Ilan's Tsa-adah (Hike)

Fan-tas-tic and a-maz-ing are the two words that come to mind to describe Ilan's active dedication to improving himself during the past 10 days.

Besides card playing, backgammon, ping pong and other board games Ilan has kept busy building up his stamina.  It is ironically a deja-vu subject on stamina because just prior to the accident Ilan spoke to me very seriously about improving his stamina so that he could play better in the waterpolo team.  At therapy he is being made to stand mostly alone with the aid of a walker to keep his balance and strengthen his legs.  He is also having to move his head in all directions to strengthen his neck muscles (most of the time he sits holding his head straight up!).

Last weekend Ilan, Mum and Dad took Nahla (our dog) and went for a long walk near Venice Beach.  Ilan absolutely loved the outdoors as the weather that day was great. 

Over the past few days Ilan has played a kind of handball.  We take a beach ball and throw it to him and he has to punch the ball with his left hand - he does fairly well.  He also plays soccer: we throw the ball near his leg and he has to kick it - his coordination is phenominal when he kicks the ball with his left leg (probably because he is/was a natural leftie in soccer?!) 

HAPPY PESACH from all of us in the Ashkenazi family  

To all Ilan's friends that read this blog:  PLEASE take a few seconds to write Ilan a sentence or two in the comments section - we promise to read it with/to him.  Ilan should be getting a userfriendly computer soon for his own use; once he gets up-to-speed we will have him communicate directly online?!

Spring break with Ilan

This past week I have been on Spring Break and it has been amazing being home with the family especially Ilan. Besides his normal routine of therapy and classes, Ilan, my mom and I took a special trip to the beach with nahla. Whenever he has free time, Ilan likes going to the beach and feeling the breeze in his hair while checking out for some girls! Sadly, this time Ilan said he did not find any cute girls but he did say he had fun time walking along Ocean Blvd. with us holding onto nahla. He even picked out places and poses for some of the pictures above. 

In therapy this week, Ilan started pre-gate work which involved him stepping up on to a wooden block. Along with the two therapists, I stood him up and aided him in taking his first step up. After a couple practice runs, he did it all by himself. He had a huge smile on his face knowing that he accomplished something new. Also at home, he has been slowly moving his right arm.

We also played: texas hold em, backgammon, hangman, tic tac toe, and spelling this week on his white board. Using his left hnad, he beat me in texas hold em and backgammon both times. He enjoys playing hangman and tic tac toe while he is in the stander at home laughing at the funny words that we tell him to solve.

Ilan visited friends at Milken yesterday

The picture with his 2 friends was taken a week ago after he played backgammon with his brother David.  The next picture is one of Ilan standing with the help of his brother Jarone and both of them giving the victory sign.
Thanks to the kind cooperation and assistance of Milken administration and  students, Ilan (along with his brother David and Mom) yesterday visited his Milken classmates at lunchtime.  Later in the evening, when asked if he enjoyed the meeting he responded by strongly nodding his head.  His brother David told us how well organized the meeting was and also about the tremendous outpouring of positive energy Ilan received from the friends and students he met.  All evening yesterday and also today Ilan has been happy and relaxed like he just returned from a long vacation; he has that extra drive to improve himself.  In our eyes, the meeting has had a very positive impact on Ilan.  We pray that the meeting was also positive for all the MCHS students who made time during their lunch break to meet and chat with Ilan.

THANK YOU ALL FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!!

David, Jarone, Michal, Estelle and Brian

Sharper by the day!

Ilan is now back to being the sociable person he always was.  One of his brothers friends, who used to teach Ilan guitar many years ago,  came to visit the other day; Ilan immediately broke into a huge smile and followed him with his eyes all across the room till he reached Ilan whereupon he immediately stuck his left hand out to give him a handshake!

Also, two friends from Milken and Camp Ramah came to visit last weekend.  Ilan was delighted to have them over and did not stop showing his enthusiasm to them until he got quite tired about 1-1/2 hours later.  During their visit we asked Ilan if he would like to visit all his classmates at Milken and for the 1st time he strongly nodded his desire to do so.  He will visit Milken tomorrow with David and Estelle!! 

Ilan has joined us for lunch at restaurants a few times during the past 2 weeks.  He also went to see "Slum Dog Millionaire"; he sat thru about half the movie then intimated it was too loud for him and we left.  

Ilan is now enjoying playing many board games and winning at most of them, no jokes.  He has played backgammon several times with his brothers and Dad; he enjoys playing.  He has also played chess once with Dad for about 15 minutes; he remembered all the moves and was busy planning many traps!!  Additionally he is playing cards (hearts, 21, poker, texas hold em, etc), tic tac doe, checkers, and dominoes .  Just this evening he played texas hold em with a friend and was busy going "all in" at every second opprtunity, chuckling each time he did so.   

David has taught him to write, using his left hand, many letters in the alphabet and a few small words on a white board. Jarone has helped him with many workouts including standing and arm/leg movements.  Michal coaxes him to talk and Estelle takes good care of him all the time.  

 Written by:  Dad

He's on a roll

Ilan played backgammon three times this week.  He is able to comfortably lift both dice, throw them and then move each of the pieces by himself to the right (count) spot, all with his left hand. Tonight he completed a whole game, and won!!

