Today was Little Man's assessment with the developmental specialist. It was interesting and I'm not sure I learned much. The lady is a little bit old school and a couple of things she said bothered me.
Anyhow, she does agree he needs Speech (obviously) and physical and/or occupational therapy. Because the insurance benefits are so low she recommended he have speech and occupational since some of the OT will overlap with PT. I guess time will tell. The next quest is to figure out where to take him and how much it's going to cost. I've got phone calls into 2 places and I'm just waiting for them to verify benefits so we can schedule him and get an actual eval for each individual area. Seems redundant doesn't it? LOL.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I am so frustrated!
Normally I don't actually blog about these kinds of things, but what the Hell...
I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with the first fact...if Little Man needs nothing else, the boy needs some intense speech therapy. He's young enough to mold and teach and it's GOT to be done.
Little Man will be seeing the neurologist in Sept to determine whether or not he has Cerebral Palsy (CP). (Oh man, it looks even worse typing it than I thought it would.) The older Little Man gets the more we realize that something is different about him. When you look at all of the individual things he has gone through and been treated for along with his current "issues" CP looks like a real possibility. ESPECIALLY if you take into account his more than traumatic entry into this world. It just seems as though nobody has ever really "connected the dots" you might say.
Words cannot even begin to describe my emotions on this subject and the way that my heart breaks for him, what he's already gone through and the road ahead, diagnosis or no diagnosis.
So we've been trying to find someplace to put Little Man for speech since no matter what a diagnosis is or is not he needs it. ECI just can't give him the amount of services he needs right now. We live in a rural area and the ST is part time.
I am so overwhelmed right now and downright frustrated that I just don't even begin to know where to start. For some reason, the place we were going to take him to (which is still 45 miles one way) is going to be billed differently by our insurance than the regular speech therapy. That was going to quadruple our cost for the sessions which doesn't even include gas to get to & from. So we cancelled the appointment and are trying to find someplace else. UGH!
All of this is on top of the medical bills from mine & Peanut's stays in the hospital. In researching the issue with the billing for speech it was discovered that the benefits for Speech, Occupational & Physical therapy combined are RIDICULOUSLY low. If Little Man needs anything other than speech he is going to blow right through it and then I have no idea what to do.
On Thursday we have an appointment with a developmental specialist that is going to assess Little Man and let us know which areas he is behind in & just how far behind that is. We believe it's very likely he's going to need some occupational & physical therapy on top of his speech. How in the HELL we are going to make this work is beyond me.
I know somehow it will all work out but hopefully we'll be able to figure this out pretty quickly because time is of the essence for him.
He has got to be the sweetest 2 year old on the planet. He's cute, happy, silly & determined. He is madly in love with Thomas the Tank Engine right now and just loves to tell you all about it (even though it sounds like he speaks Chinese). I'm thinking it's going to be a Thomas birthday this year, lol. Although at this point, sadly, he still isn't going to have many people there because we won't be able to put him in MDO this fall like we planned. The money has to be spent on therapy instead.
Okay now that I have successfully depressed everyone (or is it just me? lol) here is a picture of the sweetest smile EVER.
I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with the first fact...if Little Man needs nothing else, the boy needs some intense speech therapy. He's young enough to mold and teach and it's GOT to be done.
Little Man will be seeing the neurologist in Sept to determine whether or not he has Cerebral Palsy (CP). (Oh man, it looks even worse typing it than I thought it would.) The older Little Man gets the more we realize that something is different about him. When you look at all of the individual things he has gone through and been treated for along with his current "issues" CP looks like a real possibility. ESPECIALLY if you take into account his more than traumatic entry into this world. It just seems as though nobody has ever really "connected the dots" you might say.
Words cannot even begin to describe my emotions on this subject and the way that my heart breaks for him, what he's already gone through and the road ahead, diagnosis or no diagnosis.
So we've been trying to find someplace to put Little Man for speech since no matter what a diagnosis is or is not he needs it. ECI just can't give him the amount of services he needs right now. We live in a rural area and the ST is part time.
I am so overwhelmed right now and downright frustrated that I just don't even begin to know where to start. For some reason, the place we were going to take him to (which is still 45 miles one way) is going to be billed differently by our insurance than the regular speech therapy. That was going to quadruple our cost for the sessions which doesn't even include gas to get to & from. So we cancelled the appointment and are trying to find someplace else. UGH!
All of this is on top of the medical bills from mine & Peanut's stays in the hospital. In researching the issue with the billing for speech it was discovered that the benefits for Speech, Occupational & Physical therapy combined are RIDICULOUSLY low. If Little Man needs anything other than speech he is going to blow right through it and then I have no idea what to do.
