Wednesday we had a make up appointment with the fabulous Mary Beth, and before we had our usual PT appointment before. It has been so nice seeing Mary Beth twice this week!!! I love it! Karsen loves it too, for the most part... except he let her know that he didn't like how much she pushed him. We both know it's what he needs. Some good news for you, Karsen is graduating out of baby group therapy class to toddler group therapy class. What do I not like about this? Toddler group therapy class=no Mary Beth. :-( There are new babies coming into the baby group, they need to make room for them and also Karsen is now mobile and should be moved up. So, yes, good and yes, bad. I've made the choice to be optimistic about it in hopes maybe a new PT or OT will make a really good connection with Karsen. We get to go to baby group one last week and then off to the big leagues. I'm ready.... I think.
I've been a bad mommy and haven't been putting Karsen's AFO and SMO on him enough. So, back on they go for at least 2 hours a day. The reason he needs to wear them more constantly? He can over stretch the inside of his ankle because of the incorrect position of his foot. The poor kid, his AFO and SMO, his thumb splint, and his eye patch. Geez. I think that's why I have been slacking. I just wanted him to have a break and be a kid. This will all help him in the long run.
Karsen and I have been getting very frustrated (him more than me) with his lack of being able to communicate with me. He hasn't spoke a single word yet. He understands a lot, he just doesn't know how to communicate back to me. Sign language has been hard since he only has the function of one had and every sign seems to look the same. It all can be very frustrating. Although we had a huge break through the other day. When Karsen was eating and started to getting fussy, I asked him if he was all done, with sign launguage too. Guess what? He signed it back! I got so excited and so did he (that I understood him). We still have a long ways to go, and don't get me wrong it was still a rough feeding session, but it's a start. To help him communicate in a way we can understand, we have been looking into communicative devices. They aren't cheap, but a huge thanks to some many people that were a part of Karsen's benefit, Karsen will now be a proud owner of a communication device (aka Ipad). Thank goodness for technology. It's amazing how something people use for every day is also a communication device. Huge, huge, huge thanks to everyone that helped up make this purchase happen. We wouldn't be able to get this for Karsen if it weren't for all of you.
Karsen eye doesn't seem to be getting any better with the eye patching, in fact it seems to be drifting more often. :-( You can see in the picture below, his right eye is drifting in toward his nose. Thankfully we have an appointment next Thursday with his Ophthalmologist, down at Stanford. This is the first trip down there I will be making solo. Ok, actually not solo, my sister is coming along for the ride. My husband has been so kind to take time off work for every appointment Karsen has had down there. Karter will be in school so I figured I could handle this long day without the hubs since it's just one rug rat. Let's hope.... :-/
Karsen's eating is coming around. Slowly but surely. He's starting to chew, which is huge. He's starting to feel like a toddler which makes me kind of sad but so proud and excited.
He amazes me every day. I have a new appreciation for life thanks to my little man. He's the happiest baby ever (with the exception of the feeding fits) and after all of the things we have to put him through he's still happy.
My left eye did that when I was young. It was more noticeable when I would get tired and/or frustrated. It was called, Strabismus. I finally had it surgically corrected when I was eight or nine. Before the surgery, I wore a patch. Without any success and numerous visits with the ophthalmologist, the surgery was performed. The surgery was to "over correct the muscle." From that point, I still wore the patch, attempted wearing glasses with a bifocal correction, and used a type of eye drop, all of which were supposed to help train my eye to correctly position itself where it was supposed to be. Now, if I hadn't been such a pain with the eye patch and had just wore it post-surgery, we may have not had to try the other options. Just like now, I was hard headed and stubborn in my younger years. It takes time for the whole process to come together, but if if does, it's very well worth it. Not all procedures are successful, but given technology has advanced since my surgery, I hope the success rate would have increased now. Keep me posted and let me know if Karsen has the same diagnosis. I'll be happy to ft together and talk! Miss ya!
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