Ilan is now using his hand to direct traffic by telling/reminding us what to do.  For example, when he is being changed and we have not yet finished pulling his shirt over his head/arms, he already points to his feet to remind us to (get our act together and hurry up) to put on his shoes! 

Last evening he had another first.  He has refused to be fed by mouth with the delicious purees

(apple, peach, etc.) that his bubbe and mum make for him.  Well last night we gave him chocolate pudding and he ate 4-5 times more than he has ever eaten thus far.  We are not sure if it was the taste or the texture that spurred him to eat so much.

This afternoon mum took him after therapy and they had lunch together with dad in the park as it was a beautiful day.  In the evening, Ilan and dad went to a Sinai family's house as a visitor/healer from Israel, that has prayed daily for Ilan's recovery since the accident, was in town and wanted to meet Ilan.  He feels that Ilan will recover almost completely but it will take some time?!  

Late this evening Ilan showered his affection to his sister (when she wished him goodnight) by hugging her tightly and also caressing/stroking her head and hair!!

 

Additional Progress

Ilan has had quite an exciting week.  He did his regular physical and occupational therapy classes during the week where he sometimes chose not to participate - he came home and showed us where it was bothering him (his cheekbone) and that is why he would not participate! However, he did very well when he did participate.  So much so that the therapist is looking to add a piece of equipment to their inventory that will assist Ilan in learning to walk again.

Ilan excelled with multiple flash cards in Math, English, and general logic type items scoring 100% in most everything.  He seems to be unsure of himself in spelling. Also, he has agreed to play backgammon and chess when time permits?! 

One of the Milken parents, Susan Kaye, who has so kindly come regularly to help Ilan with therapy since his accident, came on Saturday morning and she mentioned that she found Ilan helping her quite a bit with his "lazy" right arm.   

On Saturday late evening we took Ilan to drive his sister to a Bat Mitzvah in Westlake; we decided to stay in the vicinity till we picked her up.  We asked him if he would join us for dinner at BJ's restaurant and we were overjoyed when he responded yes.  After we were seated, he had a very interested and excited look on his face - he looked around a lot, "conversed" with us a lot, and checked out the TV screens.  This lasted for about 20 mins and then he got a bit restless. As soon as we left the restaurant he perked up again.

On Sunday Jarone was home and exercised him a lot.  We stood him up and tried shifting his legs alternately to duplicate walking.  It did not go very well as Ilan favored only his left leg since his right leg is still quite stiff and immobile.  The good news is that while Ilan was standing we asked him to give us the victory sign and he did.  We got a great picture of this and will try to post same in the near future.

This afternoon (Monday 2/23) Estelle said that she worked with Ilan in the transfer of tennis balls from one basket to another.    She asked him to use his "lazy" right hand to do this exercise and was happily surprised to see that he did this exercise four times with his right hand for the 1st time since the accident!!!   

Good results

Last Monday, we took Ilan to Casa Colina Hospital in Pomona for his evaluation.  Ilan was quite shy of the doctor at first but came on strong in the latter part of the checkup (after he was prompted by phone by his older brother David!).  The result of the evaluation was that they were quite pleased with Ilan's progress and felt that he is a good candidate for a stay at their hospital to help and teach him with his recovery; they suggested various additional meds that could also help him with specific needs.  The holdup at this point is getting approval from our health insurance, HealthNet.

Later in the week Ilan went to the school district for a speech evaluation.  This entailed asking him many different questions using flash cards; he managed to correctly point to 9 out of 1o!

Ilan continues to have a smile on his face thruout the day like a newborn child discovering his surroundings.  He accomplishes all his tasks with twinkly excited eyes, even when he does not like what he is doing or is in discomfort.  He amazes us with his tenacity to try new things.  He utilizes his left arm and leg to maximum benefit.   Jarone has him doing 'circles' by holding his hand out wide and moving his hand in circles (similar to what is done in aerobics).  Ilan manages to do so by himself with his left hand and Jarone helps him with his right arm.  

His right arm and leg are currently immobile and relatively stiff, similar to how his right arm and leg were prior to him achieving controlled movement.  We asked the doctor about this and he confirmed that the stiffness could be a prelude to his developing control of his right side?!

The other day he looked quite tired and looked at me like he was trying to communicate with me - I asked him many different items he wished to to tell me.  Turned out that he wanted the TV turned off and for me to leave the room.  Well I told him he needs to use his hand to tell me this. So he pointed to me and then pointed to the door, for me to leave!!!!   

Ilan has also been trying to speak.  He realizes that this is not yet going very well but upon a little coaxing agrees to try.  We try to break down the words into only  2 syllables.  For instance, we say 'la' and he responds the best he can and then 'ni' and he responds.  We do this several times and sometimes he will combine both syllables with a tone inflexion, and then smiles extremely proud of his accomplishment.  When he does combine the 2 syllables we ask him if he said 'lani', he nods emphatically and gives us a shy yet proud smile.  

This weekend we took him to the Westside Pavilion for a brief visit, against his complaints.  Once there he was cheerfully looking around at the stores and the people.  We took him to the puppy store on the 3rd floor and he was totally absorbed in watching the puppies playfully rolling around with each other.  When we returned home and asked him about the trip, his observations were that he was disappointed he did not meet any of his friends and also he did not see any pretty girls there!!!