The 6th relapse.

Most of the people who read my blog read my posts on Facebook. It's just so much easier to post a little blurb on there and have everyone caught up. I still feel like people don't really read this blog. I'm told they do though...It's odd for me to think that because this was once my diary and everything was so private.

Two weeks ago when I went to Hailey's room to get her ready for the day. I noticed she was blinking a lot. When I sat her up she couldn't hold herself in that position and when I put my hand on her back she started to do her little body relapse circles she does when things are going to start to go downhill. I just looked and her and said, "oh no..."

I texted Josh and pretty much wrote, She's relapsing again. He had said that it was early in the day give her some time to wake up more and let me know how the day goes. I texted back and said, "I've seen this 5 times before, I know what it is. It's happening again." Hailey's speech was slow and she asked if she could crawl. I put her on the floor and she bobbled. I put her in the crawling position and just yesterday she would take off, this day she fell over. She was very lethargic. All things/signs we've seen before. 

Since there wasn't anything medically that could be done for her this would be the first relapse that we would not admit her to the hospital, no IVIG treatment, no poking, no blood draws, no sleepless nights in a hospital room alone, just me and her with me crying myself to sleep.

Dr. Sarah did come over in hopes that maybe an adjustment on Hailey would either relax her or even reduce the duration of the relapse. We are so grateful for Dr. Sarah. When Hailey can't see Dr. Sarah, Dr. Lisa is there for Hailey as well. 

She started the vomiting and it seemed to stay with her for a longer time then any of the rest of the times. Her eyes were "getting stuck." Another thing with eyes was that when she was sleeping she would get startled and do a moro reflex followed by her eyes rolling up in the back of her head and not being able to snap out of it and focus. That was pretty scary, still is.

I called her pediatrician to ask for a refill on anti nausea medication and to let her know about the eye thing. She said that she would suggest an 24 hour EEG. She also suggested maybe hyperbaric treatments, and maybe also going to a children's hospital in California that does research studies and trials. 

It's a tough call. Doctors tell you that basically there is no cure, treatment or even hope your child will ever get better or survive past age 8 so you try to live life and be a family and enjoy your time together. Then on the other hand what if there is something more I can do, some where else I could take her. Do I want to live this life we have in and out of hospitals again? If we travel I want it to be fun, not be to go to another hospital to be poked and scanned and have her cry. What if they suggest something that could help? What if it's a brain biopsy again? What if we put her through more tests and they find what they always find...NOTHING. We've done 3 lumbar punctures, 8 MRIs dozens of blood draws, 4 IVIG treatments, 1 PIC line, 1 Central Line, and a blood transfusion all in less then 2 years! It's too much right now. 

There is 1 thing that was different this time around and it's kind of bugging me. I don't know if there was too much going on with Summer School on the horizon, Therapy appointments we went to, the days just weren't long enough for everything I had to do, but the thing that didn't happen this time was that...I didn't cry. I was tired and I was mad, but I did notice I didn't cry that whole time. 

I cry every time. Why not this time? There is a time when you want to do everything in your power to make your sick child better and you cry and you're mad and there is nothing you can do and then you just want it all to be over with. You want the pain to end. But when that pain ends I think another begins, so you are just stuck. "Living" each day. It gets worse for me when I have nothing to look forward to. We took Hailey to Disneyland, we went on our Make a Wish trip, we had family come visit for Hailey's birthday. Those were all things that kept us excited for each day. I also wasn't alone, I got temporary breaks. When this relapse happened it felt like it rained on a parade we just started. Hailey was sitting up on her own. She was crawling again and just as fast as the sun sets and rises it was gone again. All that work, another memory now. Hailey has to start fighting all over again and I can tell she's tired, but she won't give up, so we can't either. 

Josh says he wants to take Hailey to the Grand Canyon this year. While that doesn't sound like the most exciting thing in my eyes for a 5 year old, it's something he really wants to do with her so maybe I can try to look forward to that? This month is packed with appointments and school, but I'm hoping to get a break in August. 

