Brief update

Since we last wrote Ilan has been in a consolidation mode.  He is improving on all the gains in movement and control he has made the past 4 months.  He continues to improve on his right side abilities and also a bit on his speech control - just today we had a sing along where we sang the abcd and the aleph-beth:  the game was that I said one letter and he had to respond with a sound to say the next letter, this was to a tune of course!!!  Ilan responded promptly over 90% of the time.   

Ilan went for a sleep test 2 weeks ago and he passed.  

Also, we finally bought Ilan a Wii and have been practicing same with him.  It is quite difficult for him as he is not yet able to snap his wrist and cause the machine to react.  We help him along and give him to try by himself - the good news is he does not give up and continues to try by himself. 

This week his 5th grade teacher from Sinai came to visit - at the time Ilan had a huge crush on her.

Ilan was very happy to see her.

Ilan's daily task is to try something new and he enjoys 'creating' new goals.  He thrives on challenge and we are confident that before long he will master playing Wii games!!

Ilan's 1st Seder and 1st Steps

Happy Passover to all.

Our 1st seder at home with Ilan was a wonderful experience.  Dad did his normal "Cochini" (South Indian) rendition of tunes and melodies for several of the prayers and everyone did their fair share of reading of the Hagadah.  Ilan closely followed the Hebrew writing in the book and had a proud look on his face during the reading as he was happy to be with the family and also that he could still read and understand the Hebrew!   

Ilan carried the Hagadah a step further today- just as the Hagadah tells the story that the Jews took their 1st steps out of Egypt, Ilan literally took his 1st steps in a very long time.  With the help of a walker and some help from his physical therapist, Ilan managed to walk across a room (approx.  10-12ft) for the 1st time!!  It sounds really small but this is (larger than) a huge accomplishment for Ilan.  Dad was with him when this happened and was blown out of the water by Ilan's tenacity.  His therapist told Ilan that it is the best birthday present that she ever received!!

Thank you for the comments posted - we will read them to Ilan before the 2nd seder tonight!!

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!!