Hopefully all of that is coming to a stop or at least slowing down.
When we first moved to Texas, ECI ( Early Childhood Intervention) was fast on it and got Liam set up for therapies quick.
Usually they come to our house but there is nowhere we can do his therapies since all our things are still taking over the living room.
Hopefully when we are settled in better (before the new baby) they will be able to see him in our home.
Loading two babies in the car, driving 15 minutes, unloading and after about an hour do it again, take advantage and run errands while out and about which means more loading and unloading for 4 days a week every week just isn't an idea of fun.
I had to slow things down and have a couple of therapies on the same day and have it every other week instead.
That has slowed down but we still had plenty of other appointments.
Last month Liam had his 15th month appointment.
A little late but had it.
The Doctor was awesome and was quick on getting Liam referrals for all the Doctors he needed.
She was very attentive and wanted to know every single detail of everything that we have gone through with Liam. She also scheduled a hearing test because it worried her. This was the second person to say something since ECI had also brought it up.
He got his shots and he was not happy. Poor guy I would not be either. Before Liam had his shots Eliana kept saying "It's Elianas turn. My turn mommy." When she saw the shots and Liam crying she began to cry with him and hugging him and when she was finally calm she said "It's not my turn."
The calls came soon after to schedule Liam with specialists.
Liam was finally seen by Oncology.
They were quick and scheduled him for an MRI that Friday after the appointment.Jeez waking up a bit before 5:00 to make it to the MRI in Dallas was hard.
Liam was wide awake and didn't mind. It was almost as if he felt home. He was chatting away with the nurses.
Here they do things a little different. In Salt Lake I watched my little guy suffer as they pricked every part of his body and he bled every time because they had problems finding a good spot.
This time he was given sleeping gas before they pricked him.
After almost 2 hours it was time to wake him up and just like I would have acted he did not want to be awaken. Eventually he woke up, ate, and we left.
By the end of the month we had seen Oncology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery.
They said the MRI showed no sign of any tumor returning, which was something we were glad to hear.
Neurosurgery seemed to be a little quick into thinking Liam was not progressing but we assured him that he has been doing a great job and progressing. Slowly but surely. He said he would just keep an eye on him and as long as we say he is progressing then he will not be in need of the shunt. Scares me every time.
Neurology was great. She was very attentive and specific. For the third time Neurologist asked if he had a hearing test recently. Since the answer is no she referred him. She saw things that worried her a little.
This was beginning to worry me.
Before the month ended he was seen by Audiologist. They tested him and believed one ear was better than the other but were not sure how much he could hear from each. They weren't sure he was receiving some waves with one ear and other waves with the other. So they wanted to schedule him for an anesthetized test. Most likely happening in three months when his next MRI will be done. I have come to love the Children's Hospital here. The Doctors are awesome and they try to make everything easy for you. For example Oncology has days when Neurology comes in and sees you during your appointment with Oncology and other days when Neurosurgery comes in. This is how we were able to find a Neurosurgeon.
Ophthalmology set up an appointment even though he had just had one before moving. They wanted to see him. Pretty much the same thing. He has vision loss that glasses won't help because it comes from the brain. They can't exactly tell how much he says but they know he at least sees silhouettes. His eye nerves are pale and they don't know if it's from birth or from the surgery. So just follow up in a few months and just keep watching his nerves to see what they do. They also pointed out the deviated eye and that they could perform surgery but I don't find that to be a problem.
The one experience that I am almost embarrassed to talk about is a trip to the ER that we had with Liam. He fell from a massage table onto tile. According to his Pediatrician he had a concussion. I think I felt worse than ever when it happened. We were lucky that Casey was home early. He was seizing and vomiting. They gave him a CT Scan and everything seemed fine. So he was sent home. We were to just watch him. He had a bruised eye, which I was glad it wasn't his head. Still can't understand how he fell and landed face down. None of us can. He is doing great now but for the rest of that day and that night he would throw up every time he ate. Glad we are past that.
This month Liam had a EEG test scheduled. Which after the accident I was hoping we would catch any activity whether due to the accident or just the return of them. But the test was fine. No seizure activity. Just one side is slower than the other which we knew would be normal after surgery. So again just watch him. His last Neurologist wanted to wean him off the Keppra this spring but here they leave the child medicated for two years which I am ok with. Better to be safe. So possibly next Spring he will be medicated free. Liams Progression:
In November my family came to visit. At the time Liam was still not doing much of anything. So my dear mother gave him therapy. She massaged him as well as work the energy. Thanks to that in that week he was able to begin gerber foods. And could manage his head a little better. This was the main reason we decided to move. We saw more progress with what my mom did in a week than all those months of therapies. Now that we have moved Liam has come such a long way.
He plays with his feet and even brings them to his mouth when he has socks.He can sit for longer periods of time. He is closer to sitting independently.
He says "No tickle tickle" even though we know he loves it.
He enjoys rough play with daddy and sister.
He enjoys slides and swings.
He babbles a lot. He even squeals really loud. He even likes to sing "El COCO No". Watch the video and see for yourself.
His favorite toys are a fabric spider-man and iron man, sensory balls especially the light up ones, anything with music and lights, and whines to get the ipad or phones from our hands. There is also a drum stick that he will lick like it's nobody's business. He loves balloons. We know this because he has also been reaching for things. He will use his right hand more but it's something.
He is obsessed with paper and will try to get things into his hands by using his feet.
He also has learned some sign language but will mainly use the sign for "more" and has a couple that he has come up with. He recently learned to sign "daddy". His therapists are just so impressed with him and brag to each other about how smart he is. He has his own sign for "music" whether he wants you to play some or sing to him. And is in love with the Frozen sound track and Taylor Swift. His favorite Pandora station is the workout station. He will cry to Christina Perri "A Thousand Years" and Elton Johns "Can you feel the Love Tonight." He is very sensitive to music so there is A LOT more that makes him cry. He falls asleep to rap. It is something that soothes him and rocks him to sleep so if we take him to my brother's room he will pass out on the floor. They are perfect babysitters.
The best thing is he will smile for pictures when he realizes what I am doing.