Josh and I are also trying to live a Paleo lifestyle while I just call it a diet. I hear that people who are Paleo are be more energetic, sleep better, or just feel better in general while you help reduce the risk of lots of health problems people are running into now a days. I might not be very happy or enthusiastic about it (in fact I'm kinda bitter about it), but I only want to give it a whirl for 45 days. If anything else happens besides losing weight I might consider maybe doing a 80/20 diet. Giving up sugar cold turkey along with my Cherry Coke Zero has been BEYOND rough! Finally after 3 weeks I've lost 8 pounds so I have 30 days to go! 

If Hailey can learn to live without the regular diet she was used to then I guess I can at least give this my best try, but seriously no soda is HARD! 

Therapy on a Horse

I wrote about the benefits of HippoTherapy previously and how excited I was to get Hailey involved. We have finally been able to have this be a part of Hailey's many therapies. Bright and Early on Saturday mornings we head out about 45 minutes away from our house to go see, "Hailey's Horse." Now I won't lie. At first this was pretty scary for Hailey and me both. They pretty much just throw your kid on a horse and expect it to go well and it did not go well for us. I thought they would introduce her to the horse tell her what she was going to do and so on...but no. That did not happen. So the first lesson had a lot of tears involved but they promised it would get better. I certainly wanted to quit and find another horse therapy place, but Josh kept telling me, "they know what they are doing."

The first 2 lessons were really rough, but then Hailey had her relapse and I was 95% sure we wouldn't be able to participate anymore. They do NOT do tandem riding and Hailey was having such a hard time holding herself up. She spent the whole time crying and laying on the horse. I felt so bad for her. When I asked them to hold her up, they told me that she has to want to do it on her own. That's hard to hear because I wanted to say, "She wants to but SHE ISN'T ABLE TO!" When she did sit up her head kept bobbing around and I kept asking Josh to tell me if this isn't for her, and he kept saying, She'll be fine."

 Last week she did a lot better, but it was so hot out! She did hold herself up 75% better then the week before. She did lay forward a few times and cry, but again her strength isn't there right now. Her head did NOT bob as much as it did last week and we were happy to see that improvement!

We get a week off this week so we won't be able to see Pablo because of the holiday. We will be back the week after and see if things will get even more easier on the both of us! We won't know unless we try.

Resources

There are a lot of things that we have bought or were given for Hailey that I would have never known even existed. With the help of friends, family, strangers and the internet we have found the things we've needed. I thought I'd share the information that I have gathered in case someone else out there might need it. Here is what I've come across:

*The items listed below are ones that we use in our home with Hailey. Items listed below have a description of the item and our opinion of the items. If you have a better item or a better price on an item we'd love to know about it!


The oils that I use on Hailey are DoTerra Oils. You can order them HERE

I use:

Melaleuca & DDR Prime - Daily (Has Regenerative Properties)

Frankincense - Daily (I put this on the brain reflex points on the feet and brain stem) 

Breathe - If she is congested

On Guard - Daily

Balance - Daily

Melissa - If someone who's been sick is around her. 

Clove - Muscles

Peppermint -- Muscles

Lavendar - Heart

WinterGreen - Rubbed on her calves with Fractionated Coconut oil. 

ADAPTIVEMALL.COM

STROLLER:
A few times when we are out somewhere with Hailey and she isn't in her wheelchair often times someone says, "ooh, that's the kind of stroller I want." I often think to myself, "uh...no you don't." Not because it's not a good stroller, but because it's a special needs stroller and because it's EXPENSIVE. Well everything that has to do with special needs or kids with disabilities is expensive. You just got to get over it and do what you have to do.

When we were looking for a stroller for Hailey we didn't know where to start looking. When we were at Primary Children's Medical Center Josh saw a stroller that would work for us and the brand was called Maclaren. When looking at the Maclaren websites the strollers were reasonably priced. Reasonably in terms of being for special needs, but the ones on the website weren't  for special needs...My mother in law was the one who did the leg work on the stroller for us. She found the website www.adaptivemall.com and found the Special Tomato EIO push Chair:

 on the website they even have a comparason between the Maclaren and the EIO:

So after doing the research and based on Hailey's size and weight and how much use we'd get out of it we went with the Special Tomato EIO. The only time Hailey uses her wheelchair is to go to school and when we sit at the table for "dinner." All the other times that we are out and about or when I take her to therapy or appointments we use the push chair / Stroller. It folds up KINDA small and it's not TOO heavy. It works for us!

