The excitement in the Keenan house hold last weekend was fantastic as we had the first visit to Wangaratta by Riley. He arrived on Friday and Jill could hardly wait to cuddle him. It amazed us how much he has grown and become more alert and attentive. Lying on a blanket on the floor he would
- Riley’s cheeky grin
watch his mum and dad move around the room. I believe we got some smiles – not wind. We had the chance to show off our grand son and the first to see him after his arrival was Lorna. Later on Saturday Great Grand Aunty Jean arrived for her cuddle. She completed his Don’s footy outfit with a red and black scarf. He now has a jumper, boots and a scarf. Might be the 2028 first draft pick. He was here until Sunday and there were some tears as Chris pulled out of our drive.
My treasure
We have had an extensive week with Monday the beginning of Jill’s speech clinic and Rebecca arrived at 3pm on Monday and had Jill go through a series of exercises. Saying “Ah” loud and for as long as possible but she kept saying that clarity was the most important. The next exercise was a sliding scale from low to high still using the “Ah” and this was followed by the reverse high to low. The next was reading a group of phrases that Jill and Rebecca had come up with. This was followed by everyday words out of a magazine. The last exercise of the day was reading out loud a paragraph
Riley kicking in his gym
which involved some complex words. This was repeated each day – in the morning just Jill & I and in the afternoon with Rebecca. It amazes me how it improves Jill’s clarity and volume. As part of our celebrations with Riley I received a digital video camera and I will be able to Video Jill’s progress over the next 4 weeks. The speech clinic is for an hour each day and as we repeat it Jill is doing about 2 hours per day.
On Wednesday Izzy our physio arrived and commenced a range of
No it's not wind.
exercises using our massage table which I have lowered so that Jill can get onto easily. She went through lots of stretching exercises with Jill in various positions. She explained why each position was beneficial and that we should do some of them each day combined with the normal exercise regime that we do normally. However on Thursday Jill complained of tenderness in her left knee (steel knee) and we eased of and when the other physio Emily arrived on Friday, her suggestion was to rest over the weekend and see how it was by Monday. I think Jill thought this was a fantastic idea –“that will keep Mac of my back” was her comment.
One of Jill’s phrases that she has been saying is “Let’s get out of the house” so if the rain eases I will take her for a drive.
Well I had better go Macca is about to finish.
See you soon on the net.
good evening mac and jill