MPGs fighting PMG

June 19, 2011

After a few mental and physical tests of my own, the focus for the rest of the summer will be back on Nathan and getting smarter, stronger and happier.

Summer is no vacation for Nathan. We're getting ready to start our third session of equine assisted therapy. We start week 3 of speech group for kids using augmentative communication devices. We still have weekly
1-on-1 speech therapy, and are in the middle of Nathan's first full season of Miracle League. (at least that's fun-based for the little man.) None of this is on our side of town. We travel all around the area and state to give Nathan every opportunity we can provide.

Right now, our scheduled miles per week are as follows:
To speech group, equine-assisted therapy and back – 78 miles
To speech therapy and back – 47 miles
To Miracle League and back – 65 miles

Soon, we'll be adding some even longer daily trips to the calendar.
8 round trips for intensive therapy – 242 miles each
20 trips for conductive education – 98 miles each.

Starting June 27, we'll start our second session of intensive physical therapy down in Cincinnati, OH at a facility named Leap Beyond Therapy. This is our second time making the 15-day sessions but if the results are anything close to what they were before, it's worth every minute in the car.

This time around, we have an afternoon session, meaning we won't have to be hitting the road at 5:30 in the morning. No one will be heading out in his/her pajamas, battling snowstorms, icy roads or slowing down for snowplows on the freeway. Even for the ride home, we should still have sunlight.

Another change is we're staying in Cincinnati the second half of our time there. We're staying in an apartment complex connected with the therapy facility. It won't be free, but with the current price of gas, the cost is worth the lack of sleep and time to prepare for each day.

Leap Beyond has some new rules as well, and we'll see if/how that effects Nathan and his performance. Parents are asked to stay out of sight, in an adjoining room where they can see and hear what's going on, but it appears as though we may be a little more hands-off this time around. This is still a relatively new concept for me, but it is allowing Nathan to work with new people strengthening his social skills as well as other parts of his mind and body.

Once we complete intensive therapy, we have one week off and then start back with conductive education in Marysville at Brighter Beginnings Through Conductive Education. This is a 4-week session, and I'll discuss that a little more as the time gets closer. We just completed the parent meeting last week and are very excited about what that will bring as well. Granted, we won't be making all of the other trips when we're at Leap Beyond, but the plan is to continue the above activities while attending Brighter Beginnings.

Looking at the big picture the grand totals look something like this:
Miles for June 26 – July 16: 2,066
Miles for July 17 – Aug. 20: 2,590

For me, it means making sure I get an oil change this week, and check out all the other gauges that we often take for granted. I need to also tune-up the laptop so I work hard while I'm asking the same thing of Nathan in the other room.

Once those two major activities are complete, baseball should be over, as will speech group. Our cars won't know what to do with themselves, but something tells me, they'll feel like I did once defeating the Warrior Dash and the hill.

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