I try to make the boys' appointments so that they can go at the same time or one after the other. Definitely like to do that with the dentist because we have to go to North Ave in Burlington, which is kind of out of the way--no good way to get there. The only time we could get before school for the both of them was 9:00 AM!!
So, we did it. Good practice for getting the boys up early. Of course we were still late getting out of the house...9:38 instead of 9:00 but we were only a couple of minutes late.
They took Casey right away, which was a good thing because there isn't a lot of room in the waiting area. All looked well, well for Casey's norm. He has no cavities, no tartar, no calcium build up, great gums, and awesome salivary production, ha ha. Of course, he also has an open mouth posture, a very high and narrow palate, excessive gum tissue, crowding of his upper teeth, no sign of molars, and staining on his front teeth. We could probably do some elective things like pull some teeth, expand his palate, remove some gum tissue. But, much of it wouldn't do anything medically helpful for him and the problem would probably return after a while--meaning, if we removed some of his extra gum tissue, it would most likely grow back over time. So we just monitor for any problems and check the health of the existing teeth and gums and he's good to go. Dr. Bookwalter does polish his front teeth but it doesn't help much with the staining because it's not stained from food/drink; it's stained from the air and saliva drying on his teeth because of the way his mouth is. We're okay with how he is.
Casey actually likes the dentist and the joke and laugh a little.
Colin was next. He was happy and in a good mood but carried on some about his teeth hurting...Showed Dr. Bookwalter where his tooth had just come through--it's a canine tooth on his right side and the left has still to how it's head. He's not lost any teeth since his last visit. Still has two baby teeth to come out but they are not loose at all. Colin's teeth and gums looked spiffy, too. So glad we've taken the time to do a good job on mouth care twice a day since the boys were babies. I'll bet there are many kids out there that are the boys ages that don't brush their teeth one time a day, let alone two!
Gene wanted to get back on his computer for work so we didn't make any pit stops on the way home, boo hoo.
Casey is still in his chair watching a movie with Colin who is back in his bed. Me, I'm going to take a little nap since we have the boys tonight and tomorrow night. Julia is coming later and we have to work on cleaning the wish room (the end where there beds are) because school is coming up VERY quickly and we'll have no time to do it because Colin will be in there all day for school starting Wednesday!
Showing posts with label Dr. Bookwalter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Bookwalter. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Active cycle, dentist and the lift doesn't stow....
Busy day today although I wasn't very motivated this morning. I felt like someone had slipped me decaf instead of my regular coffee.
After I got out of the shower this morning I yelled down to Gene inquiring what the temperature/weather was going to be today so I knew what to wear. Well, he replied, "It's Christina is here to try Casey with the Active Cycle kind of day today." Ooops, once again I forgot that PT was coming. And, I hadn't put together the contraption using pipe and elbow connectors that she had prepared. Big oooops. By the time I got downstairs, they had the contraption (pretty much a cube shaped contraption) was together and Julie had Hoyered him into the living room.
The Active Cycle is an exercise machine that is motorized and make the bicycling movement. Some kids with SMA have used them with success with their kids. Some people call it the 'Poor Man's MotoMed' which is a high end and very fancy version of a machine used in Rehab and hospitals. Our hope is that it will improve Casey's (and eventually Colin's) circulation and contractures in his legs. Casey sits a lot at school and even though he gets out of his chair to lay down and stretch midday, he still come home with cold, purplish legs :( And, we hope it will help stretch him out a bit and give him a consistent range of motion.
That said, it's a lot easier to say what we'd like it to do than to make it actually work for him. I've got some good ideas to try from other SMA families and I think we're on the right track.
Casey wasn't thrilled with the motion, but I'm sure he will get used to it.
After that, Casey showered, Colin watched a movie and then we packed up to go to the dentist. For some odd reason, the boys kind of like going to the dentist. I guess it's because their visits are usually pretty quick and easy. Both boys have had a tooth or two pulled (that were ready to come out) but other than that it's mostly just counting teeth, checking gums, etc.
Casey went first today. Dr. Bookwalter was pleased with his teeth and gums. Casey does have a crowding issue and excessive gum tissue but it's not hurting him at all and it would be a huge risk to pull teeth and/or excise his extra gums. So, his teeth are what they are and they are good :) Dr. Bookwalter scraped a bit of his front teeth and behind them and then polished them a bit. He is very pleased that he doesn't have a lot of build up of tartar or calcium as some kids do and he said he's at zero risk for tooth decay.
Casey likes joking around with Dr. B and we always have a laugh or two while we're there :)
Colin went next and he loved it! I really don't get it, but he does. Weird/scary thing--last time Colin had 3 baby teeth; this time he has NONE! I kind of remember that he lost ONE tooth inbetween the last time he was there and now, but definitely not THREE! Where did they go? It's always a scary thing to think about. Colin has virtually no swallow--but could one have gone his throat? We know of at least one SMA child that aspirated one into his lungs--a scary and not pretty situation. I've also known of a child that had a tooth sit on his epiglottis for months, and this happened not once, but twice! I guess we'll never know.
