Neck-brace and PT for Needlenoggin

Well, after two scans (a Cat Scan on 11/24 and an Xray on 11/26), Needlenoggin was finally cleared to live his life without a neck-brace! Yeehaw! This is great news because now he can look around from side to side and up and down, something he hasn't really been able to do since the fall. (We took it off for photos since he hated the look of it so much, but he had to wear it all the time to make sure he didn't snap his top two vertebra). Ick.

If you remember, the brace looked like this:


Now, he looks like this:


Also on the 26th, we went to his physical therapist (all the way out in SF) and she tried to get him into a standing frame. it didn't quite work (since the harness they had is awful and Needlenoggin isn't quite flexible enough in his legs to stand). She bucked him in here:


and was able to get him up this high:


He can't weight-bear (hence the uncomfy look on his face) but being upright is so good for his spine and internal organs. e was sore for a good long while afterwards, though.

Oh, and we managed to get him into some hot water...literally. His therapists have all recommended that he get into a warm therapy pool to ease his spasms and take some weight off of his fragile skin. We were finally able to find such a pool and a lift to get him in and out, and while not floating away was a lot of work, he loved it. It was the first time he'd been submerged in water since the accident (no baths or pool therapy until this point).