CIMT ups and downs

Friday Connor got his cast put on.  He fusses a bit while we were putting it on but then got right down to the business of playing.  Judy my MIL went with (Thank God).  The two of us got to watch Connor play peekaboo, play trucks, and play with balls. He did great!  But he has been really good about using his right hand to pick up items to begin with.

Before the cast went on they had me tell them a list of things I would like for Connor to get out of the program and them to rank them.  So some of my goals for Connor are:
 to be able to use a pincer grasp to pick up small items.

To extend his arm above his head and grab items with a pincer grasp
to walk with his elbow straight
To turn handles (doorknobs)
Be able to extend his arms to wash hands at the sink
Gain strength in his right hand.

I then had to rate how good he was at each of these right now and how happy I am with how he is doing them.  Pretty arbitrary but they will compare these scores with ones taken at the end.

I was told it would be most beneficial to keep the cast on 24/7 including bed time.  But Haley (the OT)  said she was concerned that part of the cast might be rubbing. She suggested taking it off on Saturday before Connor's Swim class to make sure it was not causing any irritation.

Well it was causing a rash to develop due to the rubbing at the crease of his arm.  So I left it off after swim class and as soon as we got home put some Neosporin on it and after his nap we put his old cast on instead.  This weekend he has just been wearing the old cast (except bedtime). We are giving his arm time to heal before Monday's session.  I guess I could have just left it off completely. But I figured we are in this for the duration.

Though Connor has been doing great using his right arm and hand to play and o just about everything this weekend has been crazy.  T.J. and I were so glad Tom and Judy were staying with us.  Connor refused to nap with the cast on.  This led to one unhappy little man for the first day of his swim therapy at the Gudelsky Swim Center.  (awesome program by the way, held at the JCC in Rockville).

Here is Connor and Grammy chasing geese on the way into the swim class.

 In addition to an unhappy swimmer, an exhausted mommy.  He also has not been a happy eater.  He usually is wolfing down food and having to use his right hand has cramped his style.  He usually doesn't use it unless he wants to hold something in each hand while eating.  I have noticed that he is working really hard to use utensils with his right.  And I imagine just grabbing the food and shoving it in his mouth would be a lot easier so Go Connor Go!

At bath time tonight we noticed his left arm was fully healed so hopefully they will fix the other cast and we can go back to using it.  It is waterproof and the old one we are using is not.

I will keep everyone posted.