The Tovington Post

Today was a good day. It went very fast. I had my session with Tova today in the class room. She did what I said mostly, she took ages to listen to me and wanted to do her own thing, but I was strong and just kept making her start again and do what she was supposed to.

Again, the therapists told me that Tova can walk unaided, she just needs to do it. .. Yuval and I need to keep practicing with her.

We didn't go outside today, however the sun seems to have appeared.. It is warmer tonight than it was last night.

I did body attack in the morning. I even found on youtube one track with my instructor from home, steph.. so that was nice.. familiar.

it is frightening to think that we are almost done here. It is bitter sweet. I feel we could get more out of it if we stayed longer. So, perhaps we will come back.. We shall see what we can find at home like this.

I have spent the day making Tova walk in the walking frame everywhere we need to go. She doesn't like it. She wants to crawl or be carried. I just said a heap of no. She has to practice and understand that she has to walk to get where she wants to go.

The chamber was as boring as ever, but time didn't go too slow. We did drawings and made a birthday card for a mum who's birthday is today. There has been no horrible hockey nor wiggles for ages, which is fantastic. BUT Tova isn't interested in anything that has been put on, so it has been 1.5 hours of writing letters and numbers and words and pictures etc..

Tova doesn't even ask for books before bed now, we are both so sick of the books we have with us that we just can't bring ourselves to read them. No complaints from me.

Other than that, I just spend my time working and eating. Tova has been learning and hopefully developing.

Week four already. I feel relief and sad about this. I would love for Tova to stay here for another 5 weeks of this program as I can see it would be very beneficial. But I am also happy that we get to leave in 2 weeks. I am so looking forward to Niagara.

This morning I found BODY ATTACK online, on youtube... it feels great to have done something normal. It was fun jumping around in my room. So I will probably do that each day now, so that my spirits are lifted a bit.

Tova is in class, probably having heaps of fun.

I've run out of nappies, which sucks as now I have to beg someone to take me to town.. *sigh*. I think I have 2 nappies and a couple of those trainer pull ups, which aren't good, but it should last me till tomorrow. I know I said I can handle not having a car, and I can, but I fell so annoying asking for a lift to town all the time. And then people feel bad if they say no because they aren't going today. It is all a bit awkward.
There are two mums here that take me to town and they are both absolutely lovely. One of them is having a birthday tomorrow, so hopefully I get to buy her a coffee or something.. yet again, if SHE drives ME! haha.

Time to work now. Tova is in class until about 12.45, then lunch then a small break then hyperbaric.

If I didn't have work to do I would go out of my mind.

I'm spending the rest of the day in pjs as what is the point in getting dressed exactly! I don't think the bears and coyotes mind what I am wearing.

....... It is a bit later in the evening now. Tova and I ended up having a pretty good day. After the hyperbarics we were walking back to our room and one of the mums came up to us and said "so, you wanna go to town?". She had been waiting for us to finish in the chamber so she could take us (she doesn't do hyperbarics). So about 30 seconds later Tova and I were ready to go. This was the first time Tova has left the camp since we got here. She loved it.
At first she was a bit scared in the car, but after a minute realised it was fun and got happy. Tova and I spent about an hour walking around the main street and then went to get Nappies. We ended up buy a heap of stuff and went to that tim coffee place to get a muffin and coffee. It came to a total of $2.75. Crazy. I wonder why it is so cheap.

After dinner and a bath we skyped the boys. Tova almost jumped out of her skin with happiness. The boys are a bit grumpy and tired, but we didn't care, we were just happy to see them.

We are both happy. Today has been a good day.

Les Mills Body Attack

Mothers day! Happy Mothers day to me and my mum.

Today was no different to any other weekend day here. I watched cars come and go. One car was full of one family, so no room for Tova and I to get a lift. The other mum who went to town doesn't do hyperbarics, so she goes when we are in the session. Bummer.

I could get a hire car, but really, I don't see the point. All I would do is spend heaps of money and time driving to town and back which means Tova would be stuck in the car seat, we would walk around town, with Tova in the pram and then go back. I may as well put Tova in the pram here, go for a walk up and down the very boring roads here and save time and money. Tova doesn't mind. So, I am going to change my mind set and be at peace with being almost completely stuck here while watching other families have freedom and fun.
We are here for one reason.. Tova.

