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today marks the first month without harold. *sniff sniff* you're not missed.
this week has just zoomed by somehow & now it's friday & i'm glad. but everyone's in a testy mood for our own various reasons, making life a bit tense right now. but! adeline is 95% sure getting into the westerville school district special needs preschool. yippee! hello--she'll get speech therapy daily, plus any other therapies they see she may need. did i mention it's free? well, $15 a year for fees & whatnot but wow did that come as an answer to prayer (what a does a pay decrease + insurance coverage decrease + speech therapy costs + private preschool =?? too much for us to afford right now) so getting preschool & speech therapy all at once at public school is amazing & a godsend. PLUS she loved the teachers & the evaluators...it was the first time she had left with someone new that she didn't scream, cry, & throw herself into fits on the floor. wes & i were in a separate room & i kept waiting to hear her screeching from afar but it never came. when we met up with her an hour later, she was *happy* & laughing, playing with the speech therapist. & now she's excited for preschool...
we have her determination meeting monday morning. this is where all the evaluators/specialists meet up with us & the preschool coordinator to decide if she indeed qualifies for the preschool. if she does, then an IEP is written (oh joy. i've sat through enough of those iep meetings from my last job to know that fun is *not* coming). then she will start preschool either on her birthday or the following monday. (her birthday is sept 25). my baby is going to preschool?! FIRST #1.
FIRST #2: amelia walked. on her birthday. she just stood up in the middle of the floor, gave a huge smile & took 3 steps to adeline, then grabbed onto addy & fell to the floor. it happened in all of 10 seconds. but i caught it on my mama-memory-cam & there it will stay, hopefully forever. she hasn't walked since (well, i don't really know b/c i don't see her constantly & if the walking spells only last 10 seconds, well...there's a good chance we've missed it a few times).
***
what does one month post-op for a vestibular schwannoma surgery mean? well, my left ear has a moderate to low ringing, i can walk almost at a normal pace (sometimes, when i'm not very tired) but i'm tired a lot & a bit grouchy when the muscle pain is intense...which happens at least 2 or 3 times a day for various reasons. basically, i just need more time for things to heal. i had the 4 week post-op check up with dr welling & he said i was a great patient & doing amazing, that i looked nearly like a civilian (normal?). i dunno if they say that to everyone (care to input paige?), that they're great patients, etc. but for sure what they wanted to take care of before he appointment on thursday: payment. our balance of $1356.00 needed to have a payment made or paid in full. *gulp* it's just hard to see that chunk o change go, but we got it over all at once. i mean, the true amount of my surgery & hospital stay is still being worked out, but it's around the $150,000's now. yowzers. yes, i will pay $1356 instead of that previous amount.
i just have to get through this time. i keep telling myself to look forward to the holidays, when i will be feeling better (from what i've heard from other patients, the dr's, & also others who have had surgeries). it will be 5-6 months after & hopefully i will feel nearly 100%. even better, i will not have a brain tumor lurking in my skull, so i should feel even better than i used to. yea, i'm looking forward to that times 100.
***
it has been discovered that adeline has a severe allergy to walnuts (via a blood test). we also know she has a severe reaction to pine nuts & pecans. if you bring those into our home, you will be disqualified *smile* but really, we're trying to figure that all out. since she eats almonds, (also a tree nut) in the morning in her cereal & has eaten peanut & peanut products since 18 months without an issue, we are hoping to only find that she's allergic to those 3 tree nuts. but we have a few epi-pens for her, which freaks me out & benedryl always on hand.
then she recently had a round of urinary tract infection symptoms for quite a while & was taken to a dr & urgent care, etc & finally given medication for it on last week. she's doing better but now her ped wants to do an ultrasound on her kidneys & a catheter with dye contrast. to make sure she doesn't have this sort of reflux idea going on with her urethra & kidneys. wes & i nearly said a big N-O, especially since there's nothing to give her for the pain & discomfort of the catheter, plus the fact that addy won't let ANYONE near her vulva to begin with.... that appointment is on monday as well. maybe i'll tape the screaming & crying & send it off to be used for some slayer/slasher movie b/c that's how intense this will be. but the last time we almost blew off a dr's recommendation, my MRI, well, let's just say we're happy now that we went ahead with it...wish us luck! & wish us a better weekend w/ less grumpiness all around *smile*
this week has just zoomed by somehow & now it's friday & i'm glad. but everyone's in a testy mood for our own various reasons, making life a bit tense right now. but! adeline is 95% sure getting into the westerville school district special needs preschool. yippee! hello--she'll get speech therapy daily, plus any other therapies they see she may need. did i mention it's free? well, $15 a year for fees & whatnot but wow did that come as an answer to prayer (what a does a pay decrease + insurance coverage decrease + speech therapy costs + private preschool =?? too much for us to afford right now) so getting preschool & speech therapy all at once at public school is amazing & a godsend. PLUS she loved the teachers & the evaluators...it was the first time she had left with someone new that she didn't scream, cry, & throw herself into fits on the floor. wes & i were in a separate room & i kept waiting to hear her screeching from afar but it never came. when we met up with her an hour later, she was *happy* & laughing, playing with the speech therapist. & now she's excited for preschool...
