Hard working boy...... and media star!

Daniel has been working really hard at his physio in the last few weeks, since Christmas. We have evolved a new routine, which means he sees the private physio two afternoons a week, each session being one hour. Rich or I also do at least an hour of physio with him on a Saturday and Sunday. So he is having four sessions of physio each week. Every morning, as soon as he wakes up he goes into his standing frame for at least half an hour (an hour at weekends). This puts weight through his hips.

He also has his stretches done every night, and we practise a bit of standing balancing each day. He walks as much as possible, although this is mainly done in school due to the weather being so foul. He has school swimming every Tuesday, and also swims on alternate Fridays, plus riding at RDA on Sundays. Plus, a couple of extra-curricular clubs that are not physio related!

As we approach half term, Daniel is starting to lose a bit of his energy, but is still trying hard, and a couple of weeks ago his physio Jenny was so pleased with him she thought he deserved a home-made certificate!

Now we have moved past the initial post-op year and the physio has decreased to a more manageable level (everything's relative!) we have started to turn our attention once more to independence skills. As Daniel grows older, it will be these that will be vital if he is to live an independent life. Every evening Daniel now puts his own pyjama top on, and at weekends he also takes his top off first. (He can't do that on school days because he can't undo the buttons on a school shirt). To give you an idea of how hard Daniel has to work to do this, have a look at this video, and imagine how much you think you would feel like doing that after a full day at school / work! 

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago, our local paper, The Gloucestershire Echo, gave me a call for an update on Daniel's progress. They were very supportive when we were fundraising and tend to phone me every few months to see how he is doing. I told them about his epic walk to the co-op, and a couple of days later they published this....

Two days after that, on a Monday morning, I received several texts from family and friends asking if I knew that Daniel was in The Times..... I didn't! Admittedly, the story had become slightly warped in the re-telling (Daniel seemed to have aged four years over the weekend and the 'going to buy sweets' bit had been added by someone to make the story more interesting) but still, national media was a first for Daniel!

Half term next week - lots of physio planned, but also some relaxation and fun!