Progression

Dallas has done well over the last couple of days.  Therapy has went good.  They have cut it back to Tuesdays and Thursdays only; Mondays and Wednesdays focused on strength and endurance, while Tuesdays and Thursdays are stretching and massage.  Apparently, they feel he is doing well with strength and endurance.  That's good.  This week, he held himself up on the parallel bars, climbed up a wall with his feet, while his arms supported him on the floor, stretched beyond a 90 degree angle with his right arm, can throw a ball really well with his right arm, and has done much more.  It's really wearing him out, and at times, it hurts him and he wants to stop, but he keeps on pushing through.

The good news is that Dallas' spirits are up.  He has a very positive attitude towards everything, which will help him to continue to progress well.

The bad news is that his scarring is getting worse.  He is losing more mobility in his right arm due to the scar tissue tightening even more, especially across the inner joint of his elbow.  It is to the point where he has to force his arm straight, the natural position is now in a bent position.

Also, Dallas is getting worse infections on his hairline.  It started out very small, and apparently, Dr. Molnar said that the cause was hair coming through the skin; according to him, it's very common.  Ok, I can understand that.  But the fact that they have progressed from being smaller than dime-size to now half-dollar size is quite alarming.  They are also getting increasingly more painful for him.  NOT a good thing.  I still don't understand why they won't give him an antibiotic for it, even if it's just topical?  It doesn't make sense to me.  But then again, I'm not a doctor, so, I don't know.

On another positive note, Dallas played out in the sprinkler twice this week, and went to the pool for about 45 minutes.  That was a big step for him.  He did so well with both.  He's still scared to try to swim, fearing he will go face first into the water, which is part to do with his right arm having problems.  But, he walked back and forth in the 3' end, jumped around, turned in circles, and was able to go up the ladder by himself (but still needed help down).  It was great to see him playing like a little kid again.  :)

We also did some crafts yesterday.  I bought wooden letters to spell out Dallas and Mac's name so they could paint them and put them on the wall in their room.  Last time I bought stuff for Dallas to paint, he didn't want to have anything to do with it.  At least this time, he was interested, and participated.  Seems like he's having more fun and doing more things than he used to do.  He also said that he wanted to get more stuff to paint, and other crafts to do.  We think it's a great idea.  If he's this interested in it, I think we will start taking him to Michaels or Hobby Lobby during the "crafts for kids" day.  Let him participate in some things among other children.

Speaking of being among more children, I took the kids to the movie theater Wednesday morning.  During the summer, they do the free kids movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  This was the first time Dallas actually WANTED to go, which is wonderful!  So I took them to see Dr. Suess's The Lorax.  He did really well, especially considering almost every seat was taken by the time the movie started.  Good thing we got their right when they opened and were able to get the seats we wanted.  About an hour into the movie, Dallas was ready to go.  I figured it would have been sooner.  But there was only 30minutes left, so we stayed.  Dallas did great.  I was so happy.  And there were less "looks" than I thought there would be.  Dallas wasn't shy in the least bit either.  YAY!

Dallas is sleeping better at night, for the most part.  There are still some nights when he doesn't sleep well at all, some nights when his itching is uncontrollable, but overall, sleeping is better for him.  Which, in turn, means it's better for us as well.  :)

Overall, I would say things are going pretty well.  There are still good days and bad, and there will be for a long time to come.  But he's doing well, his spirits are high, and he still knows how to bring a smile to us all!

We are so proud of you and love you so much buddy!!!