Update and Will it Last

Elijah had an AWESOME week at school last week. He has seven chances to earn a red, yellow or green(green is the best) for each class he has. He had all greens for every day but one last week and on that day he still only had one red. NOW, will it last?? That is the question. He was more argumentative this weekend, but then I realized he had two doughnuts for breakfast yesterday and one today...HMMM...could that be it. He earned them by having good days. Let's just say, he will be working for money for next weekend. No more doughnuts for him! I just think the sugar gets to him and causes it. We shall see.

I did email his teachers to ask them how he is really doing. We are going back to the doctor in a week and I really want to give her a good update on how he is doing. The green marks on his status sheet give only part of the story. I am hoping I haven't jinxed things by sending the email. We are also going to the endochronolgist this Friday....I sure hope he has grown! I'll keep y'all posted!

Endocronologist Visit Yesterday!

Twice a year we go down and see the endocronologist and yesterday was one of those days. Elijah had not really grown at all and he had gained a bit of weight. They did an X-ray of his hand to see his bone growth and he is about 2 years behind there. Bascially, we are still on wait and see for his growth. He may just be a late bloomer and enter puberty around the age of 14 instead of 12. I made another appointment for July and we shall see what we find out then. The doctor said that his chronic lung issues as a baby could be what has slowed him down. He was on so many meds back then and on steroids quite a bit. It may be the meds he is on now that are slowing his growth. At least we only have to go twice a year and the next time, I won't have to take off of work!!

Wrapping up the summer!

Well we have had a long hot summer. Right now we are surviving temperatures over one hundred degrees and everyone is ready for a break. We took a short vacation to Fredricksburg, TX and stopped to see my sister on the way home. We ate way too much and enjoyed some shops!

I think both boys are ready to get back into the routine of school. Jacob will be in 10th grade and is participating in ROTC again. He tried on his uniform today and it is too small. I emailed his instructor about him taking this uniform back and getting a larger one! I guess he is growing. We also tackled his room today. All I can say is, "OH CRAP!". You don't even want to know what all we found under there, but he was left to clean it up. He also wants to referee again this Fall, and I am trying to get a hold of someone at the soccer association to be sure he can referee!

Elijah will be going into the 5th grade and attending a new school. We visited a few weeks ago and just walked around. I am hoping we can go up the week of inservice and let him meet his teachers. He is ready to go back to school, but anxious too. We have been working on a simple rule all week, "listen to adults." This meaning basically, do what you are asked to do by an adult. Of course, then you have to clarify that with no one should touch you where you don't want to be touched and no one should ask you to get into a car. I have found the simpler I keep things with Elijah the better. His tics have been a little high this week. He is licking his hands and wiping his face a great deal. Whenever tics are high, his behavior is a little worse, but STILL so much better than in the past.

He has a bad habit of making faces when I speak to him and am disciplining him. I look past that for now and realize he is listening and not screaming back at me. We can work on his face later. I am hoping I can explain this teachers in a way that they understand I am not making excuses. However, with Elijah you cannot work on too many things at once or it is just too hard. You don't accomplish anything. It is better to take it in little steps.

Of course, with school starting back, I go back to work! We are all hoping this heat breaks by then. I go back on the 16th and the boys go back on the 22nd. I'll let you know how the beginning of the year goes. I know there will be bumps along the way, but hopefully we can work through those!

Elijah is Growing!

I took Elijah to the endocronologist today to see how he is doing. He has always been on the low end of the growth chart. He took a lot of steroids as a baby and is on medications even now that could slow down his growth.

We got some very good news. He grew almost two inches since February and is now in the 10th percentile in height. The doctor pointed out that Elijah is "crossing lines" which was good. He means the lines on the growth chart and Elijah started out in the 1st percentile and has made progress by crossing the between the 1st and 10th percentile. He has gained some weight, but at this point is not considered too heavy.