Tova had a reasonable day. Lots of movies, two hyperbarics and a walk up to the winery and back. It was closed.
I thought maybe it would be open for mothers day and Tova and I could sit down in there.. but nope.
It is probably a good thing as I don't think they serve anything other than wine.

Tomorrow is therapy again. I hope Tova makes some massive gains.

Now I am just 'living' for Niagara Falls. Tova and I will go there for one of our last nights. We have booked a spectacular room overlooking the water falls, at least I hope it is spectacular.

I wonder what Tova will think about Niagara. I want to get T-shirts that say Niagara. I also am completely in love with the Canadian flag, I love the red, one of the grandmothers here got some socks with the flag, they are so cool. I will go on a mission to get some too.

The adult 'patient' and her mum went today. They were doing a 3 week program. It is different without them. I miss them actually, they were also trapped like me and it was nice to feel so not alone and to not be the only needy one here. Now it is just me needing a lift to get shopping and freedom.

That's it. I am looking forward to Tova having fun tomorrow. She loves therapy. Lucky.

Little Tova slept in this morning, till about 8.55. Hyperbaric is at 9am so I figured she could eat breakfast in there while the hoods are off at the beginning. But the session was running late so Tova actually got to eat her breakfast first. Then right away into the tank. Tova was happy and bright as she usually is in the mornings. We did drawings and numbers and letters. There was a movie on in the background that no one watched. But at least it wasn't horrible music.

The time went pretty quickly actually.

Then we had a snack, attempted to do some of the therapy and rode the trike around the hallway. Back to the chamber at 12ish. Someone requested sesame street, which was a good idea. Tova just wanted me to draw and so forth which I did for a while but then gave up and lay down. She actually let me and she watched Sesame street for a while. Good girl.

After that Tova had a late lunch and now we are just doing nothing. There isn't anything to do inside nor outside, so she is watching the wiggles. I might take her outside in a min as it is a bit sickening to be inside for the entire day doing so very little. I wish I had a car, I would have gone straight into the town and wandered around with tova, gone to a cafe and wandered more, there is a library too, we would have gone there, if it was open. But nope, we are completely trapped in this place.

It is cold and raining mostly today too. Although some sun just shone through onto my desk. It must be outside time..

Tova is still in her pjs and it is something like 4pm.

I got a bit sad with Tova today, we went to the therapy room and I wanted her to practice walking with the canes. She has a game with them where she throws one to the floor and laughs, then pretend falls to the ground laughing too. It makes me sad as it is such a waste of time. The therapists said she would be walking if she could just practice more. I don't have the patience nor time for her cheeky behaviour.
And she is so cute when she does all this that I have to try so hard not to laugh. But actually today it made me quite sad at her.

WALK TOVA!

What? How on earth is it Friday already again? Wow, time goes so fast here, even when we aren't having any fun. Amazing.

Two more weeks to go. Come on Tova, start walking!

Tova is happy, I am much happier. I do still feel trapped, but, so what. We aren't here for me.

Tova doesn't like going to the Hyperbaric chamber, when we are leaving our room she starts saying 'Finished'. But, she is a good girl in there. We draw, and write numbers and letters. We haven't had to watch the Wiggles nor Hockey for a few days now, which is a relief.

I was looking through old emails about hyperbarics in Australia. For 40 hours it would be $7000. 40 hours here at Ability Camp is usually $3,800, there was a special on for this month, so we are paying even less. So it is actually cheaper to fly to Canada and do 40 hours here than to do it at home.

Today when we all went into feed the children lunch, the therapists said to leave the food outside and come in first. When we went in the kids were all sitting around the table with mothers day cards and a plant for each parent. How lovely. The therapists here are really lovely. I had tears in my eyes and couldn't read the card properly in case I cried in front of everyone, because I am a wuss.

Another lovely thing about the therapists here is that they all seem to really genuinely love the kids. They walk past them and kiss the tops of their heads and always are compassionate and caring. It is really nice to see people love their jobs so much. Great people!

I wonder how my little man is going at home, it is Saturday morning for them, he will be going to shull with Savta Viva. Yuval and Nisism slept at Yuvies mum's last night. Cute. I have been picturing them sleeping in the bed together all day as it is their all night..

So, it is the weekend again tomorrow. gawd.. what to do between hyperbarics.... hmmm. The weather has been miserable today, raining and freezing. I hope the weekend is better. I guess we will bike ride as there isn't anything else to do with no car and no way to get anywhere.