Happy Birthday Ilan

Ilan recently celebrated his 17th Birthday and his Milken classmates were instrumental in making sure that he really celebrated it. Two of the boys, Sam and Max, and their family put on a concert at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood to honor Ilan's birthday. Sam and Max and their band played unbelievably great music for over an hour. Many of Ilan's friends and teachers from Sinai Akiba and Milken H.S were very kind to attend, taking time off from their busy schedules. Ilan had a huge smile on his face thru the entire session - he stood up at times and swayed to the music, clapped, and moved his hands up/down/around.

They sang happy birthday to Ilan and gave him a present along with cup cakes and then mushed one of the cupcakes into Ilan's mouth - Ilan did not miss a beat and promptly hugged his brother Jarone and in turn mushed Jarone's cheeks too with all the stuff on his (Ilan's) face, and then triumphantly laughed.

THANK YOU, SAM/MAX/AND FAMILY FOR GIVING ILAN SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME FOR HIS BIRTHDAY!!

Following is a brief update on Ilan:

- he has passed all the required swallow tests and hopefully next week his trake opening will be closed permanently.

- he is busy with many therapies (physical, occupational, and speech) which are all giving Ilan the opportunity to improve in all aspects. He is now walking a little easier with less help, he is beginning to pronounce a few words, he has been doing a few swimming sessions, etc.

- he is far more comfortable in moving his body to reach items a little distance away but within his reach.

-he is going on AIM with friends and doing his best to write to them - we have found that he needs vision therapy to help him read and type; he should be starting vision therapy soon

- he is now eating a lot more items, including rice pudding, corn dogs, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and is more willing to try other things at least once!

In short, Ilan is showing his determination to get better and we need to help him further build his stamina to do things for longer periods.

We wish all Ilan's friends, teachers, realtives and well-wishers a year filled with happiness, health, laughter and prosperity.

Speedo Times are here again

Earlier this week at therapy Ilan was made to walk up and down stairs for the 1st time. Ilan took this challenge very seriously and performed very well. He also stood up by himself and walked along the inside of parallel bars all by himself. Today he propelled himself on a new wheelchair along the hallways by turning the wheels himself!

On Tuesday of this week Ilan donned his speedo and had swim therapy for almost an hour with the kind assistance of waterpolo coach Niall, Jarone and Michal. Ilan had a huge smile on his face for the entire session and also for the rest of the day. He was made to walk across the pool, lay on his back and kick his legs, and also lay on his stomach and kick his legs. At first he was quite apprehensive of these exercises but with a little coaxing and reassuring comments from his brother, sister and coach Niall, he let go and willingly participated and then some. He will probably get in the pool again this weekend!!

Ilan is making a concentrated effort to begin to speak. He gets on the computer by himself and is determined to soon have private AIM chats with friends by typing by himself!

Wii - Success!!

Watching Ilan miraculously improve himself during these past few weeks has been very rewarding. When we 1st bought the Wii for Ilan we had difficulty getting him to play it because he was very frustrated at being unable to move his hands as needed by the Wii - last evening we experienced the exact opposite, Ilan was so excited and happy to be playing golf, by himself on the Wii that he did not want to stop playing!!!!

This past weekend we took him to watch the USC Trojan football team practices and tonight we will go to a football practice game - Jarone is an assistant with the team and Ilan is constantly on the lookout to watch him, more so than the team. Jarone requested all the star players to autograph Ilan's Tshirt which they most willingly did, including Coach Pete Carroll!! Ilan was extremely happy for getting all the autographs.

July 10th - a historic day for Ilan.

Yesterday, Friday July 10th 2009, was a very important day for Ilan.

Earlier this week we received results from Ilan's recent sleep test informing us that he passed with flying colors. So, yesterday morning Ilan was taken to the ENT specialist for a followup examination.

Well, I arrived home around 2:45pm and asked Estelle what had happened at the ENT meeting. She responded that Ilan would tell me (Ilan was sleeping at the time!).

