Trying to push forward.

And I have already derailed my promise to myself.  I think of writing, often.  I just don't follow through.  Any other parents do that?  Do you often fail to produce on promises for yourself?  I find I do it more often than not. It is frustrating.


Here on out, I have to be better about this.  Too much on my plate to drop any of it.  


I admit, I am stressed and worried.  A lot going on.  


DS had his arena assessment with the local government school system.  He turns 3 next month, and that ages him out of the EI services he has been receiving (if you are not familiar with EI,  Early intervention services are concerned with all the basic and brand new skills that babies typically develop during the first three years of life: ie speech, listening or walking.  DS has been receiving speech services since October.  EI is available to qualifying children based on having or being at risk of serious developmental delays ).


DS hasn't had the easiest of roads.  I have posted his birth story previously.  It was not a good experience for me.  He likely wasn't quite done baking.  A lot of this is covered in that post.  The first ear infection we caught was at 5 months.  It took two rounds of oral antibiotics and three IM shots to break it.  and that started our months of constant ear infections.  Rounds upon rounds of anitbiotics and the probiotics to prevent thrush in him and me, as we are a breastfeeding household.  Finally, at 18 months of age, we were sent to the ENT, because we were already seeing language issue due to DS not being able to hear.


The practice has 6 doctors on staff.  One of them is a DO, and I prefer to be as conservative as possible, so we went with him.  (note: I thought about chiropractic, but was worried had we spent another 3-6 months doing treatment that may or may not work, we would be ooking at further hearing/speech issues that we were already facing) DS was examined, audiology testing done and results given... my son was hearing the teacher from Peanuts while sitting under water.  Considering he had had fluid in his ears nonstop for 13 months at that point, and we were seeing the manifesting of issues due to it, we went with PE tubes.  Tube date was set, we did pre-surgery hearing test and got everything set up. 


Ironically, April 1 was the date to have the placed.  I was ~5 months pregnant with our DD.  Thankfully, they allowed me to carry DS back to the OR, and stay with him until the "Vadar" mask worked to let him sleep. It is literally a 5 minute procedure, but it is the longest 5 minutes in the world.  When the Dr. came back to the family room my MIL and I were, I was ready to jump out of my skin.  We were able to go back and join him about 10 minutes later.


I held him, and once he was drinking we were able to head out.  He was hungry, so we stopped for food. For the first time even, DS complained about the noise of a restaurant.  From there, we headed home.  About an hour later, I heard DS hum for the first time ever.  I about cried! I heard 'Mama' about a month later.  We went for his post-op appointment in May, where hearing showed normal!  Set up a follow up appointment for November and continued forward.


We fast forward to August, and I give birth to DD.  DS adores his baby sister.  This is almost five months after the tubes, and DS's vocabulary was not growing.  So I called the children's program in our state.  September and October saw us going through intake assessment and his evaluation.  The evaluation team had notes, these notes stated that DS was borderline for services.  What they saw and what they gathered from us, pushed DS's need from 'wait and see', to 'needs services'.


The SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) who was on our evaluation team ended up as DS's ST (speech therapy).  And it was obvious they clicked.  Oh, not to say that DS would fight at times, but he trusted her, and he worked hard. We dealt not only with speech issues, but lack of oral awareness as well as handling the fact that my son is hypo-sensitive to touch.  He needs heavy touch to give the right response.  Sadly, we moved in February and had to switch areas.  This meant a new SLP for DS.  And we get things rolling there. 


The summer saw us hit an OT assessment as well as his assessment with the school system, as he ages out of EI soon.  Sensory issues are confirmed, and speech looks like it will be continued.  I attended his IFSP  meeting (goal setting) with his SLP and his case manager.  


Now, we wait for the IEP meeting with the school that would be his, if he gets pre school services.  


Challenges, we'll face you and overcome.  I just want what is best for my little boy.  We continue to work with him and move forward, ever forward.

November closes...

And it has been a busy month.

DS survived his CT, we are waiting for the results.  I don't care what the procedure, or how many times you have been through something personally, it is *nerve* wracking when it is happening to your child.  Having to leave the room and hearing him scream due to me not being there made me cry. (I had DD with me, so I couldn't stay in the CT room :( ) I am glad he couldn't see me cry. Thankfully, no sedation, so we came back to the house and met his speech therapist.   From there, he had school.

DS enjoys school, although he knew something was coming up, as he became clingier.  Guess this should be documented as an adventure.  About a week after DD was born, I started experiencing right sided pain, upper abdomen. At its worst, it woke me up in the middle of the night thinking someone was trying to run me threw with a sword.  It really was quite unpleasant.  After a round of non-RSV bronchiolitis with my then 4 week old DD, and my PP appointment, I finally went and took a trip to Urgent Care.  Poked, prodded and sent for a gallbladder ultrasound that came back inconclusive.  The UC NP gave me a GI cocktail to see if it was my stomach causing the problem.  (Liquid Regan, Mylanta and liquid lidocaine).  It did nothing but make my throat numb.

I got set off with two cards for GI's to look at.  I researched the names/practices and got myself an appointment for the following week.  They drew blood, chatted with me.  Dr. Longacre then gave the orders for a HIDA scan (liver/gallbladder function test done with nuclear imaging). While waiting for the test, our trip to NOLA finally hit.  It was an excellent time.  That is for another post.  While in NOLA, Dr. Longacre's office called and noted that my lipase was elevated.  So, I was sent for a CT scan as well.  Once both tests were performed, I received a call after the results were reviewed.

CT came back with things looking normal (for once, I am normal!). The HIDA scan was a different story.  IT is not a black or white test.  The gallbladder is considered functional at 35% or better.  My ejection function came back at 14%.  I was sent to a surgeon, and did the consult with Dr. Schwab. I scheduled for 11/19/10.

Had to be at the hospital at 5:30am.  Oof!  I was home by 11am, as the procedure went quickly.  I was smart with pain meds, and asked for a dose in recovery, as I shifted and it hurt. And since then, I have been feeling better, handling the post op pain (which is NOTHING compared to what I was dealing with). Can;t carry DS until I am cleared.  That makes me sad.  Lucky I can carry baby girl!

Speaking of baby girl, she is fusing and likely needs a diaper change.  Off to mama and head to bed.