Dr. B used the scaler on Colin for the first time behind his front top teeth. He was pleased with his gums and teeth. He said his molars are pretty much hidden from the pressure his tongue is putting on them but he doesn't see it as a problem.
That was that! We were out of there with no need to come back until next summer!! For some reason, the boys are never given a toothbrush and prize anymore. I used to ask but now we just leave it as a mysterious thing and go to the dollar store. BUT the dollar store next to Timberlane is gone now so we decided to head to the one by the VNA. It's pretty new(ish) and I've never been there.
Of course it started to pour when we started driving. Torrential rains when we got there. Julie tried to encourage me to run in by myself but the boys really wanted to go so we went for it. I found the poncho in Casey's bag but didn't want to dig for Colin's so we put a chux on him and made a run for it.
Found a few things for school. The boys really don't need anything since they do most of their work on their DynaVox's but I got Casey some sports folders and a football composition book. Also got some Post-It notes since they use those a lot with him for spelling things and for words/phrases to add to his DynaVox. Colin got some dry erase markers, a new blue pencil case and a big glue stick :)
The rain had taped to a drizzle when we went out to the van. Got the boys in and went to stow the lift and NOTHING, nothing but a BEEP. We fiddled and fiddled. Tried re-deploying and bringing it up again, but no go. I called Gene but he had no answers. Julie figured out how to manually stow the van so we were finally good to head home. The school bus lift has issues frequently so she had an idea of what to do.
Got home and unloaded. Gene was able to get the lift to work properly after a time or two. What the heck??? Knowing Gene he won't want to bring it to anyone to get fixed/serviced and he'll probably try to work on it himself. Sigh. It had always rattled/banged some even when we first got the van back in January and I know they're supposed to be serviced regularly so that's probably part of the problem. We had a different brand of lift before and never had such an issue. So, time will tell what happens.
After I got out of the shower this morning I yelled down to Gene inquiring what the temperature/weather was going to be today so I knew what to wear. Well, he replied, "It's Christina is here to try Casey with the Active Cycle kind of day today." Ooops, once again I forgot that PT was coming. And, I hadn't put together the contraption using pipe and elbow connectors that she had prepared. Big oooops. By the time I got downstairs, they had the contraption (pretty much a cube shaped contraption) was together and Julie had Hoyered him into the living room.
The Active Cycle is an exercise machine that is motorized and make the bicycling movement. Some kids with SMA have used them with success with their kids. Some people call it the 'Poor Man's MotoMed' which is a high end and very fancy version of a machine used in Rehab and hospitals. Our hope is that it will improve Casey's (and eventually Colin's) circulation and contractures in his legs. Casey sits a lot at school and even though he gets out of his chair to lay down and stretch midday, he still come home with cold, purplish legs :( And, we hope it will help stretch him out a bit and give him a consistent range of motion.
That said, it's a lot easier to say what we'd like it to do than to make it actually work for him. I've got some good ideas to try from other SMA families and I think we're on the right track.
 |
| So you can see he's laying down and we're using the lift to hang some straps under his knees. |
 |
| We have his AFOs on and his feet strapped securely to the pedals. |
 | ||
| Our problem is that his hips are kind of UN-alighned, which is not a good thing but we're working on that. |
After that, Casey showered, Colin watched a movie and then we packed up to go to the dentist. For some odd reason, the boys kind of like going to the dentist. I guess it's because their visits are usually pretty quick and easy. Both boys have had a tooth or two pulled (that were ready to come out) but other than that it's mostly just counting teeth, checking gums, etc.
Casey went first today. Dr. Bookwalter was pleased with his teeth and gums. Casey does have a crowding issue and excessive gum tissue but it's not hurting him at all and it would be a huge risk to pull teeth and/or excise his extra gums. So, his teeth are what they are and they are good :) Dr. Bookwalter scraped a bit of his front teeth and behind them and then polished them a bit. He is very pleased that he doesn't have a lot of build up of tartar or calcium as some kids do and he said he's at zero risk for tooth decay.
Colin went next and he loved it! I really don't get it, but he does. Weird/scary thing--last time Colin had 3 baby teeth; this time he has NONE! I kind of remember that he lost ONE tooth inbetween the last time he was there and now, but definitely not THREE! Where did they go? It's always a scary thing to think about. Colin has virtually no swallow--but could one have gone his throat? We know of at least one SMA child that aspirated one into his lungs--a scary and not pretty situation. I've also known of a child that had a tooth sit on his epiglottis for months, and this happened not once, but twice! I guess we'll never know.