So around 4:00pm Ilan woke up and I went to his room - I found him with a big triumphant smile on his face and pointing with his index fingers to his throat area. He had a gauze bandage there:

the TRAKE that he had had in place in his throat for the past 22 months was REMOVED!

This is a major achievement for Ilan as this will alllow him to safely swim (with proper protection near his throat) in a pool and will hopefully jump start his ability to speak!!!!

Have great summer.

Ilan-a-go-go

Ilan is working really hard and making tremendous strides in his recovery during the past 30 days. He now requests us to do exercises which include:

- coordinating his arm movements to replicate swimming styles

- shifting his legs to walk with some assistance

- practicing boxing with both hands; jabs, upper cuts, round the world

- hitting and kicking a beach ball, that we throw to him, with perfect timing

- sitting or standing unassisted holding the side of the table with one hand

- happily doing crunches with assistance

- doing the equivalent of bench presses with arms or legs

- wheeling himself around on a wheelchair using his hands on the wheels,

and much more.

He recently took another "sleep" test to check his breathing while asleep - we are waiting for the results. He also took another "swallow" test and passed. He is also receiving electronic stimulation to his right cheek to "awaken" the muscles there to regain his gorgeous smile - see picture

On July 4th, we took him to Back on the Beach restaurant. Jarone took Ilan at high speed in his wheelchair on the new ramp built from the bike path to the ocean. Ilan screamed with excitement on the way to the water and back. He returned to our table and immediately asked for a french fry and began to stuff the whole piece in his mouth (this is a first!). We had to stop him and instead have him bite a small piece. He also ate pancakes, hamburger and later some saltine crackers. He now eats yogurt from the cup all by himself.

Ilan meets a few of his friends now and then when we are out shopping. He truly enjoys meeting them and gives each and every one a hearty handshake and bear hug. He says that he remembers each of them.

Ilan's face constantly shows his exhilaration with the improvements he makes. He loves to watch comedy shows and heartily laughs out loud - it is very exciting for us to watch him confidently venture outside the box he has been limited to for so long. He keeps an unbelievably positive attitude at all times and more recently that attitude has been fortified by his accomplishments. He wants to build Rome as soon as possible and we are trying to keep up with his desire to achieve same.

Visit to the Zoo

Ilan was excited all week for the trip to the LA Zoo we took on Saturday. The Ashkenazi boys (and my friend Ben Gramer) spent a few hours at the zoo and had a really great time. Though the elephant exhibit that Ilan was looking forward to was closed, we still managed to find one hiding, which was really great. I could go on about how much fun Ilan had, but the smiles below tell it all.

Hail the conquering hero

Every day as Ilan walks in the door, we sing to him "hail the conquering hero" from Disney's Aladdin and the Lamp - it brings a big smile to his face.

At physical therapy sessions Ilan pleasantly astonishes his teachers with the advances that he is making. When he is sat next to a parallel bars, he pulls himself up to the standing position all by himself. While standing in between the parallel bars, with the slightest of help, he is able to walk along the parallel bars supporting himself using the bars with his hands.

His right hand and leg are making good progress albeit they have not yet matched the prowess of his left side.  But knowing Ilan it won't be long before that happens.

Lately Ilan is contorting and moving his body every which way; as he explains to us, he is only trying to stretch so he will feel better. 

We play Wii with him sometimes and he gets a little frustrated at not being able to work the system by himself - but it does not stop him from continuing to try. 

Last week Jarone and Dad put him in the crouch position and rocked him back and forth.  We soon found that Ilan was rocking himself!  Also thruout this exercise, being horizontal, he held his head erect by himself and also turned his head to the side to be able to smile at his cousin who was on skype talking to Ilan.

This week Ilan began "wheelwalking his chair" - he used his legs to move himself (on the chair) both back and forth.

Ilan is heartily eating lots more yogurt and trying other mini foods.  He has started speech therapy in earnest which should help him vocalize very soon.

Finally, Ilan's brothers will be home again next week for the summer so we look forward to seeing further major improvements  due to their help/input and Ilan's competitive responsiveness to their challenges.