Cruisin'

 Just wanted to share a new video of Beckett. I remember about a year ago one of his dr's or therapists asked me if he could 'cruise' or walk holding onto furniture; I said yes but that he could only go a few steps & really only to the left. Well yesterday he cruised down the couch & I was so amazed at how far he's come! Not only can he go right & left but he just uses his hands for support now instead of leaning way over with his belly on the couch like he used to do. So proud of him for working so hard!

  We also had Beckett's 4th birthday party last weekend! Can not believe he's 4 years old!

 

 

And here's one of me trying to get Beckett to sing his ABCs... watch out for little brother!

 

 

Intensive PT

       Beckett completed his 2 week Intensive Physical Therapy program last month. He had PT from 8-11 M-F for 2 weeks and he did awesome! And he worked the whoooole time, no breaks, no lying down, he walked from station to station- no crawling or cheating. And he made it through the whole 2 weeks with no meltdowns! His physical therapist focused on his balance & working on standing, stretching & strengthening his muscles during his sessions. It really helped & we are hoping to get him into another short class this fall for a weekend or maybe during fall break. So thank you so much to everyone who donated &/or helped with any of our fundraisers! We feel like Beckett benefits so much from the extra therapy but since insurance refuses to cover much more than the bare minimum it's up to us to come up with the funds. We really appreciate everyone's help, support & prayers!!

Working in the cage, practicing sit to stand

Hard to see but his foot is attached to weighted pulleys & she's making him pull his leg up & down

Working on balance on the mechanical horse

Walking with the suit, there's a resistance band attached to his right ankle

Practicing stepping up

Kicking

Standing

Walking on the treadmill

 

 

Bowling For Beckett!

   Bowling For Beckett!

 

Our next fundraiser will be a bowling tournament at Lanes, Trains & Automobiles! Date is Friday, July 12th from 6-8 pm. Price is $125 per team & each team can have up to 5 people. This registration fee includes shoes & 2 games, plus prizes for top 3 teams! There will be a silent auction & also a play room for the younger kids!

To register:

Just email me the names of your team members or we have paper registration forms you can print & fill out (click here). Payment can be made below by clicking Pay Now or you can mail a check.
Email me to register or with any questions at amickaa@gmail.com

Bowling For Beckett  Team Fee $125.00 USD

A portion of the registration fee will go towards Beckett's therapy fund to help with his Intensive PT & medical bills.

 

Springtime

    Beckett has been working hard since his surgery & is making steady progress. And we have good news about his physical therapy camp. We have been planning to take him to Michigan/EuroPeds this summer for a 2 week course of intensive therapy but a few weeks ago we found out about a physical therapy center right here in Smyrna that does intensive PT. We were skeptical since we had heard such good things about EuroPeds but agreed to tour the Smyrna center. We liked the owner/physical therapist there & she told us that she was actually trained in Michigan at EuroPeds! She was so impressed by how well a patient of hers had done there that she decided to go & learn more, after training she started her own program at her building in Smyrna with the same principles & equipment. We thought about it and agreed that the best thing would be to go with the Smyrna therapy center for this summer & then we can always go to Michigan next summer if we decide to. This way Beckett can stay (somewhat) in his normal routine, sleep in his own bed, and not have to be away from me or Patrick any.
      It is still very expensive but our fundraising is going well & at least we won't have to deal with all the travel expenses we were looking at. Our hope is that we can even exceed our fundraising goals & be able to do this therapy program every summer to give him a boost with certain skills that he may be struggling with.

We also had the Special Kids Race last month & even though it was freezing we had a great time & had several Team Beckett supporters!!

 

Beckett's Surgery

      
        Whew! So surgery ended up being an even bigger ordeal than we had expected! Beckett's actual surgery went great, he fell asleep without any crying & the surgeon, Dr Park, came out a few hours later to let us know that the operation went smoothly & there weren't any complications.

Getting ready to go to the OR

                                              Daddy & Emerson playing while we wait

                                Lots of snow!                                            Pitiful little guy

               

We were moved to a regular room & spent the day taking turns laying in Beckett's bed with him.

 

Our view from Beckett's hospital room

3 days after surgery (sunday) Beckett's catheter, IV & epidural were removed and that morning he was able to sit up in a chair, then that afternoon we took him to the gym for physical therapy. He did really well in PT that afternoon considering he had just had surgery & then laid in bed for 3 days. We could already tell his right leg is much looser but it is also very weak & his balance is a little off as he tries to adjust. That afternoon the rest of our family went home & it was just my mom and I staying with Beckett.

