ABR Machine Hours to date

Over the next couple of posts I thought I would give some statistics on what has been involved in our Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation (ABR) journey so far because very few people in our lives know how much time and effort we (me, my hubby and my Mum), devote to Corbin's rehabilitation.

Firstly I'll start with the machine applications. Most ABR families hire a machine that simulates the manual technique that we perform on our children. The child is "wrapped" in foam constructions and machine bladders, which are hooked up to an actual electronic machine, for as little or much time of the day as the parents consider doable.

Corbin has "worn" his machine to bed most nights for the past 3 years. We used to do machine time during the day as well but it just became too difficult once he started school. Even when we go on holiday, or if Corbin stays at Nana's for a night, the machine goes too. At a guess I would say that Corbin has probably slept without the machine for 15 nights maximum in the past 3 years, and most of them would be when he was too sick.

Because Corbin is getting older we recently came up with a plan that Corbin has 1 night off every second weekend, which works fine because big brother Jay can use the machine when Corbin isn't. This gives Corbin a little freedom and it means he can now stay over at Nanas house without Mum having to worry about stopping by at bedtime to hook him up to the machine. Everyone wins with this arrangement.

All in all we have clocked up 13600+ hours actual machine time to date, or an average of 12.5 hours per day (ie over half Corbins life) for the past 3 years.

Now the time commitment required for the machine is not huge, but it does take me around 5-10 mins every night to put the machine on Corbin and another 5 mins to take it off and pack it up in the morning, I also have to make/change the foam constructions every week which is approximately 15-20 mins per week. So that adds up to 1.5 hours per week or 1642 hours for the past 3 years.

The machine is very much a part of Corbins life. As he has been using the machine since he was 3.5 years old he kind of knows no different. He does moan about it sometimes and he has asked me how long he will have to have the machine for and I just told him he will have the machine "until he walks........." - he has never mentioned it since.

Next post will be on the ABR Manual hours to date - that will be interesting even for me!!!!