Diaper Prescription

3/29/11
Another dry diaper! Jewel has been waking up with her overnight diaper dry! How wonderful.
During the day she is still wearing panties, I lost track of the count.
She is still willing to tell us and we have to be willing to carry her to the bathroom each time.
There are less false alarms, though there are still dead runs, when we take her and sit and wait and she says,'noth'ing(nothing)'.
She does not like her Da to take her,'no tank you' she tells him :)
Working on her putting her feet down when she is done, this helps me pull her undies back up.
Our bathroom is tiny and the corners are all reinforced steel, so we have to be careful that Jewel does not hit or bang her head on a corner going into the bathroom. I stand over the toilet and give her support at her shoulders, always slightly pushing her weight forward because she has a tendency to flip back. We do not want her to flip back, it is dangerous to her and it can hurt us as well.

It has been great for Jewel's self esteem to be able to go to the bathroom even if she totally relies on us to get her there and help her through the whole process. For those parents out there who are burdened by diaper costs; if you live in the United States, the diapers should be paid for by your medical insurance, whether private or state insurance. If your child is still in diapers over the appropriate age/stage due to a medical condition, your doctor should write a diaper prescription and then wait and follow up patiently it if does not go through right away. This was passed on to me by another mother, her daughter has Spina bifida (Latin: "split spine"). We parents need to help each other by passing on any valuable information, especially ones that can off set costs to our living budget.  Your medical insurance should pay for your diapers.
Jewel did not want to go and feed the horses, so Raven and I went. She groomed & exercised Cookie Dough, and we fed him. It is important for him to get his exercise, keeping him limber and less arthritic. This way he is less likely to trip as much when we take Jewel riding on him. They weed- whacked all the tall grass and this made it a lot easier on him as well. He does not do well walking in the tall grass for some reason. It looked absolutely lovely and we are so thank full to be able to help and take Jewel on Cookie Dough aka Billy. Thank you Kandi! xx Like all older animals and people, we need to watch his weight gain. He tends to become too skinny, so we soak all his food and add rice bran for weight gain. We always bring carrots each time we go, this is how we have befriended some of the other horses!

Jewel has not been in her stander or wearing her AFOs lately due to the skin break down on her left foot, ankle and heel. Funny how Cookie Dough seems to trip a lot on his left side as well. So we will take Jewel to see the Shriners's out reach clinic this friday, the othodics department will visit our Island. AFOs; ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs), medically necessary and recommended. These fiberglass shells / keep her foot in a neutral position and it gives her foot stabilizing and correct foot/ankle support while in the stander. This prevents the foot from collapsing or and gives the ankle the support to weight bare Jewel's weight whilst in the stander for 1-2hrs.

Jewel and her sisters have been counting down the days for the movie, Tangled (by Disney), to come to the rental stores.
I rented the DVD and I was impressed by Jewel's loyalty.
She would not watch the movie with out both her sisters present, Makena was working at the library and Jewel said; "waiting, Makena Tangled'. She would not watch the movie until Makena got home! Sweet love :))

Since we found the lost soft hand braces, Jewel has been wearing them again.
They open up her hand, since she usually has a closed fist with thumb in the middle.
This soft hand brace opens up the hand, keeping the thumb out and keeping the hand in a functional position. I recommend these, not for overnight sleeping, because you can not see if the fingers and hand is loosing circulation. We are always checking Jewel's skin colour, with out even thinking about it.

No rain, no rainbows.