games - Day 8

Camden has managed to make it 7 days without the head support helmet, unfortunately, he was not so lucky today. He started out fine with his ab work and knee bends but seemed to have a difficult time keeping his head up for his sit to stand drills. We suspected this day might be coming and I just hope he can one day forgive me for the pictures. We will just chalk up the head control problems to his unordinarily large and heavy brain.

So now it was on to some new drills with his new and improved superhero head gear. He did great with his second round of sit to stand drills and Daddy could finally see those beautiful blue eyes. He continues to struggle with the walking exercises as the suit makes it extra difficult to bend his knees and lift his feet. I am so proud of him for not quitting although there is no way Ms. Tammy was going to let him off the hook. He finished the morning session with some balance lessons on "Bert" the mechanical horse. Don't tell Mom, but Ms. Tammy let Camden stand up on "Bert" and he loved it.

He completed the day in the monkey cage and took his first flying lessons(see pictures above). This was hard on him because it put a lot of pressure on his back muscles but he seemed to enjoy the freedom. Camden is now a cape away from his superhero license. I forgot to mention that I had a chance to wear the adult suit last week and it was quite the experience. I felt like I could not bend down at all and it was freaking me out to have such straight posture. Breathing was extra work because my body was fighting the constriction. I was proud to say that I lasted 30 minutes and am still in awe that Camden can go 3 hours.

Camden has officially reached the halfway point and we are optimistic about the long term results. We naively thought he may be sitting up by now but we never realized how many things have to happen simultaneously for such a simple act that we all take for granted to occur. Camden may do a good job of putting his hands out but then his legs will stiffen up. Then he may get his legs bent but his trunk and back will collapse. This is why it is so important for him to strenghten all of his muscles while at the same time practicing over and over a certain simple move. What may take a typical kid several hundred times to master, will take a kid with CP or a neurological disorder tens of thousands times to master. The suit is speeding up this process by helping to train Camden's brain to know what it should feel like to complete a correct action while at the same time strengthening the muscles that it takes to perform that task. Like Ms. Tammy says, you have to first lay the tracks for the brain train to roll. We are very encouraged by Camden's added energy and new movements with the suit off and we can't wait for Ms. Lisa to see what new things he can do in therapy. Sorry Lisa but he hasn't lost his manipulative outbreaks. Thanks again for the support and prayers.

For the Boys - Day 7

Today was back to just Camden and Daddy. It was so nice having Becky here for the past 5 days, emotionally and physically, and I am glad that she had an opportunity to watch our big man in action. We can't wait for you to come back again this weekend.

Camden started the day with his normal routine and then continued working his quads and upper body. He still fights the roll to sit exercises but I caught him doing it by himself after therapy yesterday, even though he tried to deny it. I think where we are seeing the most progress right now is in his activities at home. He is really doing a great job of using both knees to move and is all over the place in his bed. We used to put him down at night and he would be in the same position in the morning, now he is either facing the different direction or sideways with his feet up on his siderail. Help. I think we have created a monster in the bed.

After his morning break, he practiced walking while holding on and pushing a cart, sorry for no pictures but he was too fussy. He then worked on knee crawling with Ms. Tammy and Ms. Amber's help. After Daddy was sent out due to fussiness, Camden worked on more rolling to sits. Right now the only way Camden will be able to sit up by himself is if he gets there by rolling over and then pushing up on his arms. He hates this exercise but it is so important and the reason Ms. Tammy makes him do so many reps. Camden did so much rolling today that nightclub Ravers everywhere will be jealous.

I spent a lot of time today in the waiting room due to bad behavior, mostly Daddy's, and I can not get over how friendly and supportive the other familes have been to Camden and I. Everyone is so hospitable and open to talking about their children and the difficult and rewarding aspects of having a child with special needs. Most of the kids come in and hug one another and the parents can't talk enough about how wonderful Ms. Tammy and the staff are for their kids. They have such a supportive special needs community here and it is something Becky and I feel we have been unable to find in Jacksonville. I had one parent ask if there was anything she and her family could do to make our stay in Tallahassee better and another parent who is talking to her child's communication therapist today about possible services for Camden in Jacksonville. All in all we are blessed to be here and so very thankful for all who have helped make it a reality. Check back tomorrow as Camden is attempting a few new drills in the cage.

Intensive Therapy Day 6

He had a nice relaxing weekend to recoop, but this morning it was time for young Camden Bailey to get back to work. Things started out the same way...weights, message, putting on the TheraSuit. But when Camden began to cry during Ms. Tammy's foot message, I wanted more info about it. For any of you Amazing Race fans last year, remember the painful foot message they had to get on one leg of the China race? Ms. Tammy said that many of the techniques from the foot message she gives him are indeed Chinese and she gave me a taste of it. True, it was very painful, but she had me do the same toe-touch before and after message and it was interesting to see how much more I could bend over afterwards. (Well, I was still handicapped with a large baby belly!). Today after his side sit-ups, Ms. Tammy put him on a mat and had him do sit sit-ups into sitting on the edge of the mat. It was incredible to see him holding himself up for a few seconds! She also put him back into the "cage" with the harness on so he could practice some walking with the full suit on plus weights. He didn't cry at all! Oh sure, some fussing here and there, but no meltdowns. Then she had him work on sitting to standing and kneeling to standing and that wasn't so easy for him. He rode on Bert, did some surfing and was rewarded with some time in the ricebox. (Which we've decided we soooo have to have at our own house!) Camden just woke up from his 1 & 1/2 hour nap, brought on by such good hard work. We're going to go get some lunch and I'll probably be leaving sometime later this evening. Continued thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers and support and (if you're reading this Mark, Jim and Family Promisers) thanks for sharing me so much with my family. It meant so much for me to be here for both Camden and Kevin--you have no idea!