The doctor was pleased with his growth and said we could go back to his pediatrician monitoring him or continue to come back every six months. The main reason this doctor wants to continue to monitor him is because of the medicine that Elijah takes. I agreed and we will go back in January of next year! Its hard to believe we are already half way through this year. Keep your fingers crossed that Elijah continues to grow!

Only Three More Weeks!

Only three more weeks and school is OUT for the summer! I think I am more excited then the boys are. It has been a long school year for me too. Elijah will be going into the fifth grade and to a new school next year. Jacob will be in the tenth grade and his second year of ROTC. I went with him to his award's banquet last night. He was recognized for the ribbons he earned first semester and he said he has earned several more ribbons for this current semester. He really likes ROTC and it was a fun and informative night last night.

We really aren't doing much this summer. We have several doctor's appointments for the summer, including the endocronologsit and the audiologist. I want to have Elijah's MAPs checked to be sure his left one is mapped correctly and try to figure out why he lets it dangle so much. We may take a trip to Fredricksburg for a few days and then go and see my sister who lives near San Antonio. Jacob and Elijah really enjoyed going there a few years ago! I may also try to have a garage sale.

Before you know it, the time will come for school again. What is everyone else doing this summer?

Endocronologist Visit!

Elijah and I went down to Children's in Dallas to see the Endocronologist! We go down every six months or so to check on his growth. He only grew an inch since August and gained about six pounds. This is a slow down in growth and so he has short stature! He is not real concerned yet, but we are definitely going to be keeping an eye on his growth. Elijah did well with the visit but didn't like having to have blood drawn, but the woman was very nice and just pricked his finger to get the blood sample! He also had an X-ray done to check his bone growth!

I made his next appointment for July! At least it will be in the summer! Traffic was awful on the way home this afternoon! We got down to Dallas in 45 minutes but it took about an hour and a half to get home! I hate driving in traffic!

My Monday and an Update on Doctor's appointments

Well I awoke to a refrigerator that was DEAD and I mean DEAD. I called an appliance company and they said they would call me and come out that morning. Jacob had an appointment at 8:45 with his pediatrician so off we went. He is now over five foot seven inches tall! His dad is five foot eight inches, so he may be passing his dad. While we were there the appliance company called and said they would be there soon, so we headed home!

It didn't take long, but the repairman found the problem! The computer in the unit had DIED, so I need a new computer. I didn't know the new fridges and stoves have computers, but they do. He said they would call me with the price for the part today or tomorrow, and it will be tomorrow because they haven't called yet. I'll call by noon tomorrow if I haven't heard from them. Most likely with parts and labor it will be around $500...UGH.

We stuck around at home and had lunch. Now for a surprise for you all. We are adding a new member to our family temporarily. Someone on the local message board needed someone to foster her cat while she starts college in Colorado. We met with her today and the cat is very nice. It is a Norwegian Forest cat, like our previous cat Ridgeway. She is going to pay me for litter and food and any vet bills. We will only have her until early June of next year. I know some people will think I am crazy, but I would hate to see this cat go into a shelter. The young lady has to live in the dorm due to a scholarship she received, but will move into an apartment next summer! The cat's name is Whisky!

After we left the cat and her owner, we headed to Children's Hospital in Dallas. Elijah has grown a little over three inches in eight months. Most boys his age on average grow two to two and a half inches in one year and here he is growing three inches in less than a year. However the doctor is worried about his weight since he is putting it on so rapidly, so we met with a dietician. She suggested cutting out all of his sugar drinks and move to sugarless kool aid and other drinks like that. Also adding more vegetables and dropping some of the starches. He doesn't really have to lose weight as much as NOT gain any more weight! I need to lose some weight myself so this will be a journey for me too.

After we left Children's we stopped by the Toyota dealership so Elijah could see his dad for a few minutes. Elijah enjoyed that. We then stopped at my dad's house to pick up another cooler to have at the house since we have no fridge! We then went to Albertson's to get three bags of ice, roasted chicken and some broccoli for dinner! Came home and made a good dinner and now Elijah is in the bath.

