Once again I've fallen behind on keeping up with my blog. Things have just been very busy around here. One of the nurses at work went away for a little over a month to visit her kids in the phillipines so everyone else had to pick up the slack which meant I had to work every Sunday except for one in March. She was suppose to be back the second week of April but Mt. Redoubt blowing it's top put a halt on that and she didn't get back until last week so things are pretty much back to normal at work until June when we loose another one to maternity leave until August.
My car died on me again so we have finally decided to get our new vehicle. We are going down to the dealership on the 23rd and sealing the deal. Turns out my new transmission they installed back in January died on me. I found out the hard way when I was on my way out to my parents house last Saturday. I got to the first stop light in Wasilla and my car wouldn't go anywhere. I finally got it into 1st gear and from that point on I had to treat my automatic transmission like a standard. Mike took it into the shop on Tuesday and they had to seen my transmission back to Subaru and they are waiting for them to return it now. Fortunately we have a 1 year warranty on the transmission so we don't have to pay anything when we get it back.
Michael went back into surgery on April 2nd. This time he had the plates and screws removed from his legs so he's back in the healing process now. It's not so bad this time around. He's already back to walking and crawling. Hopefully there won't be anymore surgeries for a very long time. Michael had his IEP last week and he's doing very well in school. He had met quite a few of his goals and they are starting to work on a new set now. It also sounds like he may be in the same class again next year which makes me very happy. I love Michael's teacher and she is so good with Michael as are her aids. Since he will be in the 4th grade next year he was suppose to move to a different class but that class seems to still be pretty full so they are probably just going to leave him where he is and he will just do 4th grade work instead.
Mason has his IEP the first week of May. He's having some troubles in reading and math so he will be attending summer school this year.
East was nice this year. Mason dyed eggs with my mom on Saturday and on East we attended church as always and when we got home we hid the eggs so Mason and Michael could go out and find them. The East bunny also brought both kids a huge Easter basket with lots of goodies in them that both kids enjoyed. As so as I get my pictures uploaded I will be posting them.
Showing posts with label cerebral palsy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cerebral palsy. Show all posts
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Two more weeks
We Michael had his follow-up appointment with is orthopedic surgeon and we got good news and bad news. The good news is everything is still in place and looking good. The bad news is his doctor did not feel comfortable removing his cast because he wants a little more bone growth so there won't be any chances that Michael could snap the plate in half. So he has to have his cast on for another 2 weeks. Everyone was so looking forward to getting his cast off and getting the therapy going again. He's suppose to have the plates and screws in for about about 6 to 8 months but I have a feeling that his doctor may go a little longer than that since he's been having problems with his right leg.
For those of you reading this that don't know what is going Michael has Spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. Ever since he's been able to stand his feet have always turned inwards causing him to scissor. When he walks he looks like a pair of scissors. Well they have a surgery called derotation osteotomy that can be performed to straighten his legs out. That is what he had done on both of his legs. His doctor told us that it wouldn't straighten them 100% but they would be straight enough that when he is trying to walk in his walker his feet won't be getting in the way. After his first surgery and the casts came off we could not believe the change in his legs. Michael's legs and feet have never been as straight as they are now. If they are not perfect I can tell you this they are perfect to us. I can't wait for him to get the second cast off from the second surgery so we can get him back up to standing and walking. It's going to so amazing seeing him do it.
Michael also had his follow-up from the eye surgery he had done during the first surgery on his legs. His eye doctor said that his eyes are doing really well and he's very impressed with how straight his eyes are now. Hopefully they will stay that way for a very long time. This is the second eye surgery he's had to have for the same problem. It's all part of having cerebral palsy.
He had his 6 month visit to the dentist too. His dentist said that his teeth are doing really well and he still has no cavities. Yay!!!! When Mason went for his dentist appointment he got a clean bill of healthy teeth also but there was one tooth that he said was a little soft and we needed to take extra care of it so hopefully at his next 6 month visit there won't be a cavity there.
