Sharing Jackson's school picture

Because Jackson has to recline so much in his wheelchair to be comfortable, it is often hard to get good pics of him. He also will not often smile on command, and sometimes won't even look at the camera. I knew it was going to be challenging to get a good school picture of him, but thought I would try anyway since they had a money-back guarantee.

The first attempt did not turn out too well. In fact, they were so bad that the teacher called ahead of time to warn me about it. Here is what the first one looked like. Yikes! Yes, that is the teacher's hand in the picture! I am guessing she was patting him in an attempt to make him smile.
The retakes were a lot better. Apparently the teacher, PT, and the principal were all in there trying to get him so smile...LOL! I think it's a pretty good picture, don't you?

Jackson is doing a lot better today!

The antihistamine seems to be helping a lot. He is not as congested and is not producing so much mucous. He is still coughing, but he is not barfing all the time. He is also smiling more and ready to play.

I thought I would share some of the things Jackson has been doing in computer class at school. He uses special switch accessible software. His favorite game (I have been told) is Switch Wars, where he gets to blow up alien spaceships! He also can write stories by using the switch to choose from 2 different options. Here is one of the stories he brought home. He really loves to read them!

Jackson's sick.

He must have picked up a cold at the hospital when we were getting his GJ tube changed. Poor kiddo, with his GI issues a little cold can cause things to be so much worse than they normally would be.

We took him to the dr. today and she gave us a couple prescriptions. Hopefully, it will help. He has been pretty miserable.

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the delay in getting this new site up and running. I guess I just have to come to terms with the fact that I don't have the time to sit and learn how to make the kind of site that I'd really like to.

Here's what's been going on...

• We are switching insurance in Jan. from an HMO to a PPO because we have been getting denials for what we consider to be crucial appointments. We already have an appointment reserved (but not "scheduled" since they cannot schedule it until after our insurance switches) at the motility clinic at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.


• Jackson has been getting PT, OT, and Speech at Loyola Medical Center. In PT and OT he has been trying E-stim. We were told that we had been approved by our insurance for a home unit, but someone somewhere got it wrong. There is still a small chance that we will be approved, but most likely we will have to wait until the vaccine settlement comes through.


• Jackson is doing well in school. He is working in the computer lab with switch accessible software. He is also working on communication using Boardmaker images to express himself. He seems to enjoy it and the teachers and therapists there think he is wonderful.
• We got a puppy! His name is Dizzy and he is a super-cute poodle/shih-tzu mix. He is a little hyper which is to be expected in a pup but he is mellowing a tiny bit.

Here are a couple Halloween pics for you.