we have her determination meeting monday morning. this is where all the evaluators/specialists meet up with us & the preschool coordinator to decide if she indeed qualifies for the preschool. if she does, then an IEP is written (oh joy. i've sat through enough of those iep meetings from my last job to know that fun is *not* coming). then she will start preschool either on her birthday or the following monday. (her birthday is sept 25). my baby is going to preschool?! FIRST #1.
FIRST #2: amelia walked. on her birthday. she just stood up in the middle of the floor, gave a huge smile & took 3 steps to adeline, then grabbed onto addy & fell to the floor. it happened in all of 10 seconds. but i caught it on my mama-memory-cam & there it will stay, hopefully forever. she hasn't walked since (well, i don't really know b/c i don't see her constantly & if the walking spells only last 10 seconds, well...there's a good chance we've missed it a few times).
***
what does one month post-op for a vestibular schwannoma surgery mean? well, my left ear has a moderate to low ringing, i can walk almost at a normal pace (sometimes, when i'm not very tired) but i'm tired a lot & a bit grouchy when the muscle pain is intense...which happens at least 2 or 3 times a day for various reasons. basically, i just need more time for things to heal. i had the 4 week post-op check up with dr welling & he said i was a great patient & doing amazing, that i looked nearly like a civilian (normal?). i dunno if they say that to everyone (care to input paige?), that they're great patients, etc. but for sure what they wanted to take care of before he appointment on thursday: payment. our balance of $1356.00 needed to have a payment made or paid in full. *gulp* it's just hard to see that chunk o change go, but we got it over all at once. i mean, the true amount of my surgery & hospital stay is still being worked out, but it's around the $150,000's now. yowzers. yes, i will pay $1356 instead of that previous amount.
i just have to get through this time. i keep telling myself to look forward to the holidays, when i will be feeling better (from what i've heard from other patients, the dr's, & also others who have had surgeries). it will be 5-6 months after & hopefully i will feel nearly 100%. even better, i will not have a brain tumor lurking in my skull, so i should feel even better than i used to. yea, i'm looking forward to that times 100.
***
it has been discovered that adeline has a severe allergy to walnuts (via a blood test). we also know she has a severe reaction to pine nuts & pecans. if you bring those into our home, you will be disqualified *smile* but really, we're trying to figure that all out. since she eats almonds, (also a tree nut) in the morning in her cereal & has eaten peanut & peanut products since 18 months without an issue, we are hoping to only find that she's allergic to those 3 tree nuts. but we have a few epi-pens for her, which freaks me out & benedryl always on hand.
then she recently had a round of urinary tract infection symptoms for quite a while & was taken to a dr & urgent care, etc & finally given medication for it on last week. she's doing better but now her ped wants to do an ultrasound on her kidneys & a catheter with dye contrast. to make sure she doesn't have this sort of reflux idea going on with her urethra & kidneys. wes & i nearly said a big N-O, especially since there's nothing to give her for the pain & discomfort of the catheter, plus the fact that addy won't let ANYONE near her vulva to begin with.... that appointment is on monday as well. maybe i'll tape the screaming & crying & send it off to be used for some slayer/slasher movie b/c that's how intense this will be. but the last time we almost blew off a dr's recommendation, my MRI, well, let's just say we're happy now that we went ahead with it...wish us luck! & wish us a better weekend w/ less grumpiness all around *smile*
1 comment:
First Happy Birthday Amelia! Sorry I'm late with the well-wishes, my sister had her baby on Tuesday.
Sorry Addy has to have more tests, but I agree, it's better to go than blow it off.
Audrey loved the Millie pics in your last post, she was even saying "Millie" How did she learn that? Crazy these smart kids.
I'm hoping for a good weekend, too. Bill and I are taking 4 kids to the Fair tomorrow...aaahh! Twin boys who are 5, and two girls that are closing in on terrible twos (Audrey and my sister's kids).
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