Dr. B used the scaler on Colin for the first time behind his front top teeth. He was pleased with his gums and teeth. He said his molars are pretty much hidden from the pressure his tongue is putting on them but he doesn't see it as a problem.
That was that! We were out of there with no need to come back until next summer!! For some reason, the boys are never given a toothbrush and prize anymore. I used to ask but now we just leave it as a mysterious thing and go to the dollar store. BUT the dollar store next to Timberlane is gone now so we decided to head to the one by the VNA. It's pretty new(ish) and I've never been there.
Of course it started to pour when we started driving. Torrential rains when we got there. Julie tried to encourage me to run in by myself but the boys really wanted to go so we went for it. I found the poncho in Casey's bag but didn't want to dig for Colin's so we put a chux on him and made a run for it.
Found a few things for school. The boys really don't need anything since they do most of their work on their DynaVox's but I got Casey some sports folders and a football composition book. Also got some Post-It notes since they use those a lot with him for spelling things and for words/phrases to add to his DynaVox. Colin got some dry erase markers, a new blue pencil case and a big glue stick :)
The rain had taped to a drizzle when we went out to the van. Got the boys in and went to stow the lift and NOTHING, nothing but a BEEP. We fiddled and fiddled. Tried re-deploying and bringing it up again, but no go. I called Gene but he had no answers. Julie figured out how to manually stow the van so we were finally good to head home. The school bus lift has issues frequently so she had an idea of what to do.
Got home and unloaded. Gene was able to get the lift to work properly after a time or two. What the heck??? Knowing Gene he won't want to bring it to anyone to get fixed/serviced and he'll probably try to work on it himself. Sigh. It had always rattled/banged some even when we first got the van back in January and I know they're supposed to be serviced regularly so that's probably part of the problem. We had a different brand of lift before and never had such an issue. So, time will tell what happens.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Boys go to the dentist and Sue goes to a meeting
Tired but got two things done today. The boys went to the dentist and I had a Colin team meeting. Luckily, Julia was able to come today and fairy-ize.
We got the boys ready as usual. Mel came and tutored Casey for an hour and Colin did advisory and then his theater class.
Casey read some Marcello and Colin watched A Christmas Carol for the 100th time.
Gene was able to come with us to the dentist appointments. I HATE driving in Burlington and I especially hate driving the van there so I'm glad he was able to get away for a while. For some reason, Dr. Bookwalter likes to see us at the Burlington office instead of So. Burlington. He thinks the offices are bigger but I beg to differ.
Anyway, we actually made it on time and we hardly had to wait a minute until we were called back. Casey went first. Dr. B is always fascinated with Casey's DynaVox. Casey didn't have much to say but that was because he was tipped back so far that his hand was slipping off of his switch. Not much new with Casey. He still thinks that he has good, strong teeth and gums. He says he has very little chance at developing any cavities. He only scraped a tiny bit of dried saliva off the back of his front teeth; everything else was clean as a whistle, well, except for the staining on his front teeth. Dr. B polished them a bit but the stain is mostly inherent in his teeth because of the air drying the spit on his teeth all these years. Casey and Nancy headed over to the Dollar Store.
Colin went in next. He said, "Ahhh" right away. Colin still has about 4 teeth left to lose. He said he's actually on target for his age. There was one loose tooth on the top that we had been watching and Dr. B said that it was ready to go and that he'd pull it. So, he asked his nurse for a spoon--I know it's a dental tool, but it freaked me out anyway. I held Colin's hand and looked the other way. Splooooch--out it came! There was a little blood but no more than we expected. Colin kept saying it hurt and he wanted Tylenol, which is SO not like him but I don't think it hurt that badly. He also got a good report.
Both boys are set for a year unless we have any issues or if we need him to pull out another tooth. I secretly think Gene likes to do it himself, so we'll see.
Gene, Colin and I headed to the Dollar Store. We were in there for several minutes and I didn't hear Casey at all! If you know Casey, that's a GOOD thing. Finally, I heard his vent before I heard his voice. He is really learning to control his voice when he's in public. Well, except for the movies...but we're getting there.
Casey picked out two books. One was the Chicken Soup book for the American Idol and one was on the Rose Bowl, or was it the Peach Bowl??? Colin said no to everything until we came to the gross, plastic, redneck buck teeth and then he insisted on those. He even passed over the wrestling mania belt!
Headed home. Casey went into the living room to click some channels. Colin settled into his spot to watch some TV.
I has some lunch and then it was time to head to the meeting. When I got there, I realized I didn't know where Emily's office was so I wandered a bit and then found Claire (OT) so we found everyone together. It was supposed to be an eval planning meeting but we started off with some general stuff. And, drum roll....Emily said she had talked to Tim (special ed coordinator) and it looks like the funding is there for the VGo!!!!!!! So now Emily will talk with the rep and see if we can get a real trial. Last year we saw the VGo in action from our house while the VGo was in the warehouse. But this trial will be cooler, of course. Also talked about putting all of Colin's work on the wiki like we have Casey's. Talked about using Google Drive so the kids and Colin could share work and comment on each others work. Lots of other good ideas were shared as well.
