Wheels For Eastie

So for the last several months, Eric and I have been going back and forth on whether we would get Easton a power wheelchair or a manual one. A power chair wasn't even in our thought process until last summer when Easton's PT said that she felt like he would be both physically and mentally capable of handling one. AWESOME! I thought. Lets do it!!! Lets give this kid the most independence that we can.

 

A month or so ago I told his PT that we wanted to be able to pick up and pay for the chair in September and she told me that we had better start trying to get him qualified then. What?!? What does that mean? Well, in order for the insurance to approve and pay for their portion of a power wheelchair, a person (no matter the age) has to be able to show that they can operate it. Meaning, if I tell Easton to go left, he will go left or if I tell him to go to his room, he will navigate down the hall and into his room or he has to be able to go up and down the ramp that would let him in and out of the house. Makes sense, but COME ON! What two year old is going to be able to do that?

 

Insurances will only pay for a new wheelchair every five years so if we don't go with a power chair now we would have to wait until he is seven or eight before we could get a new one. So why not wait a couple of years until he qualifies? Well, for one he is getting hard to haul around. I think of myself as a pretty strong lady, but 25 pounds of dead weight can be alot after awhile. Also when he turns three next year he will start preschool with the school district and they STRONGLY recommend kids have a wheelchair for class. Kind of a Catch 22 situation.

 

Well, on Wednesday we got a loaner/practice wheelchair from the nice folks at Intermountain Wheelchair. We will hopefully be able to use it for the next few months to get Easton comfortable with the idea of a power wheelchair and also give him enough practice to qualify for one. We will have to videotape what he is doing and hope and PRAY that it will be enough to get him his own chair sooner rather than later.



Yard Sale

In either May or June we are planning on having a yard sale to raise money for Easton's wheelchair, a wheelchair van, and all other medical expenses that come up for him (therapies, hearing aides, etc.). If you have ANYTHING you would be willing to donate for us to sell please contact me and we can figure out a way to pick it up. Thanks so much for your love and support!

Hide And Seek With Daddy

Easton and Eric have come up with their own version of hide and seek lately. Easton thinks it is the best thing ever. He has fun trying to get to Eric as fast as he can. The scooting and rolling are his main mode of mobility. He has just started to army crawl a little more, which is what his PT prefers so we are really trying to encourage that. As long as he is moving though, I am happy and, more importantly, so is he.

He Loved His Birthday Food

For his birthday Easton got to eat mashed potatoes all by himself and he loved them. Most of them ended up on his face, the tray, or the floor, but it was all about the experience. He also couldn't get enough of his cupcake. He thought that was the best thing ever!