Being Loved
Maggie Dykstra and Emma Allison:
Their lives with cerebral palsy.
Maggie Dykstra
On Tuesday, November 25, 2014, in Bettendorf, Iowa, Maggie Dykstra
and
her nurse Melody Sereda play at home. Melody helps Maggie get
into her stander
to play with bead necklaces. Maggie also sits in her
Tomato chair and colors
with crayons. Melody lets Maggie chose which
color crayon to use by putting the
crayons on her fingers and letting
Maggie touch the one she wants. Maggie also uses
this way of
communicating for yes and no questions.
Melody helps Maggie three days a week. Maggie also has three other
nurses that go to school with her. A nurse comes, Monday through
Friday and
stays from 7am to 4:30 or 5:00pm. During this time the
nurses ride to school
with her, feed her, give her medicines, do therapy
and stretches, change her
diaper, and watch for seizure activity.
The braces Maggie wears are called AFOs. She wears these while she
is
in the stander and gait trainer, which is a walking device. This machine
is
called a gait trainer because your step is called a gait.
Maggie is fed 230 mL of formula and 80 mL of water every three hours
through a feeding tube connected to a 60 mL syringe. The feeding tube
is
connected to a MIC-KEY low profile gastronomy feeding tube in her
stomach,
which is replaced every three months. This is called a bolus feed.
Over night
she is put on a feeding pump, which feeds her 60 mL per hour,
totaling 720 mL
per night.
On Monday and Thursday of every week Maggie attends physical therapy.
On Thursday, the occupational therapist and physical therapist co-treat.
She
also goes to water therapy on Tuesday. The physical therapist
tries to
strengthen Maggie’s core and trunk muscles to help her stand
and sit. Maggie’s
occupational therapy tries to strengthen her neck
control, trunk control, and grasping
with ease on her hands. Her
favorite thing to do is ride her bike at therapy
and school.
Emma Allison
On Monday, December 1, 2014, in
Morrison, Illinois, Emma Allison enjoys
going to physical education and art. Emma
says that her favorite subject
is math. Emma was born 10 weeks premature and
had Grade 3 IVH. At the
time of her birth, the parents were told that she would
most likely have
cerebral palsy. At the age of two the official diagnosis was
made.
The walker Emma uses throughout her day is
called a reversible Kaye
Walker. Emma has been attending some type of therapy
since she
was six months old. Today, Emma has a private therapist, but she
also
receives Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy through
school. She receives
all of her therapies are once a week.