Julie was here for Wii Wednesday. Colin picked out the Redneck wii game going along with his tooth being pulled and picking out the ugly plastic teeth. He is so funny but serious about it at the same time. Casey picked one of the Sponge Bob games and neither objected to the others picks.
Oh, Paul (RT) was here earlier and dropped off the extra heater for Casey. I think, at this point, I'll send it in to school after Thanksgiving break since they'll be off the WHOLE week. It would be silly to send in the humidifier, water, tubing, etc. for only two days but after that we'll see if it helps keep him from getting too dried out being on the HME for the day. At least he'll have about 45 minutes on the heater to get some warm, moisture in his trach.
Here's Colin with his tooth.
We got the boys ready as usual. Mel came and tutored Casey for an hour and Colin did advisory and then his theater class.
Casey read some Marcello and Colin watched A Christmas Carol for the 100th time.
Gene was able to come with us to the dentist appointments. I HATE driving in Burlington and I especially hate driving the van there so I'm glad he was able to get away for a while. For some reason, Dr. Bookwalter likes to see us at the Burlington office instead of So. Burlington. He thinks the offices are bigger but I beg to differ.
Anyway, we actually made it on time and we hardly had to wait a minute until we were called back. Casey went first. Dr. B is always fascinated with Casey's DynaVox. Casey didn't have much to say but that was because he was tipped back so far that his hand was slipping off of his switch. Not much new with Casey. He still thinks that he has good, strong teeth and gums. He says he has very little chance at developing any cavities. He only scraped a tiny bit of dried saliva off the back of his front teeth; everything else was clean as a whistle, well, except for the staining on his front teeth. Dr. B polished them a bit but the stain is mostly inherent in his teeth because of the air drying the spit on his teeth all these years. Casey and Nancy headed over to the Dollar Store.
Colin went in next. He said, "Ahhh" right away. Colin still has about 4 teeth left to lose. He said he's actually on target for his age. There was one loose tooth on the top that we had been watching and Dr. B said that it was ready to go and that he'd pull it. So, he asked his nurse for a spoon--I know it's a dental tool, but it freaked me out anyway. I held Colin's hand and looked the other way. Splooooch--out it came! There was a little blood but no more than we expected. Colin kept saying it hurt and he wanted Tylenol, which is SO not like him but I don't think it hurt that badly. He also got a good report.
Both boys are set for a year unless we have any issues or if we need him to pull out another tooth. I secretly think Gene likes to do it himself, so we'll see.
Gene, Colin and I headed to the Dollar Store. We were in there for several minutes and I didn't hear Casey at all! If you know Casey, that's a GOOD thing. Finally, I heard his vent before I heard his voice. He is really learning to control his voice when he's in public. Well, except for the movies...but we're getting there.
Casey picked out two books. One was the Chicken Soup book for the American Idol and one was on the Rose Bowl, or was it the Peach Bowl??? Colin said no to everything until we came to the gross, plastic, redneck buck teeth and then he insisted on those. He even passed over the wrestling mania belt!
Headed home. Casey went into the living room to click some channels. Colin settled into his spot to watch some TV.
I has some lunch and then it was time to head to the meeting. When I got there, I realized I didn't know where Emily's office was so I wandered a bit and then found Claire (OT) so we found everyone together. It was supposed to be an eval planning meeting but we started off with some general stuff. And, drum roll....Emily said she had talked to Tim (special ed coordinator) and it looks like the funding is there for the VGo!!!!!!! So now Emily will talk with the rep and see if we can get a real trial. Last year we saw the VGo in action from our house while the VGo was in the warehouse. But this trial will be cooler, of course. Also talked about putting all of Colin's work on the wiki like we have Casey's. Talked about using Google Drive so the kids and Colin could share work and comment on each others work. Lots of other good ideas were shared as well.
Julie was here for Wii Wednesday. Colin picked out the Redneck wii game going along with his tooth being pulled and picking out the ugly plastic teeth. He is so funny but serious about it at the same time. Casey picked one of the Sponge Bob games and neither objected to the others picks.
Oh, Paul (RT) was here earlier and dropped off the extra heater for Casey. I think, at this point, I'll send it in to school after Thanksgiving break since they'll be off the WHOLE week. It would be silly to send in the humidifier, water, tubing, etc. for only two days but after that we'll see if it helps keep him from getting too dried out being on the HME for the day. At least he'll have about 45 minutes on the heater to get some warm, moisture in his trach.
Here's Colin with his tooth.
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