The first Couple Appointment Updates

*Whew* What a week it's turning out to be with back to back doctor appointment and ugly copay. ick! Not to mention the gas it takes to drive back and forth to Rochester. Man oh Man! They are all worth it though. I am hoping we don't end up in Rochester for Colin some day....time will tell.

So Caden's appt yesterday went well. She was happy to see the progression that Caden has made with his speech over the past 8 months. So that is Great news! She is pretty positive about the Apraxia diagnosis, however we can't be absolutely positive until he older to do an accurate testing on him. He does have an above average IQ, which was pretty neat to hear. That does make sense to us as well too though, since he's always been able to figure any little thing out and dissect things many of us couldn't even think of. Our biggest concern for this appointment was discussing what the upcoming school year will hold for Caden. This year, at his center based program he is in an integrated class. Within that class are 6 special needs children and 7 typical children. HOWEVER ~ The head start typical children, have not began yet. Weather there have been funding issues with the program, or enrollment issues in our general area, we do not know, but it does mean that caden is still really in a 6:1:1 class. In order to try to integrate the kids with typical children, they do library story hour 1x time per week. My concern all along, since Last June, would be how Caden would interact with that number of students, unfortunately we haven't had the chance to find out ;-( We did bring this up yesterday, and his doctor too agrees that he would not be ready for a typical class setting come September. She is going to write that in her report for us as well. Her recommendation would be to send him to our district school in a 6:1:1 kindergarten class if something like that is offered since all of his cognitive skills are clearly right on track, some above level. If something of that degree is not offered, then we will have to see if our current center offers some sort of program to keep him in for another year, then have him possibly start typical kindergarten in 2011/2012. So that is what we are up against with schooling for him. Currently Caden is functioning at around the 24-30 month age level when it comes to behavior/language, receptive and expressive. She doesn't think that he will be a child that is going to require Special Ed for his entire school career, which was pretty positive news, however he will require Speech & OT for many many years she said, which was expected anyway. We go back in Sept/Oct of next year, right at the beginning of the school year to see what adjustments needs to be made. She did say we could call sooner if needed as well, if we are having a hard time fighting/advocating what we want for him as far as school goes. She is so wonderful, we really like her alot. Congrats to Dr. Jessica as well, since her 2nd daughter is due next month!

Moving on to Colin's ENT visit this morning. What a long morning! I ended up almost 3 hours late for work!

Colin's tubes are finally completely 100% out of his ears! They had been hanging in there for months - we didn't know if we would have surgically remove them or what, so that was very good news. His hearing test came back good, as did the pressure test. The doctor was concerned that there was some fluid in his right ear, but the pressure test didn't show anything. He is very concerned about his adenoids though. Even more so since Colin's been snoring a bit more then normal lately (when is actually sleeps that is!) He knows his history and thinks the best route for him would surgery. before that though, we are going to do some X-rays, just to double check that his adenoids are in fact enlarged. If they are, he'll schedule the surgery. If not, he is thinking about sending him to an allergist, and still keep tracking his ear infections (or hopefully lack of) So yet another copay ~ Tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 Colin's going to have his x-rays done. Hopefully by this time next week, the doc will call us with the results and let us know if we'll be scheduling surgery or not. If so, I am going hoping to do it after the 1st of the year, only because I know it's going to be quite pricey and i'd rather it go towards our new deductible, rather than the old one...... hmm..... Time will tell!

So tomorrow is X-Rays. Friday is mom's surgery. Saturday is our Christmas dinner with Dad and Cheryl. Sunday is Our Christmas Dinner/gift exchange with Stacy/Dave and Family, Monday is Colin's eval. I can breathe Tuesday & Wednesday before the madness begins?? Did I mention during all of that I still need to make some goodies - peppermint bark, toffee bars, thin mint cookies, pretzel sticks & Candy bars for teacher gifts?? Oh yea.... fun, fun! :-)