The most noticeable change during week four is the emphasis on winding down and preparing to leave. Makeup sessions were being booked for missed hyperbaric therapy, exiting interviews and “after videos” scheduled, notification of the goodbye party and many logistics sorted out for people departing. Courtney (Denton’s mom) and I volunteered to design and complete the “poster” which would be presented to the camp and displayed in the hallway. We decided on an underwater theme showing Kevin as a deep sea diver next to his hyperbaric tank and our kids as a “school” of fish. This week we also said our first goodbyes to the stroke therapy families. Even though we were staying on, Thomas and I had to make plans to leave during next weekend to allow the camp to clean-up and reorganize the rooms. We ended up settling on a spacious and reasonably priced 3 bedroom furnished apartment in Picton…Thomas almost seemed to set back during this week, - he was continuously resisting his therapy, and showing other signs of being off like tuning out (esp. in the hyperbaric chamber) and seemed a bit tighter and out of balance – this was especially surprising given his prior week, in which he seemed to excel. I discussed this during lunch on Wednesday and another parent Jennifer agreed that her Phillip wasn’t doing as well and thought that maybe they were just exhausted. Another parent hinted at toxicity – something that happens with excessive amounts of oxygen. I was even starting to consider the possibility that Thomas’ chiropractic adjustment had gone wrong. When I explored this with Kevin he thought it mostly sounded like Thomas was fighting off an illness esp. since so many kids (six out of the eight) had been sick the previous week/end. Many had been taken to the hospital for care and oddly enough, no two children seemed to have the same symptoms – there was a mix of ear infections, colds, tonsillitis and a viral cough. Thomas and Denton were the only two to escape it and Thomas was probably still fighting it/them off. Over the next couple of days, Thomas seemed to have shaken it, and by the weekend was going to bed at 7:30.
Our weekend was again very full… Rob’s sister Christine and husband Paul came to visit us on the Saturday – they left their house at 6:00 a.m. so that they could join Thomas during his 10:30 morning dive - they also brought us a homemade hot lunch! Thomas seemed happy to show them his different walking strategies and they remarked on how content and settled he seemed as well noticed added dexterity. I also noted this week that Thomas’ attention span seems to be increasing, a skill that is worked on in the classroom. I also learned this week that rhythm is something we will need to teach our kids and were shown exercises on how to develop this.
This being the final group weekend, Rob and I fixed dinner for euchre opponents Courtney and Steve, and still made it to the Barley Room for our weekly date.
Hard to believe that next weekend we will be meeting a whole new crew and starting over again…