On Thursday we have an appointment with a developmental specialist that is going to assess Little Man and let us know which areas he is behind in & just how far behind that is. We believe it's very likely he's going to need some occupational & physical therapy on top of his speech. How in the HELL we are going to make this work is beyond me.
I know somehow it will all work out but hopefully we'll be able to figure this out pretty quickly because time is of the essence for him.
He has got to be the sweetest 2 year old on the planet. He's cute, happy, silly & determined. He is madly in love with Thomas the Tank Engine right now and just loves to tell you all about it (even though it sounds like he speaks Chinese). I'm thinking it's going to be a Thomas birthday this year, lol. Although at this point, sadly, he still isn't going to have many people there because we won't be able to put him in MDO this fall like we planned. The money has to be spent on therapy instead.
Okay now that I have successfully depressed everyone (or is it just me? lol) here is a picture of the sweetest smile EVER.
Three Months
I bet you thought I forgot, huh? No. I didn't forget. We were busy busy Fri & Sat but on Sunday (Hubby's big day) we just hung out and took it easy and I took Peanut's 3 month picture. On July 25 (Last fri) Peanut turned 3 months old (also 13 weeks). The next day he turned 6 weeks corrected. WHEW! LOL!
He's doing well and is sleeping better most of the time. When his tummy isn't bothering him and he's in a good mood he just smiles SOOOO big! He coos and makes the cutest noises. I really didn't get any great pictures of him for this month and honestly, I didn't try very hard either. But here is a picture of Peanut, aka "the piece of corn".
I know that often times when I've got pictures of the boys together Peanut looks dang near as big as Little Man, so this one is to prove he's not, lol.
He's doing well and is sleeping better most of the time. When his tummy isn't bothering him and he's in a good mood he just smiles SOOOO big! He coos and makes the cutest noises. I really didn't get any great pictures of him for this month and honestly, I didn't try very hard either. But here is a picture of Peanut, aka "the piece of corn".
I know that often times when I've got pictures of the boys together Peanut looks dang near as big as Little Man, so this one is to prove he's not, lol.
You look like a piece of corn...
A little background info: There is a movie called Elmo in Grouchland which happens to be a cute little movie. It's got great adult humor in it even though it's a musical kids movie. Anyhow, there is a scene in it when a HUGE, GIANORMOUS chicken is telling Elmo to stop moving around so he can eat his din-din & Elmo has to convince the chicken that he isn't a piece of corn.
I have NO IDEA why Hubby picked this of all things BUT...he did. He is constantly referring to Peanut as a piece of corn. It's really cute though and Hubby will tell him, "You look like a piece of corn and I'm going to eat you!" Then he'll nudge his neck or something with kisses. TOO CUTE.
I felt compelled to honor the Corn during Peanut's 3 month pictures. I present to you for your entertainment:
I have NO IDEA why Hubby picked this of all things BUT...he did. He is constantly referring to Peanut as a piece of corn. It's really cute though and Hubby will tell him, "You look like a piece of corn and I'm going to eat you!" Then he'll nudge his neck or something with kisses. TOO CUTE.
I felt compelled to honor the Corn during Peanut's 3 month pictures. I present to you for your entertainment:
Admit it, you giggled just a little.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Pump It Up
That's the name of the place we went this morning. We took Little Man & met up with SIS & Diva. Oh man it was SO much fun! What a great work out for us adults as well. It was nice having extra hands to shuffle Peanut around so we all got to have a great time. Here are the pictures and I'm going to upload a video and put that up as well. Enjoy! BTW: If you've been looking for pictures in the online photo album, I do apologize but I'm way behind & I'll get it updated this weekend.
Peanut is doing well. After going a month with no alarms he had one. UGH! Just when we thought we might get to get rid of that thing! LOL!
He seems to be sleeping better and usually only gets up once between 2:30 & 3:30 to eat. That means we're finally getting at least SOME sleep. He seems to be spitting up less and having fewer days that are spent crying and screaming over the gas in his tummy. We can finally see the brighter side of things.
Little Man is having his speech evaluation on Monday and then on Friday he's having an overall assessment. Things might get interesting from this point on. We'll see.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Double Birthdays
Hubby's going to be the big THREE-O (30) in about a week. He's doesn't seem to be phased by it or think of it as any more special than any other birthday but a few of us got together today to celebrate that and Sis' upcoming birthday.
Little Man & Diva had SO much fun together (when do they not?!). They loved getting to ride on the motorcycle.