When we brought Hailey home from the hospital in October after her g-tube was placed she laid on the couch or in a bean bag chair, but mostly the couch. I hated having her constantly laying down but she didn't let me hold her, and she couldn't sit up on her own. At the hospital they let us use a Tumbleform chair which allowed Hailey to sit up on her own. I knew as soon as I saw that, it would be beneficial to Hailey. One thing about these chairs is that they are made to order, I haven't found a place that sells them ready made. By the time I found this chair and we had the money for it it was February before we got it. Hailey uses this every day. She does her feeds in the chair and it works great.

TUMBLEFORM SEAT: 

I wrote a post earlier in this blog regarding how we bathe Hailey. We have this bathing chair, and fortunately we didn't have to do any research on it because it was donated to us! We were extremely thankful to be given this gift for Hailey. Bathing can not happen without this chair!

BATHING CHAIR: 

Britax Traveller Plus Special Needs Car Seat:
We were able to get this Special Needs Car seat for Hailey thru PCMC in Salt Lake. You can also order one online...Not cheap, but necessary!

RIFTON STANDER: 

 In the hospital during therapy Hailey would use this Rifton Stander. The Rehab doctor said that this would be the most helpful thing for Hailey to stretch her calves and hamstrings and to help aid in digestion. The only thing with this was that it caused Hailey's Moro Reflexes to go CRAZY. She hates the stander, but we have it, and it was NOT cheap!!

WHEELCHAIR: 
We've had 2 wheelchairs and the original company that suggested her first one didn't do a very good job at it. She grew out of it with in months and it also wasn't one that "grew with her disease." I did the research on this one and found that this one made the most sense. My complaint against it is that it doesn't fold and it's SO FREAKING HEAVY!!!!

G-TUBE PADS: 
When Hailey had her tube placed they told me that I should just use split gauze under the button above the skin and tape. Hailey has an allergy to tape and the gauze didn't stay without it. My friend Mary told be about g-tube pads and we haven't used gauze since!! G-tube pads are absorbent, functional, and stylish. There are a lot of companies, especially Etsy ones that sell these. I've used:

3 Tiny Blessings
Belly Buttons
Make Lemon-aid (not active any longer)
If you just google it or look on Etsy you will find tons and some are REALLY cute (and expensive)

ACID REFLUX Wedges:

Hailey had used these wedges when she slept and we bought them on Amazon. Amazon is a great place to get almost ANYTHING you need! A few other things we have bought or received on Amazon are:

Tranquility Diapers - These diapers are velcro and super absorbent. They don't make diapers that fit Hailey that you can pick up at Target or Walmart and these are delivered to your door!

No Rinse Body Bath - When there are times that Hailey needs a good scrub, but we aren't able to bathe, this stuff comes in handy!

Pressure Pad and Pump - When Hailey wasn't able to rotate herself in bed this pressure pad was awesome at preventing bedsores!

Chux Pads - We use Chux pads everytime we change a poopie diaper. It's just too messy not to and these help out with the mess.

Wipes - Another Amazon saver are wipes. We are not wipe snobs we don't care which ones we use/get but buying the bulk qty can be a money saver.

Other resources:

HippoTherapy: I'll update this once I decide if I like the place we are going to or not...LOL!!

Make a Wish Foundation 

Give Kids the World

Children's Therapy Centers - 750 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 120. Henderson NV 89052. Phone number is 702-564-4116. *The reason I put this down is because the first 2 rounds of Therapy Hailey was given we had no choice in the place we were to take Hailey through our insurance. We were sent 

to a geriatric rehab center that was not the place she belonged. This place is GREAT! 

