The start to her first intensive

Eloise started her first intensive with blood, sweat, and tears — literally. Even before the therapies started for the day. 😝

However this intensive won’t be so intensive this week for a few reasons

1. Some therapists are on holiday
2. They don’t allow kids with feeding tubes to participate in swim therapy
3. Eloise is still too small for things like the robot walker
4. To be kind to our long commute, our day will start a little later.

That will likely mean Eloise will only have 2 therapies per day, which is fairly calm compared to often kids have 4-6 per day.

But, hey, at least they let us come this week despite our last minute changes — so it’s a start.

You ask how the day itself was? Well. It was totally in Eloise fashion.

First she accidentally hit her head when we arrived and screamed loud enough I’m fairly certain everyone on the floor heard. 🫠

Then she calmed down and we went to get Eloise’s initial health assessment. While there, Eloise started screaming yet again, but for an unknown reason — which meant I had to answer the nurse’s questions over Eloise sobbing in pain. 🥺

Then she calmed down again. But as we prepared for lunch, suddenly Eloise’s nose began gushing blood. When I brought her to the nurse’s station, hoping for advice and help, they instead decided it was best to call an ambulance. My stomach dropped as I imagined another hospitalization. But then her bleeding stopped — and the ambulance turned around. Crisis averted. 🥳

Overall, though, today was mostly assessment with light therapy added. Yet, unsurprisingly, Eloise didn’t care because she had her own agenda. She spent almost every waking moment — from the time she woke to the time we put her in bed — working on mastering her new skill.

I cannot ever remember seeing her so focused on something. Not to mention what’s even more impressive is that it’s clear these exercises hurt — but she cares more about learning to sit than she cares about her pain. Color me impressed.

So even if Haapsalu isn’t so intensive this week, it looks like Eloise may be making it an intensive week all on her own. 😅

P.S. I kinda forgot to make videos today — let’s see if I do better the rest of the week.