CamCam's turn at the blog - Day 5

Mommy's here now!! It was good to see her, but she seemed a little drunk on something when she first saw me. I was just showing off my improved head control and she kept wanting to kiss me all over and snuggle with me and make me rub her belly to "say hello to Luke!" Whatever--Luke, puke...he's a bum compared to what I've been doing lately! Of course, I obliged and rubbed her tummy like the good boy I am. But I've got to learn to walk so I can escape her babying me all the time! Trust me people, I'm working it! It was nice to get a decent bowl of cheesegrits w/ sausage before therapy. Daddy hasn't quite mastered that yet!

I'm starting to get the hang of this intensive therapy. I was a little irritable when Ms. Amber was giving me my weighted message, but Ms. Beth sang away my blues. When Ms. Tammy put on my TheraSuit I didn't cry, not even when she tightened it! We did some sit-ups on the huge bouncy thing and that was so much fun it didn't feel like work. Finally Mommy came out from where she was hiding (although I saw her watching me...she wasn't too sneaky). Then we did the exercise I dread--side push-ups.
After that, Daddy decided he'd "walk in my shoes" for a little bit. He tried on the adult sized Terror Suit and when he was putting it on, I got a little upset. Scared that he couldn't handle it, I guess. He only stayed in it for a measly 30 minutes. He said it felt very supportive, like he couldn't hunch over if he wanted to. Of course, he didn't have the full suit on, just the vest and shorts (and I must say I make that suit look a lot better than Daddy).
Ms. Tammy put me in the harness so I could do some walking, this time with the full suit on. It was not as much fun as being free from my bottom suit like on Thursday. It was hard work and it really wore me out, but Ms. Beth came in again with her guitar and that was a treat. I also did some "surfing" on the swing with Ms. Tammy. I liked that a lot.

After therapy was over, I took an hour-long nap then Mommy and Daddy took me for a swim in the Rosenburg's pool. It felt great! After my bath, I had a great dinner of chicken fingers and yummy soup Nana got for me and followed it with two bowls of ice cream. I was ready for bed after that and Mommy and Daddy scooted out to have dinner and a movie with some of Daddy's old high school friends.

I'm proud of how I did, and Mommy did okay too. I thought she would break down and cry but she says she is really impressed with how much love Ms. Tammy has for me and seeing it in person makes her feel better about what I'm doing. She says at first glance it doesn't look like I may be making any dramatic improvement, but am making small important gains every day. Mommy thought my calf muscles felt a little more defined. A little? Lady, I'm ripped now! I'm ready to visit with my Tallahassee Lassie Olivia and give her a "ticket to the gun show!" (Guns being my massive muscles, Grandma and Grandpa!). I've also made a super-cool new friend, Ms. Lisa. She's friends with Nana and is a very smart and funny lady. Ms. Lisa wants to get involved with funding for my next go-round of therapy. She is affiliated with a group of bikers who like to do multi-city poker runs to raise money for different causes. She's very hopeful she can help get something together for me. I'll just have to get myself some leather boots, a bandana to wear and some leather chaps too. The only thing I'll need is a babe to sit on the back of my Hog. I hear Ms. Tammy is a biker babe...maybe if she keeps working with me on my balance I can take her with me. She can do therapy while we ride! Get your motor runnin...

Camden's Wings - Day 4

After yesterday's great day I decided to give it another go of being Camden's therapy wingman. I'm sure glad I did as Camden did some amazing things today. We started out the morning with our normal massage and relaxation exercises, and Camden had some to. Camden next did his abdominal crunches and sit to stand drills. He is getting so good about popping up on his own, he just needs a little help keeping his head up. This is what the therasuit hat could help with but we managed to avoid it for one more day.

After a few fussy moments through roll to side sits, we had a rewarding break with some strawberries and cream. While on his break I had the pleasure of meeting an amazing family full of Camden's. That's right, all 3 boys(ages 1,3 and 4)have curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and angel like facial features, and they all have developmental delays. It was scary how closely they all resembled Camden, the therapists were even getting all of their names mixed up. Becky and I thought our geneticist was crazy when she told us the first day she met Camden that he definetly had a genetic disorder due to his blonde hair, blue eyes and baby face. This family was told the same thing with their children although it seems to be a mostly male trait. So who knew that being so good looking came at a cost, maybe it's just God's way of evening out the score.

After some more drills in the fun room it was time to try the monkey cage again. Camden was initialy hesitant but with the help of Ms. Beth, the music therapist, and her group, Camden did some of the most incredible gains to date. He began doing weight bearing drills by himself while trying to dance to the music. He was having trouble taking steps with the knee and leg straps of the suit, so when Ms. Tammy took them off, he literally flew. He was still attached to the cage from bungy cords suspended along the top and connected to his suit for balance, but this was the first time he has walked without a walker or someone holding his arms. Ms. Tammy teared up as we both sat in amazement of his progress from just yesterday. He sort of resembled an astronaut walking in space, which is fitting for the 40th anniversary of the first lunar space walk. He probably walked for around 10 minutes before tiring out. He was so proud of himself, smiling and laughing the whole time. He was rewarded with a nice 20 minute play session in the sensory rice box. Yes we have been collecting rice for the past 6 hours but it was well worth it and we are so proud of Camden's work.

Below is some video of him that I shot of the monkey moon walk. Today was a great day and best of all Mommy will be joining us for tomorrow's session. Thanks again for the prayers and support.