There are still a lot of places I need to find out there. These places are on my list of TO FIND:

Swimming/Water Therapy

Day Camp or Day Care for Special needs/medically fragile children. (I want Hailey to interact with kids during summer)

I want to find a PVC or Water Wheel Chair so I can take Hailey to the Splash parks

Gait Trainer

MORE TO COME...!

Emotional

A couple weeks ago we took Hailey back to Utah for a follow up appointment with her Rehab doctor. This doctor is the one who had told us back in October of last year we had to start planning for the nearing end with Hailey.

Hailey was so stiff back then that she was on a pretty high dose of muscle relaxers (Baclofen) and was reaching her max fast. When we had seen this doctor in November a month later Hailey had the Botox shots in her calves and a reduced dose of muscle relaxers. She also prescribed the AFO's Hailey wears.

We saw the Dr. again in February and Hailey was doing better and didn't need Botox again, but still remained on Baclofen. Well from February until now I had thought that Hailey was doing great. We took her to Disneyland, we went on her Make a Wish, we started Physical and Occupational Therapy, I increased her days at school, and she had her 5th birthday. Not to mention that she has been sitting on the floor without assistance for longer and longer periods of time!! She does tend to timber over without notice, but that's what all the pillows are for. So when we took her to Utah I was expecting to hear that things were going great, and that we (I) was doing a great job and her tone and clonus is good...I didn't hear any of that.

I guess I tend to only hear the bad things. Her tone is still elevated, she is very tight in her hips and hamstrings, she needs to be stretched more, I guess I was doing it wrong? We had to decide either to give Hailey more Botox and the same amount of Baclofen or we have to increase the baclofen and tighten the stretch splints. Well I didn't want to do either of them, I thought things were fine the way they were with the dose Hailey is on and the splints, but what do I know? I had told Hailey she should have been born to parents who were medical professionals.

Josh and I had went through the decision of whether or not to get a DNR (Do not resuscitate) order in place for Hailey. We both decided it was something that needs to be in order because her disease is so unpredictable. The Dr. will help us to get that placed by the time we go back in August.

The Dr. was very impressed with the sitting up. She had never seen Hailey out of a bed or out of a wheelchair before. She even saw Hailey bare weight and noticed how tall Hailey is. Nearly 4ft tall and 61 pounds.

Hailey being nearly 4ft tall and me being 5ft some is becoming kind of dangerous. Every morning that it is just me home with Hailey (4 out of 7) I have to carry her down the stairs. It's easier if I just do it without thinking to much about counting the steps or attempting to look down while I step. In addition to the anxiety of the responsibility of getting Hailey down the stairs safely I worry about the constant pain I feel in my back. Hailey is going to be measured for a gait trainer that we will be able to use at home. That's a good and bad thing. It's good that Hailey will be some what independent, but we have very little space downstairs. She'll have to do circles if she ever gets the motion to propel herself. We need to get a 1 story house that will aid Hailey in using the gait trainer. I want my house to be boundless for her. Everyone knows the housing market is kind of down in the dumps so this is some added stress for us all. We are right in the middle of the Dr and Therapy appointments we have. If we find a house, what if it's farther away?

We don't have a wheelchair van. When I take Hailey anywhere I have to lift her to the car, and into the carseat. (there's that pain in my back again) I called about the grant for the modification of a van that we applied for in January and they said that it could be as soon as next year that we'd hear back from them. Um...next year isn't soon. We are kind of running short on time here. Not having a car for Hailey, so that I can take her to her appointments is another ingredient in this recipe for stress we're cooking up.

You know how people always tell you to look on the bright side, make the best of things, be positive? Easier said then done!