Winter is finally here for us, well kind of. We have already had our first and second snowfall with accumulation that stuck. The first snowfall didn't last but the second one we had did. Most of the snow has melted from our yard but at my parents house in the valley they still have quite a bit. It seems that the other night when we got rain here in Anchorage the valley got 3 inches of snow. There calling for snow today and it definitely looks like we may get some. I was outside a little while ago and saw a few flakes fall but nothing since then. We didn't have much of a summer so I guess I should start enjoying the winter and hope for snow. I'm really hoping that next summer is going to be nice. I was so disappointed because my flowers didn't do very well this year because of the lack of sunlight and all the rain we got. I didn't even take any pictures of them because they were full and luscious like they normally are.
For those of you reading this that don't know what is going Michael has Spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. Ever since he's been able to stand his feet have always turned inwards causing him to scissor. When he walks he looks like a pair of scissors. Well they have a surgery called derotation osteotomy that can be performed to straighten his legs out. That is what he had done on both of his legs. His doctor told us that it wouldn't straighten them 100% but they would be straight enough that when he is trying to walk in his walker his feet won't be getting in the way. After his first surgery and the casts came off we could not believe the change in his legs. Michael's legs and feet have never been as straight as they are now. If they are not perfect I can tell you this they are perfect to us. I can't wait for him to get the second cast off from the second surgery so we can get him back up to standing and walking. It's going to so amazing seeing him do it.
Michael also had his follow-up from the eye surgery he had done during the first surgery on his legs. His eye doctor said that his eyes are doing really well and he's very impressed with how straight his eyes are now. Hopefully they will stay that way for a very long time. This is the second eye surgery he's had to have for the same problem. It's all part of having cerebral palsy.
He had his 6 month visit to the dentist too. His dentist said that his teeth are doing really well and he still has no cavities. Yay!!!! When Mason went for his dentist appointment he got a clean bill of healthy teeth also but there was one tooth that he said was a little soft and we needed to take extra care of it so hopefully at his next 6 month visit there won't be a cavity there.
Winter is finally here for us, well kind of. We have already had our first and second snowfall with accumulation that stuck. The first snowfall didn't last but the second one we had did. Most of the snow has melted from our yard but at my parents house in the valley they still have quite a bit. It seems that the other night when we got rain here in Anchorage the valley got 3 inches of snow. There calling for snow today and it definitely looks like we may get some. I was outside a little while ago and saw a few flakes fall but nothing since then. We didn't have much of a summer so I guess I should start enjoying the winter and hope for snow. I'm really hoping that next summer is going to be nice. I was so disappointed because my flowers didn't do very well this year because of the lack of sunlight and all the rain we got. I didn't even take any pictures of them because they were full and luscious like they normally are.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
First Entry
Welcome to the first entry of our blog. I've been blogging for about 9 years and have had about 4 or 5 different blogs but haven't been able to find a place where I'm really happy. I'm hoping blogger will be different.
My name is Cynthia but most of my friends call me Cyndi. My family and I live in Alaska but Alaska is not where I'm originally from. My dad was in the Air Force for 20 years and I was born in Delaware but since my entire family is from West Virginia and I've spent probably most of my life there West Virginia is where I call home.
I have quit a few hobbies that I enjoy when I get the chance to do them in between work and kids. I love to garden. I think that is a great passion of mine. I'm more into flowers than vegetables but that is only because I don't have a huge area to do my gardening so I have decided to just stick to flowers. My flower garden wasn't a huge success this year because we had pretty bad summer. It rained just about every day. I think we may have had a total of 3 or 4 weeks of good weather out of about 3 months.
Besides gardening I also love to cook, scrapbook, knit, photography, and do lots of outdoor activities. I also am into collecting shot glasses from the 50 states and around the world. I also collect nic nacs that are cobolt blue and cats.
I put cats right up there with gardening. I have all kinds of cat collectibles including 2 real cats. I had 3 but I had to put one of my cats to sleep right before Christmas last year because he was really sickand the vet told us that his problems were irreversible. He's in heaven now with god and I know that every now and then he is looking down upon me and happy.