We watched A LOT of Mickey Mouse

                      Out of bed for the first time!                    

 

                 And then we got sick :(                                              Out for a walk with our IV

The next day was Monday & that morning Beckett started throwing up, he proceeded to throw up every hour or so for the next 2 days. Our Dr came in and said everything seemed fine as far as the surgery & that he felt it was just a stomach virus. The plan was for us to be discharged Tuesday afternoon but by then it was obvious that Beckett was way too dehydrated so instead they had to call the IV team to come in & replace his IV. Wednesday & Thursday were more of the same, lots of crying & throwing up. Thursday night Dr Park came in and said that we could go home the next morning. We were excited to be able to finally go home but it also was scary because Beckett seemed a little better but was still absolutely refusing to eat or drink anything. I finally decided to just take him home Friday morning & if he still wouldn't drink anything we could always go to Vanderbilt and get back on fluids & at least we would be close to home! Especially since we hadn't seen Patrick, Emerson or anyone else since Sunday afternoon! So Friday morning we loaded up the car.

 

 We rode home with our trusty throw up bucket...thankfully we didn't have to use it!

 

Thank goodness Beckett seemed to be getting better by Friday afternoon. Our drive home was pretty good & he was able to keep down some juice finally. We had another scare on Saturday when Beckett woke up with a fever & after a trip to the pediatrician we discovered he had a UTI from the catheter but at least it was something easy to treat. Just another medicine to add to the group!

 

Beckett's little pharmacy

 

 

 

This trip ended up being one of the most stressful weeks ever! Second only to the hospital stay for his brain injury in 2010. It was so hard to see him in pain from surgery and then crying because his stomach hurt & he would get so upset everytime he got sick. Everyone feels terrible when they have a stomach virus & his lasted almost 5 days!  But looking back I'm just thankful he's finally feeling better, his leg is much looser and now we can start his Physical Therapy.

 

Despite all the stress there were still some major blessings on this trip. One of the biggest ones...

He won't need a second surgery for tendon release!! I don't think I could handle a 2nd operation and thank you Jesus the therapist said he will not need another. He might have to wear a cast for a few weeks to stretch out his right achilles tendon but that's much better than surgery!

 

We can't say thank you enough to everyone who prayed for Beckett & us while we were gone. It means a lot to know so many people care about him. And thank you to Patrick's mom & dad, Nathan & Laura (and Adalee!), and my mom & Mike for making the trek all the way to St. Louis to be with us. It was great to have family around & yall were a huge help to us, especially with Emerson. And a HUGE THANK YOU to my mom who came up Wednesday night & planned on staying with me till Tuesday but ended up staying until Friday! I could not have done it by myself. I think Bridgestone about shut down but I'm so glad you stayed!

 

We did manage to have a little fun before surgery at the City Museum

 

Beckett's pre-op PT evaluation, you can see his right foot is tight & pointed

 

              

I'm sure someone woke him up checking his blood

                    pressure right after this      

 

 

Heading to St Louis!!

        We are leaving for St. Louis in 3 days for Beckett's surgery! We are excited that it's finally here but also reeeeeeeally nervous. We know that this surgery will help Beckett but it will also cause a big set back initially, since his increased muscle tone will be gone it will be obvious how weak his legs are & he will lose most of what little mobility he has. To help with this he will go from Physical therapy twice a week to PT 5 times a week, plus OT twice a week & Speech twice a week still! He's gonna be busy!

        I'll try to post another update after surgery to let everyone know how things are going. If everything goes according to plan he will have surgery on Thursday & then get to go home Tuesday night.

         Thank you to everyone who's donated, prayed & helped in any way to get us to this point. We ask that everyone continue to pray for a successful surgery & smooth recovery. Below are some pics from a fundraising dinner that Patrick's mom, Sulynn & her family/friends, helped organize. Everyone worked really hard & it was a huge success! THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who came &/or helped with it!!!

Everyone that bought a table got to pick a theme to decorate it and they all turned out really good!

Emerson checking out the band

Emerson loving on his cousin Adalee

Green beans!

Me & the guest of honor

Loving on Nanny