Seven

Good Morning! Reuben likes his bed!

Yesterday Reuben went for his seventh spinal cast - it always amazes us how fast it comes around again, they last about 8 weeks and it seems like  no time at all until the next one is due. All went smoothly there were no complications or problems and everything went  to plan. He was very good, didn't complain about being nil-by-mouth and enjoyed the opportunity to have a bath - he only gets one at every cast change so it's lovely to have a clean and nice-smelling Reuben again for a short while! The worst part is taking the old cast off,  the vibration and noise of the saw makes him cry a lot, but it is soon over and then he gets his well deserved bath!
We don't know the progress this time, as we only get an x-ray every 2 casts so we will get one next time.
The skin underneath the cast looks unpleasant when the cast comes off, but it probably looks worse than it really is. It's very strange for him without his cast, he wriggles and hunches his shoulders in freedom quite perplexed at the sudden change, and for us too, it's different picking him up, he feels so light and thin, we feel like we're going to break him!

Reuben enjoying his bath!

After his bath he fell asleep - look at those long eyelashes!

Then he went to theatre under anaesthetic and 2 hours later he was back on the ward with his new cast on, we wrap him up and cover his head and ears to make him feel safe while he comes round properly, and cover his hands so he can't pull his canulas out!

The cast takes a day or two to dry before we can put the padding around the edges to stop it rubbing his skin. He also has a sore throat for a couple of days where the ventilator tube has been so he's on a soft diet for a while.

The past few days we have seen real changes to Reuben's speech - he previously hasn't been able to put 2 words together, but suddenly started to sing 'twinkle twinkle' one day out of the blue! Then after that all sorts of things we discovered he was starting to say - it's amazing! I caught a bit of it on video :)

  

Last Saturday we went to the science festival at Uclan - Reuben enjoyed meeting a few characters - especially a Stormtrooper and some Doctor Who characters, and Esther enjoyed doing some science experiments!