I'm also a certified medical assistant and I work for a local pediatric clinic. I absolutely love my job. I started out working ob/gyn but there was just something missing. Pediatrics was my first choice but I couldn't find any openings when I was job hunting right after I got my degree. I ended up quitting the job at the ob/gyn clinic and took some time off to be with my kids until they both were in school all day. That happened last year and in February of this year I found my dream job and I plan to be there for many many years.
Besides everything that I have mentioned I am also married to a wonderful man who I consider one of my best friends and my soulmate. Mike and I use to work together. We ended up falling in love and getting married. We've been married for 9 years now. We've had our ups and downs as most married couples have but I wouldn't change anything for the world. Mike is a network analyst for I have my own personal computer geek to help me out when I get into a jam. LOL...
We also have two beautiful little boys. Michael who is 8 and Mason who is 6.
Michael is a rather special little boy because we almost lost him but thanks to lots of prayers and people behind us he pulled through and is a happy healthy little boy.
Do to some complications that we still don't know exactly what Michael was born not breathing and because his brain was without oxygen for about 3 to 5 minutes he suffered significant brain damage and now has spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. He's doing well though. He has physical, occupational, and speech therapy once a week privately and once a week during school. He also has an excellent eye and orthopedic doctor and a pretty good pediatrician too. Just this this summer he had what is called derotation osteotomies done on both of his legs and he was in full casts up to the middle of his thighs for 4 weeks then half casts for 2. When they came off finally he ended up having to go in for one more surgery because the hardware on his right leg was coming off so his doctor had to go back in and remove the old hardware and put new hardware on. He has to wear the cast on his right leg for 4 weeks. Next Wednesday he should be getting it off and if all goes well he won't have to have any more surgeries until it's time to remove all the hardware permenantly which should be around January or February I believe.
Mason is a happy healthy and all around 6 year old. He's had his moments though. Ever since he was about 3 I thought that there just wasn't something right. He was always so active and hyper. I kept asking his doctor if this was normal and she kept saying that it was until he hit kindergarden. At that time I mentioned to his teachers that I thought he may have ADHD. They did some testing and come to find out they agreed with me. At the end of the school year I got him in to see his doctor and took the school evaluation and had his teacher do the clinics evaluation and sure enough he has ADHD. We have him on medication now and it seems to be doing the trick. He is much more calm that he use to be and focused. We can really tell the difference when he doesn't take his medication. This past weekend he had only 2 pills left. He had one on Saturday and I saved the other for school on Monday. Tuesday he didn't have one and there was a big difference. I got his prescription refilled so Wednesday will be a better day for him.
Besides school Mason is also taking swimming lessons and is in the cub scouts. He's on a little break right now from swimming but will be resuming in November. There are 6 levels and he is in level 3 at the moment. He's been there for quite some time but I'm glad to know that they want to make sure he knows his stuff before they move him up. As for cub scouts he hasn't made it to a meeting yet. I was hoping to get him to his first meeting this Friday but that's not going to happen because I have to work on Saturday so Michael and him will be going to grandma and grandpa's house on Thursday because there is no school on Friday and they will have them until Sunday when I go out to the Valley for church and to pick them up. I think cub scouts will be a good adventure for Mason. It will give him more useful skills and get him around more kids his own age and for him to have fun because lets face it he doesn't get much interaction from his brother since Michael can't do the things that normal little boys can do. Plus he can't really carry on a conversation with you and pretty much just repeats whatever it is you say. Doesn't give Mason much to work with. It's hard for him to understand at times but as time goes on he will start to understand what is wrong with his brother and learn to work with it.
My name is Cynthia but most of my friends call me Cyndi. My family and I live in Alaska but Alaska is not where I'm originally from. My dad was in the Air Force for 20 years and I was born in Delaware but since my entire family is from West Virginia and I've spent probably most of my life there West Virginia is where I call home.
I have quit a few hobbies that I enjoy when I get the chance to do them in between work and kids. I love to garden. I think that is a great passion of mine. I'm more into flowers than vegetables but that is only because I don't have a huge area to do my gardening so I have decided to just stick to flowers. My flower garden wasn't a huge success this year because we had pretty bad summer. It rained just about every day. I think we may have had a total of 3 or 4 weeks of good weather out of about 3 months.
