Tag: Disabled
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Rolling Along
When Jess told me that she had signed us up for a wheelchair fitting, my first reaction was to resist. I thought up several excuses in my head why Mattie didn’t need one. She was too little-she won’t know what to do with it-we will use it as nothing more than a glorified (expensive) stroller.…
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A diagnosis is not a prognosis
A diagnosis is not a prognosis. I can’t tell you how many times I have repeated this 6 word sentence. Mattie’s Neonatologist told us this when we were called into his office the day we learned Mattie had PVL (brain damage). As Mattie grew and failed to meet milestone after milestone, I would almost chant…
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Mostly Smiles
The progress Mattie has made cognitively the past 6 months is so significant I sometimes can’t even believe it myself. Mattie was not even talking last November. She finally passed her hearing test in December (on my birthday) and has made so much progress. She has at least 50 words she uses along with 20…
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Run for Hope
To check out pictures from the 1st Annual Run for Hope 5K – Click Here! I will admit that the few days leading up to race day, I was nervous, stressed, and driving everyone crazy, namely Jim. I had been up till 1am for almost 6 days straight working on the details and getting everything…
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Moving Forward – Our Cross Country Trip
Jim, Mattie, and I recently got back from our 9 day trip to California. This trip has been in the making for the past year. The main ABM Center is in San Rafael, just north of San Francisco. Since starting ABM 15 months ago, I knew that we just had to go out there to…
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Run for Mattie
The Run for Mattie Team just completed the Gasparilla ½ Marathon on February 24th. Our Fund-Racing team for this race consisted of 7 members who all worked hard to “Run for Mattie”. As a team we raised over $2,500 for this race. We were just amazed at the generous donations that kept pouring in and…
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2 Years Later
Exactly 2 years ago to the day, Jim and I were told I would have to live in a hospital until Mattie was born. Just typing this out makes my heart hurt a little. We were devastated. We kept looking at each other wondering how this happened to us, what would happen to Mattie, how…
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Big Decisions
With all this cognitive development going on, Mattie had not really been “working” on her gross motor skills. Since our last post we have had quite a few ABM sessions in Gainesville and in NYC. We also started back doing cranial sacral massages. The NYC trip went very well. By the last session, Mattie was…
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What exactly is cerebral palsy? How does this effect Mattie?
Today is World Cerebral Palsy Day, the first one of its kind. To me this is a day to spread awareness, love, and hope. I know that most people don’t know what cerebral palsy really is. Heck, I didn’t really know until Mattie was diagnosed with PVL. Mattie has been diagnosed as having moderate spastic…
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Anabella
A few weeks ago Jess and I went to a conference in Orlando for families dealing with disabilities. There were many different hour long courses covering a wide range of topics, from tax planning to how to emotionally cope with having a disabled child. For most of the day Jess and I went to separate…