I know, I know
I always say that I need to blog more often, but it's really going to have to happen. Things are looking like they are going to become really intense and involved over the next few months, and I have to document it all somewhere or I'll never keep track of progress.
In regard to my sweet Kamden... Where do I start? Just before Spring Break, we started noticing some behavioral changes. Nothing to severe, but enough to catch attention of those at home as well as school and therapy. After returning to classes, things seemed to just keep going down hill. Kamden has been very much not himself in regard to how he acts and reacts to those in authority, and even in how he treats his friends and classmates. Additionally, he has started to lose his motor coordination, speech processing, and other normal functions. The most likely cause is that he has started having complications tied to bilateral ventriculomegaly. We were told after his MRI at 8 months old that should he suddenly begin to lost skill or if there were a severe delay in his skills as compared to the norm for his age that it would be very likely that he had excess of fluid on his brain and that if it were confirmed by MRI that we would be looking at a shunt placement. We currently are waiting to see his new pediatrician at the end of the month to have tests scheduled to either confirm or rule out this possibility, but in the mean time we are watching him closely. He continues to do therapy two days a week with two sessions on Monday and three on Tuesday. He's also doing speech and occupational therapy at school every week and we have started having an in home specialist come once a week to help him learn basic self care skills. Gosh...writing that out makes me feel like a failure as a mom, but when the ways you know to explain how to do something don't work, you call in an expert at how to communicate those directions, right? His therapists have been voicing concerns for about a month that he's started to lose certain abilities. In physical therapy, his therapist is concerned that he's lost the ability to do a basic two-footed hop. His balance does not appear to be as strong as it once was, despite regular activity and therapy sessions. His overall ability to focus has dropped significantly and he struggles and fights to try and maintain focus which makes his frustration escalate. It's like it's a constant fight inside of him. His cognitive processing ability regarding reading and recalling reading comprehension and conversation has dropped off significantly as well. He's gone from recalling information from a 7-8 sentence paragraph to not being able to do more than 2-3 sentences at a time. We are very hopeful that with getting established with a new pediatrician that we will be able to get to the bottom of some of the questions that we have weighing on our minds.
On my end, life is more hectic than ever. I am still going to school after graduating with my Associates of Science in Biology from a local junior college in December. I am now about 4 semesters away from my Bachelors of Science in Biology and plan to graduate with my emphasis in genetics. I may stay at this university and complete my Masters as well. That's a little ways off yet, however, so I'm trying to just survive a semester at a time. I took a job as a manager at a year-round snowcone stand full-time and I'm also working part time as a consultant for Mary Kay. I've not figured out good enough time management just yet to see my Mary Kay business grow, but I am working on setting aside specific time to do so in hopes that I will have it as my primary income by the end of the year and will be making enough to get Kamden and me into our own place. This week, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm going to have the chance to be part of an infant loss and healing book project. It's a huge honor and I'm excited to know that Kaidi's story will be heard.
I am sure that there is more that I'm forgetting, but I am going to be posting more often, so I'm sure it will be easy to get caught up.
In regard to my sweet Kamden... Where do I start? Just before Spring Break, we started noticing some behavioral changes. Nothing to severe, but enough to catch attention of those at home as well as school and therapy. After returning to classes, things seemed to just keep going down hill. Kamden has been very much not himself in regard to how he acts and reacts to those in authority, and even in how he treats his friends and classmates. Additionally, he has started to lose his motor coordination, speech processing, and other normal functions. The most likely cause is that he has started having complications tied to bilateral ventriculomegaly. We were told after his MRI at 8 months old that should he suddenly begin to lost skill or if there were a severe delay in his skills as compared to the norm for his age that it would be very likely that he had excess of fluid on his brain and that if it were confirmed by MRI that we would be looking at a shunt placement. We currently are waiting to see his new pediatrician at the end of the month to have tests scheduled to either confirm or rule out this possibility, but in the mean time we are watching him closely. He continues to do therapy two days a week with two sessions on Monday and three on Tuesday. He's also doing speech and occupational therapy at school every week and we have started having an in home specialist come once a week to help him learn basic self care skills. Gosh...writing that out makes me feel like a failure as a mom, but when the ways you know to explain how to do something don't work, you call in an expert at how to communicate those directions, right? His therapists have been voicing concerns for about a month that he's started to lose certain abilities. In physical therapy, his therapist is concerned that he's lost the ability to do a basic two-footed hop. His balance does not appear to be as strong as it once was, despite regular activity and therapy sessions. His overall ability to focus has dropped significantly and he struggles and fights to try and maintain focus which makes his frustration escalate. It's like it's a constant fight inside of him. His cognitive processing ability regarding reading and recalling reading comprehension and conversation has dropped off significantly as well. He's gone from recalling information from a 7-8 sentence paragraph to not being able to do more than 2-3 sentences at a time. We are very hopeful that with getting established with a new pediatrician that we will be able to get to the bottom of some of the questions that we have weighing on our minds.
On my end, life is more hectic than ever. I am still going to school after graduating with my Associates of Science in Biology from a local junior college in December. I am now about 4 semesters away from my Bachelors of Science in Biology and plan to graduate with my emphasis in genetics. I may stay at this university and complete my Masters as well. That's a little ways off yet, however, so I'm trying to just survive a semester at a time. I took a job as a manager at a year-round snowcone stand full-time and I'm also working part time as a consultant for Mary Kay. I've not figured out good enough time management just yet to see my Mary Kay business grow, but I am working on setting aside specific time to do so in hopes that I will have it as my primary income by the end of the year and will be making enough to get Kamden and me into our own place. This week, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm going to have the chance to be part of an infant loss and healing book project. It's a huge honor and I'm excited to know that Kaidi's story will be heard.
I am sure that there is more that I'm forgetting, but I am going to be posting more often, so I'm sure it will be easy to get caught up.
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