Little Man & Diva had SO much fun together (when do they not?!). They loved getting to ride on the motorcycle.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Not a Bumbo Fan
I am not a bumbo fan. I think they are ugly, funny looking and look horribly uncomfortable. However, we are desperate. Peanut's time on his stomach is limited thanks to his tummy troubles. Not to mention up until recently he's slept SO much that it also hasn't been feasible. Anyhow, he's got a really bad flat spot and we're trying really hard to keep him off the right side of his head. Rolling something up under his head hasn't worked so far. Instead he ends up with his face buried under it. So we have resorted to this hideous 'chair' known as the bumbo. I think it's called a bumbo because it's dumb-o. HA! Couldn't resist.
Apparently Peanut isn't much of a fan either.
Apparently Peanut isn't much of a fan either.
Kinda makes ya giggle a bit though, doesn't it?
Because he's so cute!
Peanut is so cute. Let's face it, all newborns look funny, LOL. I took these on July 17, 8 days away from being 3 mo old.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
I Give Up!
Today we moved Peanut's crib into our room. We were hoping we were going to be able to just put him in his room but it's not going to happen yet. He's getting too big for the bassinet and it's obviously not comfortable. The last 2 nights he's been sleeping better until about 5am when he wants a change of venue. There are 2 problems with putting him in his room. 1. It's on the other side of the house and 2. He'll have Little Man awake in no time. This kid has some lungs and he is not shy about using them. Just ask...well...just about anyone that's been on the phone with me at any time in the past month, lol.
Our room is cramped but it's the best option for now.
On a lighter note, I think Little Man's goldfish has eaten 2 of the other fish in his tank. We had 4 others and 2 are MIA and we haven't found any floaters. It's a little bit disturbing to be honest and that goldfish is HUGE! LOL!
Our room is cramped but it's the best option for now.
On a lighter note, I think Little Man's goldfish has eaten 2 of the other fish in his tank. We had 4 others and 2 are MIA and we haven't found any floaters. It's a little bit disturbing to be honest and that goldfish is HUGE! LOL!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Apnea Monitor Drama
Ugh. *sigh* Stupid (yet necessary) apnea monitor. The cable connecting him to the monitor went on the fritz today. That meant we had to go to them to get a new one which is almost 25 miles one way. Unfortunately it couldn't wait and had to be done and it happened 15 minutes before they closed for the day. We did find out though the last time he had a real brady was June 20. WooHoo!! Hopefully he'll continue on this brady-free streak and we'll lose the monitor fairly soon.
Aside from that things are hectic as usual. The poor child is still incredibly gassy which keeps us up at night. Things are a little better than they were and hopefully as he hits his 1 month corrected age we'll see him finally fall into some sort of routine. Poor Kid.
He's getting SOOOO big though. I mean HUGE, lol. He's doing really well and given the circumstances we couldn't ask for anything more. He's so cute!
Aside from that things are hectic as usual. The poor child is still incredibly gassy which keeps us up at night. Things are a little better than they were and hopefully as he hits his 1 month corrected age we'll see him finally fall into some sort of routine. Poor Kid.
He's getting SOOOO big though. I mean HUGE, lol. He's doing really well and given the circumstances we couldn't ask for anything more. He's so cute!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
2 Month Checkup
Today was Peanut's 2 month well child & he's doing great!! He weighs a whopping 10lbs 7ozs. That's basically double his birth weight and only an ounce less than Little Man weighed at 2 months. WOW! He is also growing lengthwise and is 21" long as of today. He has an umbilical hernia but that should resolve on its own in time.
I got more information about the upper GI today. The problem, specifically, is the flap that empties the stomach into the intestines. That's the one that is spasming. And when it does it will often send the contents of his stomach straight up into his esophagus (and out of his mouth). Again, it should resolve on its own and it's probably only happening because of his prematurity. She's leaving him on the zantac since we know from the pH probe study that acid is coming back up into his esophagus. She's switching him from his other reflux med to a new one that should help control the muscles in his stomach better. We're also switching formula again to see if it will help with his gassiness. She was amazed at just how hard his tummy was from the gas. I feel so bad for him.
So it was a good visit and Little Man got a balloon. He loves his balloons, lol.
I got more information about the upper GI today. The problem, specifically, is the flap that empties the stomach into the intestines. That's the one that is spasming. And when it does it will often send the contents of his stomach straight up into his esophagus (and out of his mouth). Again, it should resolve on its own and it's probably only happening because of his prematurity. She's leaving him on the zantac since we know from the pH probe study that acid is coming back up into his esophagus. She's switching him from his other reflux med to a new one that should help control the muscles in his stomach better. We're also switching formula again to see if it will help with his gassiness. She was amazed at just how hard his tummy was from the gas. I feel so bad for him.
So it was a good visit and Little Man got a balloon. He loves his balloons, lol.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