So trying to look at the brith side of today....at least the fridge BROKE while I was off work and not when I was working. Taking off to meet a repairman is not easy or fun. Of course, I wish it had not died. I also have a freezer in my garage and was able to put all my freezer stuff out there and I had a bag of ice to put in my cooler for my refrigerator stuff. Jacob had a great doctor's visit and continues to grow and BE A TYPICAL TEEN. Elijah is growing taller but needs to control the growing wider part.

Lots going on today and glad the day is done!

More on Doctors and others in the medical field

I wrote my previous blog about doctors at the doctor's office on my iphone waiting for Jacob to be seen. It was a short post because I was typing on a small keyboard on the iphone. I was that bored, but I did want to post about it.

After posting the blog, I really started thinking about how doctors have played such a part in our lives since Elijah was born. With Jacob we only had to go to the pediatrician for typical check ups and such. Elijah came along in April of 2000 and I learned all about neonatologsits, repiratory therapists, developmental pediatrician and NICU nurses. I am thankful for all of those people who pulled Eijah through those first five weeks in the NICU.

Elijah failed his hearing test at five weeks of age and we then had to find out where we would go for follow up with that as well as find a pediatric pulmanologist because he was coming home on oxygen. We also had to make an appointment to see the developmental pediatrician. I also had an HMO at this point and had to work closely with our pediatrician to get referrals for all of these doctors. I also had to work with my health insurance to get oxygen delivered to the house and all of that set up. It was an overwhelming task to bring him home.

Since then we added new doctors and new diagnosis: a newENT who implanted Elijah, a new audiologist, a neurologist--for Tourettes, a psychiatrist--for Tourettes, ADHD and OCD, a new pediatrician(who we LOVE) and an endochronologist--for growth issues. He also sees a dentist who says he will need braces earlier than most kids because his top pallet is behind his bottom pallet and pushing his bottom teeth out. There are so many -ists in our life! I have to say that I truly do like ALL of these specialists who see Elijah. They take a personal interest and all comment on how well he speaks. They are amazed that a deaf child can utilize his implants as well as he does. He is not a number, he is a child and when he needs to be seen they get him in. As I said in my previous post, I really don't mind waiting. Sometimes we are the ones needing to be worked in.

Jacob developed bronchitis when he was around nine years old. He got it three times so we went into the pulmanologist for him and found out he has silent asthma. He doesn't wheeze, but he does cough when it flares up. He is also ADHD and takes medication for that, but our pediatrician handles him.

I am also thankful to all of the nurses, respiratory therapists and receptionists who we have dealt with.

Many of these specialists we only see once or twice a year. Others we see more frequently or when the kids get sick. I hate that my children NEED all of these doctors, but I am thankful that they are available...and that I have good health insurance!

Endochronolist and Falling Balls

Elijah and I made the trip down to the endochronologist this morning at Children's Hospital in Dallas. This is him in front of the tree. While waiting for the doctor, in the examination room, Elijah asked to play with my Iphone. I let him use it. He started playing FALLING BALLS. You have to tilt the Iphone back and forth to make this stick figure man move and move him out of the way of these falling balls. If the ball hits you, there is a SCREAM and a splat on the screen. He was so into it, that when his figure was hit by the ball and screamed, he jumped and that scared me making me jump. It was so funny! He got so silly. He loved seeing me jump. He started laughing more loudly as he continued playing and was snorting while he laughed. That got me tickled and I started laughing. He then started snorting more. Considering we were in an examination room, we were having a grand time!

Elijah grew almost two inches since June 1st of this year. He gained a little over 10pounds. He is not quite on the growth chart yet, but he is for weight. He is in the 50th percentile! We need to be sure he doesn't gain too much weight, but the doctor is pleased. They took a hand xray and will let me know what they see in that as far as growth goes. We will go back in June 2010 and if he has grown more, then we won't go again unless the pediatrician sees he is not growing. Oh, and looking at his growth velociity, he is growing faster than typical boys his age so hopefully he will catch up!