First lot of Treatment Finished!

Well 3 weeks of treatment has finally come to an end!  Cooper had been a little trooper managing the 5 hours of therapy a day.  It is certainly good to be home though.  This therapy was more about preservation of his spinal cord with the hope of reviving some perhaps dormant cells in his cord.  The difficulty is because Cooper is so young it is hard for him to tell us of any subtle changes such as sensation and movement. The key now is to keep up lots of physiotherapy and exercise for Cooper to maximise any potential changes.  I am very excited as today I am picking up two bikes for Cooper and will post these on the site shortly. We have certainly felt this treatment has been worthwhile and will look to repeat the treatment at Hypermed in the New Year!.

Thanks again to those who have donated.  Donations are still being accepted for Cooper's next lot of treatment in January.

The Pulinis

New logo

Our heartfelt thanks to Emily Matthews who has designed our new 'One Small Step 4 Cooper' logo. See more of Emily's work on her website http://www.designem.co.nz/.

Day 9 of Therapy at Hypermed!

After 9 days of therapy I have to say Cooper is doing very well coping with such a full on schedule.  We are averaging now 4 hours of Oxygen and 1 hour of Lokomat walking  per day.  Cooper is exhausted by the afternoon and so are we!   If I never have to watch Toy Story, Elmo and the Wiggles again I will be happy!

I have to say I think Cooper is enjoying the Lokomat much more.  Every patient starts off air walking to get their body used to it before they use stirrups to flex their foot in a standing position due to spasticity in their legs.  Cooper was able to lightly touch the treadmill with his feet today and showed no signs of spasticity or clonus which is tightening or shaking of the legs and common in para/quadriplegics and can be described as someone either having high or low tone of which Cooper is low tone.  Cooper seems to be coping very well with this and keeps checking himself out in the mirror.... a trait that runs in the family!!!

Until next time...

The Pulinis xxx

Raffle tickets now on sale!

To all our friends in NZ, raffle tickets are now selling on the site below. There are plenty of fantastic prizes up for grabs so get yourself a ticket (or two or three...) and tell all your friends!

http://www.cooperscause.scamps.co.nz/

Thanks again for your support.
xx The Pulinis

Raffle tickets on sale tomorrow

Tickets for the raffle being run to raise money for Cooper will go on sale tomorrow (September 14th). Tickets are only available to those in NZ so please forward details on to all your Kiwi mates! The prizes are fantastic and it's for a good cause - beautiful Cooper! Visit the link below to purchase tickets.

http://www.cooperscause.scamps.co.nz/

Thank you to all of the companies who have shown their support for Cooper and the raffle. And a massive thank you to everyone who has followed us so far on facebook. Your support means so much to our family.


xx The Pulinis

End of week one

Cooper has now completed his first week of Hyperbaric Oxygenation therary at HyperMED in Melbourne. We have been really pleased with how relaxed Cooper has been in his sessions within the Hyperbaric chamber. This week he has completed 23 hours in the chamber which is a massive effort.

Today Cooper also had his first session on the Lokomat. Cooper was loaded into the harness and underwent the therapy with little fuss. Dr Hooper advised us that in their first session many children will only last a short period while they become accustomed to the therapy. Cooper lasted over 52 minutes which we were all wrapped with. We are looking forward to incorporating Lokomat therapy daily from now on. Below is a little video of Cooper's Lokomat session today.

Cooper's Dad and brother arrived today much to Cooper's delight. They are looking forward to the next few weeks and continuing with Cooper's treatment.

Thanks again for all of your support. Please forward the details of the blog onto anyone you think may be interested in following Cooper's story.

With love
The Pulinis

Charity raffle!

A massive thank you to Steph for organising a charity raffle to raise money for Cooper's treatment! Steph has sourced some amazing prizes and put together a fantastic facebook page. To check out all the awesome items that are being raffled and buy a ticket, please check out the One Small Step for Cooper page on facebook. Below is a sample of some of the many prizes available.

Please note that tickets will be on sale Tuesday 14th September. Details of where to purchase tickets will be on the facebook page and this blog on Monday afternoon and tickets are only available to those in NZ.

Thanks again Steph! Your support and efforts mean so much to us.

xx The Pulini's

Treatment underway!

We arrived in Melbourne yesterday afternoon after an uneventful flight and spent the afternoon getting our bearings and settling in. Cooper had a fantastic night sleep and enjoyed the adventure of the tram ride into the city.

This morning we had a consultation at HyperMED and then got straight into the Hyperbaric chamber for treatment. Cooper was scheduled for one 2 hour session in the morning and one in the afternoon. After being slightly unsettled to begin with Cooper handled the time really well and even managed a sleep at the end of the second session. We hope that tomorrow, now that he knows what to expect, he will be a lot more relaxed for both sessions.

The chamber is fairly small but reasonably comfortable for the two hours slots. We are scheduled for another two 2 hours sessions tomorrow, and then upping it to three 2 hours sessions on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday it will be back to two 2 hours sessions but Cooper will begin Lokomat therapy as well.

Morning session with Mummy

Afternoon session with Aunty

Thanks for your support. We'll update again soon.

Cheers
Ange