Cast Camp!

This week J started his 2 week Cast Camp.  Technically it is a constraint induced therapy camp, but cast camp sounds so much more fun.  He has been so excited to go and we have been doing our best to explain to him all that it would involve.  They put a cast on his left arm (which is his stronger arm) in order for him to use his right hand and arm more.

When we got there yesterday morning, he was so excited to meet his new friends.  There are 3 other kids all about the same age in his camp.  He asked them their names and headed right back to the camp room without a concern in the world.  I left to run a few errands and about 30 minutes after dropping him off - I got a phone call from the camp director letting me know that J would not put the cast on.  She told me she had never had a kid refuse to put the cast on.  Never had a kid like our J:)  I headed back and prayed the whole way for wisdom with the right words to say to J to get him to put the cast on.  He had been crying the whole time & was so sad.  He did not want to put the cast on and wanted to go home.  I sat down by him and after hugging him and telling him he was going to be okay - we agreed to try the cast on again.  He did & after promising to let him take it off before going to bed at night - he put it on.  He still wasn't thrilled with it, but he did it.  Here is a picture I took before I left and as you can see, he's doing okay with it.

Fortunately, I had no other calls & he seemed to do well once I was gone.  I had also promised him McDonald's french fries if he kept his cast on, so after leaving camp at noon we went to McDonald's for a treat.  Everything seemed to be fine, but on the way home he was complaining about it hurting and after a few minutes - he had figured out how to pry the cast off his arm (it's a hard cast, but cut & attached together with velcro).  So, I pulled over and after we talked for a few minutes, he let me put the cast back on.  We'll make sure we keep the straps on a little tighter from now on.

The afternoon went okay.  He begged for a break in the afternoon & I was willing to give it to him.  Good thing Dad was home to override that decision & have him keep the cast on.  We've agreed that he can take it off after brushing his teeth before he goes to bed.  Our sneaky guy then started asking to get his teeth brushed around 5:00 and asking to go to bed soon after that.  We kept him up and going throughout the evening and he did great!

Today went much better.  We put the cast on soon after he got up and he has kept it on all day.  Camp went well - they said he did great and he seemed happy.  He struggles with eating little bites, but is able to get a small piece of food into his mouth by himself.  I tried the fork with him this evening, but that is definitely more challenging, so I helped him quite a bit at dinner with his bites.  We'll focus more on finger foods for a while.  We are thankful that he mastered drinking out of a straw from his juice box before camp, so he is okay with drinking on his own.

A went with us today and while J was at camp, she and I had a fun time at Faust Park in St Louis visiting the St Louis Carousel and the Butterfly House.  Here are a couple of pictures from our day.

Getting ready to ride the Carousel

A really wanted a butterfly to land on her, but no luck

We'll be back at camp tomorrow & look forward to seeing how things go for J!