I've been so exhausted lately. I accidentally left out Hailey's medication that needs to be kept refrigerated. I haven't attempted to cook dinner in MONTHS (a year). Dinners are a thing of the past. I often find myself eating an apple and peanut butter and calling it dinner. I left out Hailey's therapy dough and it dried out. I'm forgetful. I will be downstairs, know I need something from upstairs, go upstairs and have no clue as to what I was suppose to get. It makes me upset and I cry. There is no nurse to help, no family to call and help, no maids to do the laundry, vacuum, or dust. It's a lot, and I know this is just me complaining about things that can not be changed no matter how hard I wish it. Through our insurance since my child is a "critical case" I get 15 minutes every 3 months to talk to a therapist. I think parents should be given automatic therapy sessions when your child has a terminal disease. Where is all the help at? I need it! When I told him about me being forgetful and tired he said: If you forget when you put your keys it's not a big deal. If you find your keys and don't know that they are keys you have something to worry about. (I guess I'm not too bad yet...)

So looking on the bright side:

Hailey has been doing great at Physical Therapy. She amazes her therapist with her will to fight or her hard headedness. When she is doing an activity and appears to be shaky they will ask and encourage her to take a rest break to which Hailey ALWAYS replies, "No!" I know I don't understand anymore about brains then what I read on the internet, but I had to ask and see if anyone knows how Hailey can go back and forth so much. 8 months ago she was a wet noodle. I couldn't hold her, she couldn't sit up, she was floppy. She's only been going to PT for maybe 6 weeks and she's starting to sit up on her own again. How is this possible? White matter doesn't regenerate itself. I know her pathways are "staticky" and that's why everything she does is so slow, because there is a "faulty connection." One of her PTs told me that there are kids that go through milestones from the beginning of life and when they have something go wrong with their brain it's easier for those children to re-learn something they already knew. Children who never "learned" something and have something go wrong in their brain have much more of an extreme difficulty to learn something they never knew before.

They have been working on re-introducing Hailey to crawling. She can not go from sitting to a crawling position yet, but once she is put into hands and knees she can hold that position. Hailey has this thing about falling without notice. We've had a few face plants, but luckily there are 2 people helping to catch her when that happens. Hailey's middle name should be determination. I'm hesitant to practice at home with her and our hard floors. I'm looking into getting a gym mat like at PT.

We've been able to take her off sleeping medication that is sedating and just using melatonin at night. We are on our way to 6 hours of sleep a night. It's not true deep sleep, but we'll take what we can get!

Hailey has been doing great in school. She was able to be out of her wheelchair and sit in a cube chair at circle time with her friends. Her speech teacher says that Hailey participates 100%.

We haven't been able to get Hailey into a Speech and Food Therapy program yet. Las Vegas is running low on pathologists. It's in the works but nothing in place as of yet. Hailey has been "talking" more and more. I've always been able to understand her, but when she converses with other people and they look at me for a translation I guess it's not as improved as I have thought it was. She says funny things all the time. I remember when she wasn't sick and she wouldn't listen to me when I talked to her and I would tell her to look at me.
Hailey was up early before Josh went to work and he put Hailey in our bed before he left. I was awake, but had my eyes closed in hopes she'd fall back to sleep. She was calling, "mom...mom...mom" when I didn't answer her I hear, "mom.....wook at me" (her L's sound like W's)

I guess it's always good to vent a little, it helps you re-think what you're griping about.

To end this very long post on an exciting note. I'm working on transferring videos of Hailey on to my computer rather then have them linger on my phone. So many people want to see what Hailey is doing now and I want to show them. It's a work in progress, don't know how long until it actually happens but it's something I would like to do. I need something positive to look forward to. I love sharing my Hailey.

Spine Wellness Center Fundraiser for Hailey and Cooper

Hailey and I are both patients at Spine Wellness Center. With Doctors telling us there is no treatment for Hailey's disease we have to find different ways to improve Hailey's quality of life. When I learned about NUCCA or National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association I didn't know how it differed to regular chiropractic practices. I knew at a regular chiropractor they pop and crack you and I didn't want that for Hailey. This is COMPLETELY different!! 

I took this from Wikipedia: 

NUCCA practitioners believe that scientific investigation has demonstrated that a misalignment (subluxation) of the C1 area results in over-excitation of an area of the brainstem that controls tone of postural musculature. They believe that this stressor on the nervous system results in postural imbalances and unequal leg lengths. Posture can be analyzed utilizing different postural measurement tools although NUCCA protocol officially recognizes only the Anatometer. Leg length checks are performed in the supine position differing from other chiropractic techniques.

