Thank goodness today is Friday, I'm not sure I can handle another day this week. Today was McCarntey's doctor's appointment with the neurologist, but we took a detour first. We ended up over at Cindy's house and bought a bunch of her fabulous hand-made soups for Christmas gifts. She is quite a talented lady. I sniffed so much soap that my nose still has the aroma of soap in it. I did buy a tub of body butter in Icy Juniper that I am already addicted to. I can't wait to bless my friends with some awesome soaps for the holidays,. and I can't wait to take a shower! Stop on over to Simple Indulgence and visit her website today to buy some soaps! If you are in area, she also has a display over at Angie's shop, the Lakeside Learning Garden, that she said she will restock soon.
On to the appointment. The neurologist is a wonderful man! I forgot how much I liked him. we talked at length about McCartney's issues and he is concerned with the 2 diferent forms of incontinence that she has. He said he felt she was fine, but felt "in his gut" that he should do some testing to be certain we aren't dealing with an issue related to the Spina Bifida Occulta. She will have blood work, xrays and 2 kinds of MRI's done. That will tell us if there are any issues going on that need specialized attention. He also fouond that the reflexes in her lower limbs are deficient. She has almost none in her knees, hips or ankles. Odd. He said he could feel them, but they are not what they should be. So, something else to make me worry. Actually he did make me feel at peace with all this and said he is fairly confident that she is fine. He said that if an issue is found it is reasonably easy to fix and/or deal with at this age. So that helps.
I came home to have Robert take me back to work so that he can use the van (we are a one car family) and he tells me something even more concerning. Dustin told the teachers at school today that he was constantly hit and pushed this morning before school by his father. UGH! not this again. Due to Dustin's PTSD, we struggle with invasive memories that pop up from time to time. We usually see him bring these things up near the holdiay season, so it wasn't really a surprise as much as it was concerning. It alway freak out when he says these things beacuse you're not certain who is going to believe them and start an investigation. With Dustin's functional level combined with the FAS he has no concept of time order and when you ask him about something in the past he will always say yesterday, or this morning, or today. So, it can be confusing. Robert talked to the teacher and she didn't believe Dustin, but I know the red flags are always there. It scares the crap out of me. When I talked to Dustin about it he said, "Oh I meant a long time ago." We talked about how people can believe him and he says he understands, but I know it won't matter the next time. Thankfully he has therapy today and maybe they can talk about it, or at least get our concerns on the record.
I went through a round with protective service workers with my second husband's son. Dad was long haul trucking, and his son decided he wanted to go live with mom (again), so he went on a hunger strike. By the time I realized he was waiting for me to leave the room and then throwing his food in the trash he had lost enough weight that it was noticable. The school noticed it, along with him being sad, and started an investigation by talking to my other two children, at school, without my permission. I don't know if that is legal, but it pissed me off that they brought them into it BEFORE talking to me. When the PS worker finally made her way to our door, he addmitted to throwing away his food so he could go live with him mom. We ended up letting him go live with his mom, and six months later he wanted to come back to our home (this would have been round three) but I said enough is enough. I so agree with you that this is scary stuff. I am sorry you have it hanging over your head.
ReplyDeleteSheri,
ReplyDeleteLife with FASD is interesting, isn't it? Sigh. ~Kari
I pray that the neurologist is right and that she is fine! I also pray that you had some peace this weekend after a long week! Barb
ReplyDeleteHI!I found you through Patty!
ReplyDeleteMy brother has FAS, it was always a journey. Add that to the fact he came from a caotic background (his bio father abandoned him and his other two siblings after his mother and 5 other siblings were murdered infront of him when he was 4) and life always had quite an interesting palor. He is older then me but all through HS I found myself in more of a big sister roll with him, as he has the mentality of a child really. My heart just goes out to you and ANYONE who takes these children into thier homes and hearts, it is an amazing task becuase so much of what they are going through is so misunderstood or hard to "treat" but they deserve so much more then the lot they were dealt in life! We dealt with issues like this by keeping lines of communications open with the schools, I can not tell you HOW many times my mother was in the principles office dealing with some minor issue or another, she was a one woman education wagon on the subject of FAS that is for sure! In fact her chewing the principles butt for my brothers stealing & smoking of cigerettes was legendary- not that it was the man's fault but she felt that my brother is in spec ed and maybe they should keep an eye on their special students a bit closer instead of letting them get mixed in with "regular riff-raff" whom are able to lead them easily estray when they allow them to leave campus at lunch... when she never gave permission for! LOL It was pretty funny actually, she won her point though.
Anyways, sorry I tend to babble. I know it is hard but you just keep doing what you are doing, that little man needs someone special in his life to love him and it sounds like he got extra lucky in you and your man!
Welcome T-girl. Thanks for visiting. I am a babbler as well, you fit right in!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support, it 's nice to know of those who have made it to "the other side" :)