Besides gardening I also love to cook, scrapbook, knit, photography, and do lots of outdoor activities. I also am into collecting shot glasses from the 50 states and around the world. I also collect nic nacs that are cobolt blue and cats.
I put cats right up there with gardening. I have all kinds of cat collectibles including 2 real cats. I had 3 but I had to put one of my cats to sleep right before Christmas last year because he was really sickand the vet told us that his problems were irreversible. He's in heaven now with god and I know that every now and then he is looking down upon me and happy.
I'm also a certified medical assistant and I work for a local pediatric clinic. I absolutely love my job. I started out working ob/gyn but there was just something missing. Pediatrics was my first choice but I couldn't find any openings when I was job hunting right after I got my degree. I ended up quitting the job at the ob/gyn clinic and took some time off to be with my kids until they both were in school all day. That happened last year and in February of this year I found my dream job and I plan to be there for many many years.
Besides everything that I have mentioned I am also married to a wonderful man who I consider one of my best friends and my soulmate. Mike and I use to work together. We ended up falling in love and getting married. We've been married for 9 years now. We've had our ups and downs as most married couples have but I wouldn't change anything for the world. Mike is a network analyst for I have my own personal computer geek to help me out when I get into a jam. LOL...
We also have two beautiful little boys. Michael who is 8 and Mason who is 6.
Michael is a rather special little boy because we almost lost him but thanks to lots of prayers and people behind us he pulled through and is a happy healthy little boy.
Do to some complications that we still don't know exactly what Michael was born not breathing and because his brain was without oxygen for about 3 to 5 minutes he suffered significant brain damage and now has spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. He's doing well though. He has physical, occupational, and speech therapy once a week privately and once a week during school. He also has an excellent eye and orthopedic doctor and a pretty good pediatrician too. Just this this summer he had what is called derotation osteotomies done on both of his legs and he was in full casts up to the middle of his thighs for 4 weeks then half casts for 2. When they came off finally he ended up having to go in for one more surgery because the hardware on his right leg was coming off so his doctor had to go back in and remove the old hardware and put new hardware on. He has to wear the cast on his right leg for 4 weeks. Next Wednesday he should be getting it off and if all goes well he won't have to have any more surgeries until it's time to remove all the hardware permenantly which should be around January or February I believe.
Mason is a happy healthy and all around 6 year old. He's had his moments though. Ever since he was about 3 I thought that there just wasn't something right. He was always so active and hyper. I kept asking his doctor if this was normal and she kept saying that it was until he hit kindergarden. At that time I mentioned to his teachers that I thought he may have ADHD. They did some testing and come to find out they agreed with me. At the end of the school year I got him in to see his doctor and took the school evaluation and had his teacher do the clinics evaluation and sure enough he has ADHD. We have him on medication now and it seems to be doing the trick. He is much more calm that he use to be and focused. We can really tell the difference when he doesn't take his medication. This past weekend he had only 2 pills left. He had one on Saturday and I saved the other for school on Monday. Tuesday he didn't have one and there was a big difference. I got his prescription refilled so Wednesday will be a better day for him.
Besides school Mason is also taking swimming lessons and is in the cub scouts. He's on a little break right now from swimming but will be resuming in November. There are 6 levels and he is in level 3 at the moment. He's been there for quite some time but I'm glad to know that they want to make sure he knows his stuff before they move him up. As for cub scouts he hasn't made it to a meeting yet. I was hoping to get him to his first meeting this Friday but that's not going to happen because I have to work on Saturday so Michael and him will be going to grandma and grandpa's house on Thursday because there is no school on Friday and they will have them until Sunday when I go out to the Valley for church and to pick them up. I think cub scouts will be a good adventure for Mason. It will give him more useful skills and get him around more kids his own age and for him to have fun because lets face it he doesn't get much interaction from his brother since Michael can't do the things that normal little boys can do. Plus he can't really carry on a conversation with you and pretty much just repeats whatever it is you say. Doesn't give Mason much to work with. It's hard for him to understand at times but as time goes on he will start to understand what is wrong with his brother and learn to work with it.
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