Busy summer.............

It's been such a busy summer. Kenny graduated in May from both Parkway & South Tech. We are so proud of him. School was definitely a struggle for him but it has paid off in the end. He now is in a VSP program doing grounds & maintenance work at Monsanto. Mom & dad have had a good time giving him advice on the trials & tribulations of the working world.

We moved Danny out of the MAAP program and back into the day program. There was a great deal of staff turnaround in the MAAP side and we really just wanted something more structured. He has been a lot less stressed so we know that we made the right decision for him. He gets to keep his OT & Speech therapies so that was a plus. He also may begin receiving PT soon as well. Over the past several years we've seen his balance become increasingly worse. The doctors believe it may be damage from the seizures.

We sure miss Loretta. She was Danny's respite provider for quite a few years. We always said she was Danny's first true friend. He really loved her as we did as well. I used to call her up and just say, "Danny needs his Loretta fix". We know she is resting peacefully at the Lord's feet but all the same we still miss seeing her.

Seizure alert is going great. Two weeks ago we were camping. Saturday morning we had been awake for about an hour and were getting ready to get Danny dressed and let him outside to play basketball. Kermit began alerting both of us. We decided to wait awhile to let Danny go play. After all, at the camping lot there are many areas for Danny to fall with all the rocks, concrete, and fire pit. About 20 minutes after his alert Danny had a grand mal. Kermit was able to keep Danny safe. Later that day, Danny was outside sitting by the fire pit with us. Kermit began crying and one of the campers said, "Kermit looks like he really wants to be with Danny". Within a couple minutes Danny had another grand mal. What an amazing dog! He is aiding us in keeping Danny safe from harm. These dogs are truly priceless.

Update

Time sure flies! I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I've updated the blog. I guess it just shows that we are fully acclimated to Kermit. We update this post with mixed emotions. Kermit is not attending the day program right now. But this is a temporary thing. We were actually the ones that made the decision to keep him home. The day program has been struggling with staffing issues lately. Everyday there were different people in Danny's room. Somedays there people with no experience with dogs. This was making it very difficult for Kermit. After talking with Jeremy, the head trainer at 4 Paws, about Kermit's behaviors we were able to get down to the bottom of it. Kermit had decided that he must be the top dog! He decided he was, as Jeremy said, "at the top of the pecking order". Everyone at day program misses him. His bowl, treats, bone, & mutt mat are still there so he is definitely going back soon.

Danny's seizures have been hit or miss lately. H recently had a span of 25 days seizure free which is awesome. But he's also had a few bouts of cluster seizures (multiple grand mals) which is keeping us confused. Cluster seizures are typically during sleep, so this has been hard to return to. After all, when Danny was a baby almost all his seizures were during sleep. But we will keep plugging. But when Danny gets home Kermit is there to help whenever way he is needed. He cares so much for his Danny boy. The picture is of Kermit comforting Danny after a seizure.

Kenny has been looking for a part-time job. No success yet, the market is tough out there for kids his age. Kevin & I figure the worse case scenario is that we will have a long Kenny-do list for the summer! LOL We can't believe he has only 3 months left of high school. My how he grew up so fast!