Hailey has been a patient of Dr. Sarah Johnson has also seen Dr. Lisa Strickland since December of last year, and Hailey really loves going there. I remember when we were first seen and Hailey wasn't able to sit up on her own and Hailey never spoke. Hailey still grew a friendship with the staff and Doctors there. They truly care about Hailey and their patients. 

Spine Wellness Center offered to sponsor a Picnic Fundraiser for Hailey and another patient named Cooper. Cooper is 15 years old and battling Leukemia. We were so touched by the generosity of Dr. Johnson and Dr. Strickland and all the companies, friends, and families that helped with setting up, and donations for the event. 

 When the day of the fundraiser came Hailey was very excited to be going to her carnival! We invited lots of friends and we were excited for the fun activities planned.

 The awesome staff and incredible Dr.'s from Spine Wellness Center! 

We can't thank these Dr.'s enough! We love the relationship we have formed with them and their staff. They have such huge hearts to help our Hailey and we appreciate that SO much! Big HUGS!!

A Princess and Pirate Birthday Party for Hailey

The morning of Hailey's birthday I posted a letter to her on the blog. If you want to read it you can go HERE to do so.

I was so happy to be celebrating Hailey's 5th birthday that I tried to make it as fun and memorable as possible. The theme this year will be Princess and Pirates!! I always get made fun of when it comes to THEMES. Josh always says that the theme of a birthday party is BIRTHDAY PARTY and it doesn't need a theme, I say it does. I don't know how many birthdays I will get to throw. I say go all out if you can! This one was a fun one to pull off too. It's amazing what a little colored paper can do!

Here are some pictures of the set up I had going on. There were lots of Pink and Black, Rhinestones and Skulls! 

 Cannon Balls aka: Malt Balls! YUM!! These were my favorite and I had to make sure to buy these as close to party time as possible so that there were some left for the party! LOL! 

 Pirate bars and Pirate Nuggets!

 Pirate and Princess Treasure Box. Hailey loves a good lollipop! 

 Royal Princess Chocolate!

 Princess Bars aka: Hershey Bars! 

 Gold Bars and Sticks of Dynamite (Kit Kats)!! 

 Pirate ROCKS!! These chocolates REALLY looked like little Rocks! So Adorable! 

We had Sea Water and Royal Water for the Kiddos! 

 You can't have a Pirate Party without Gold Coins made of Chocolate! 

 I had "Royal Slippers" for the Princesses and I had Eye Patches and mustaches for the boys! 

 Princesses were treated to Royal toes and nails at the Princess bar. 

 Royal Eyeshadow for each princess. I'm a fan of the blue!! 

 This was a picture of the Royal Princess Make up and Nail table. 

 You must have a crown if you are a Princess!!

Pirate Jewels for the boys! 

 I loved being able to pull this together! SO much fun! I have said before how much Hailey LOVES make up! 

What's a party without a cake? Even though Hailey uses a feeding tube I knew she would think it was odd if we didn't sing to her. The awesome Owner of Happy Thoughts Bakery here in Las Vegas was so great to come up with the cutest Princess and Pirate cake! The cake was SO YUMMY! She also makes the BEST Maple Bacon Cupcakes EVER!!! Keep Happy Thoughts Bakery in mind for your next event. Thank you Megan!!

 Everyone was so thoughtful to get Hailey things that I call "working toys" This was velcro food that Hailey can exercise pulling apart and if she regains more gross and fine motor skills she can practice "cutting" the food with a play knife. She loves playing with this during her PT time. 

 Opening gifts are a lot more fun now! 

 Hope you had a great birthday Hailey!!! We love you!! 

McKee Ranch - A Visit with the Horses and a Surprise for Hailey!

I read about a little ranch on the other side of town, called McKee Ranch, where you can see horses and feed them carrots and they also have chickens you can feed crackers to. It's free of charge so I thought it would be a fun family thing to do. I tried calling this place and leaving messages on the phone, and facebook and I never heard back. I didn't know if Hailey's wheelchair would be easy to manuver around there and I could never get an answer to it. 

