I just wanted to attempt to upload some photos.  Blake has had an amazing weekend again and is so happy and full of life.  His godfather Manuel came up for a visit and they brought their yorkies and Blake was in doggie paradise as they were all licking him and loving him.

So with summer sneaking up on us quickly we are looking for things to do to keep Blake busy.  This is the last week of school and then summer school for 4 weeks.  We are going to start water therapy in July once a week through Easter Seals and continue with the therpeutic horseback riding.  I think we are also going to do this suitability training through Easter Seals at the end of August.  It’’s an aggressive PT/OT program that is everyday for 3 weeks and 4 hours a day.  It mocks a program in Poland using an Adeli suit and treats children with CP, neuromuscular conditions, ataxia and other conditions.  They basically say that this 3 weeks is more effective than a years worth of therapy.  They video the sessions and then send you home to do maintenance and recommend that you do this program 3 times a year.  It’s not cheap but we are so excited to try it to see what results we can achieve on top of what we are doing in China.Blake is doing great.  He is so lively and happy all the time.  He is answering more on verbal cues and just looks amazing.  He laughs at Sam and Talia all the time and they just smother him with love.  Well, Talia falls all over him trying to be sweet but she is just a brut.  We are planning on a trip to Disney this September once the weather cools down a bit.

So Jeremy took the boys camping last weekend and they had a blast.  Blake laughed the whole time and seem to really enjoy the whole atmosphere and liked the hammock that was put up just for him.  It was a little different for Jeremy this time as he wasn’t used to taking kids and waking up in the middle of the night changing dirty diapers in a tent but they managed.  Blake has been having really good weeks in school and in therapy so we are just looking forward to more positive changes.

So it’s been a month since Blake has been home and he is doing quite well.   He is back at his normal routine and trying to think of some new things for him to do this summer.  Our pool and spa won’t be finished for another month or so and we know that Blake loves to be in the water so we have started putting him in my master bathtub cause it’s nice and big.  He just has such a sense of freedom in the water and it makes all of us smile.  Jeremy is going camping with Jeremy Day and they will be taking Blake and Samuel.  I am a little nervous since they rough it but Jeremy will go the day before and get camp all set up before the kiddo’s arrive.

So Blake made is through his first week of school and did really well.  He has been very alert and trying to hard this week.  We have been doing alot of stretching with him and now that we have moved we are anxious to get the pool finished so we can get him back in the water.  I am going to be looking into a new blog here soon because this one doesn’t work well with all my photos so hopefully can get more pictures up.

Jeremy and Blake arrived home on Friday and are doing good adjusting to the time change and getting back on schedule.  Blake is sleeping through the night now and doing well.  I am noticing several good things so far and a couple things that we need to address this week.  I am thinking Blake needs some Botox injections in his hands and feet.  They are contracting and I feel this is causing him some discomfort.  While the treatment has relaxed his hands much more now than before he left I notice his feet becoming a problem.  We are going to get him refitted for some new AFO’s  next week and hopefully this will help.  As far as everything else he is happy, cognitively aware,using his words and we are looking forward to the weeks ahead.

When Jeremy and Blake wake up they will be getting ready to head to the airport.  Blake did well after the 4th stem cell injection.  This time he didn’t get a fever and bounced back right away.  Since he did so well the Dr’s thought it would benefit Blake to do an IV treatment  of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC’s).  3 million cells were transplanted at 11:00 yesterday.  The MCS appear capable of homing the sites of disease and will congregate in the lungs.  The Dr.’s feel it could potentially help benefit Blake to help with respiration function in the future and to prevent pnuemonia.  When a patient is in bed a lot there lungs can get weak.  The MCS can proliferate into endothelial cells and improve the circulatory system of the lungs.   Jeremy did say that while everything went well that 5 weeks was too rushed and that a couple more days was needed between injections.  We obviously wanted to try to get the procedure done quickly but at the same time don’t want to compromise the results.  So next time they will stay for 6 weeks.

Just wanted to update that Blake is doing really well.   He got a virus last week so they pushed back his 4th and final injection to this Tuesday.  They only do injections on Thursdays and Tuesdays.  So if all goes well with that they will be on the plane and home this Friday.  Jeremy said that last week Blake did wonderful in therapy so looking forward to seeing the progress.  It’s actually sad for Jeremy to leave because he knows that the amount of therapy is necessary and over here we just don’t get the support.  We will try to do as much as home as we can and hope that when he returns to school Jeremy can show them some key stretches and exercises to do.

Blake received his third injection yesterday and everything went smoothly.  He is doing great and still noticing improvements.  Jeremy told me today that his hands and wrists are even doing better.  I felt they were curling in too much so I am excited for them to return to see the progress.  Blake has 2 therapists named Mark and Cindy and they both have been doing the therapy together.  So he has four hands on him instead of 2.  Because of how well everything is going,  Jeremy and Blake will get to come home 3 days early as long as I can get everything worked out with the airlines.  

Blake received his 2nd injection last week and had a great weekend.  Jeremy is already seeing noticeable improvements with his therapy.  Lisa and the girls are here and we had them up on Skype yesterday and we heard Blake saying words we haven’t heard in a very long time.  Jeremy took Blake to the Westin hotel for dinner on Sunday and they have been taking some nice long walks to pass the time.  So just a little more than 2 weeks to go and then they will be home.