Sporty Daniel.......

Well, the sun has come out at last and Daniel has been putting his new found mobility to good use, and thoroughly enjoying it!

Firstly we have had school sports day, which took place the week before half term. Of course Daniel has taken part in sports day previously, but was always pushed in his wheelchair. This time he was determined to do as much as possible himself in his walker, and his parents were not the only people to feel a little emotional watching him! Here are some highlights. (Thank you to the parents of the other children shown who have given their permission for me to use the clip).

Carrying the hoop in the relay

The Dream Team - Dan with his two fabulous teaching assistants

Then, just a couple of days later, Daniel managed another huge new achievement. He SWAM by himself for the first time ever!!!  He has always loved being in the water but could not get his body straight enough to swim on his own. Here he is doing it for the very first time......

He and Lucy share a private swimming lesson, but while Daniel loves being in the water, Lucy generally prefers to do this.....

Not content with sports day and swimming, there has also been more horseriding (which as the parent watching, I must admit is now a lot more pleasurable now that it is not freezing cold!) We can tell Daniel is getting stronger because I no longer have to give him calpol the day after horseriding due to him being stiff and sore. That said, one week I did try putting him straight back in his walker when he came off the horse and his legs just buckled under him, so he is obviously working hard up there!

There has also been some football in the garden action.......

Plenty of hard work in physio is still going on in the background too.....

Of course, there's always a 'but' and the one negative bit of news is that Daniel's yearly hip x-ray showed that although his right hip has improved slightly, his left has continued to migrate outwards and is now 29% displaced. For anyone not familiar with CP, I will briefly explain. All babies are born with fairly shallow hip sockets. Once toddlers start to walk, the weight-bearing helps to carve out the hip socket and keep the 'ball' at the top of the femur in place. Children with CP are not weight-bearing in the same way, so their hip sockets remain shallow and flattened. There is also the double whammy of the spasticity in the adductors (inner thigh muscles) which as it pulls the knee inwards, is pulling the hip outwards. The upshot of that is that the hips of children with spastic CP tend to migrate out of the socket, and can eventually dislocate, requiring major hip surgery. That said, in Daniel's case, 29% is not into disaster territory yet, and he has now had the spasticity removed from his adductors by the SDR. Plus, of course, he is now weight-bearing and walking far, far more than before surgery. Unfortunately, the lack of symmetry in his body, which causes his left hip to stick out when he walks, is really not helping that hip stay where it needs to be. So, we have redoubled our efforts to work on the weaker side of his body, in order to try to straighten him up when walking, and stop that hip wandering any further!

Dan and Lucy are now back at school for their last few weeks in Year 2 and Reception, and we are starting to look ahead to next school year, and the challenges it will bring, including Daniel moving up to Juniors. Plenty to do before then though!