Once we got there I had wondered it the place was open. There was no one there but the gate was unlocked and it said OPEN. I could not find anyone there to ask any questions to. I read you feed the horses carrots, but I didn't know if there were specific ones or if there was a max quanity of who can eat what. 

I finally found someone and tried to ask, but before I could finish my sentence she cut me off and told me to read the signs on the stables. Then she disappeared. We were the ONLY ones there. Feeling quite unwelcome we made the best of it an ventured in to see the horses...

Here's one: 

 Oh wait...that's a donkey! I love how donkeys Hee Haw when they want your attention. This guy was vocal and he is a kicker!

 Hailey didn't mind these gentle giants and loved feeding them her carrots she brought. We brought 2 big bags of carrots and they went QUICK!

 The horse above is Prego. She's gonna have a baby come December so we gave her extra carrots. She deserves them!

 The horses come right out to see what you have. Once our carrots were gone they went back in their stables because we were unimportant without carrots.

 Hailey really got the hang of feeding the horses. I'm glad she liked it. It was a good activity for her and she used her arms to feed them so she got some OT in!

 Then the donkey wanted more! 

 Hailey is a horse feeding pro! 

 It was a little warm that day so we didn't stay long, which was fine because there was not much to see. 

 Cock- a- doodle- doo!!! 

 Then we saw this furry horse and Josh informed me it was a Clydesdale. 

 Gave him some carrots too! 

All out of carrots! One reason I thought this would be a fun thing for Hailey to do is because we have something pretty exciting in store for her. Thanks to a donation made by Cooper Wine Company , Our Friends at Google (Vicki, Renee, Melissa, Paula, Judy, and Julie) and awesome fundraising efforts by Josh's Cousin's daughter Libby and her friends, we are able to sign Hailey up for Therapeutic Horseback Riding. Hippotherapy.

Hailey's Cousin Libby and her friends working hard to help Hailey!!

Our first lesson will be in June and I have been reading about it online.
Here is some of the things I found out:

Horses have been utilized as a therapeutic aid since the ancient Greeks used them for those people who had incurable illnesses.^[2] The benefits of therapeutic riding have been dated back to 17th century literature where it is documented that it was prescribed for gout, neurological disorder and low morale.^[3]

Horses provide a unique neuromuscular stimulation when being ridden through their one of a kind movement. Horses move in a three-beat rhythmic motion that mimics the human movement of walking. While riding, the horses stride acts to move the rider's pelvis in the same rotation and side-to-side movement that occurs when walking. The horses adjustable gait promotes riders to constantly adjust the speed to achieve the desired pelvic motion while promoting strength, balance, coordination, flexibility and confidence.^[5] One does not have to ride to achieve the desired effects of therapy. Horses can act as an aid by giving those with disabilities a companion to care for. Grooming such as brushing, bathing, and currying aid in joint range of motion and have a relaxing and calming effect.

Physical [edit]

• Improved balance and muscle strength
• Improved coordination and faster reflexes
• Increased muscular control
• Improved postural control
• Decreased spasticity
• Increased range of motion of joints
• Stretching of tight or spastic muscles
• Increased endurance and low-level cardiovascular conditioning
• Stimulates Sensory integration
• Improved visual-spatial perception
• Improved gross and fine motor skills

Psychological [edit]

• Improved self-confidence
• Increased self-esteem and self image
• Development of patience
• Emotional control and self-discipline
• Expansion of locus of control
• Improved risk-taking abilities
• Sense of normality
• Socialization and improved interpersonal skills
• Increased perception of quality of life and life satisfaction
• Stress reduction

**Taken from Wikipedia.

Isn't that kind of amazing?! I am very excited for this and I HOPE Hailey enjoys it. It's something I have been thinking about doing for a long time and moneywise it has never panned out. We are so grateful for Friends, Family, and Strangers who help pull together when we are in need. You guys are the best!