Dear Santa: Helmets for Xmas, Please!

It was Friday. I was hopped up on pain meds from Thursday’s foot surgery. Coming home from the store, I promptly crawled into bed and passed out around 4:30PM Friday afternoon. At 7PM, Mike burst through the bedroom door. “I’m going to the Emergency Room.” Me, in my sudden state of awake, sat up and fumbled through a conversation of “Where are you going?” “Penn Yan or Canandaigua?” Why?” “What?” “What’s going on?” Mike told me Ethan had hit his head and he was going to the ER. I was far from coherent from what I remember. But I gathered myself enough to say I’m going with you though he told me to stay here at home. I got my crutches, glasses and fumbled my way down stairs. By this point, Ethan was standing by the back door with a look of fright and worry. Being the kid that he is, it’s likely he read the fear and feelings of his father and drew on those vibes to come to his emotional state at that point.

So, I’m finally down stairs and leaning against the kitchen counter. Mike getting Ethan’s jacket and shoes on and I finally realized I am more of a hindrance at this point. The pain meds were causing me to have cold sweats, shakes and nausea. I felt seriously effed up. I conceded, “Just go. I’ll stay. I’m too fucked up.” The next thing I remember is waking up in the living room about 20 minutes later and calling my mother to come and get me. I told her what I knew and she was on her way. I managed to get jeans on and was ready to go when she pulled in. We got down to the ER in Penn Yan and by the time I got there the ER doc was pretty sure that since Ethan’s cognitive and physical tests were positive than we were probably in the clear but ordered a CAT scan to be sure. Ethan was rolled off to the scan, Mike actually stayed in the room with him as Ethan got nervous. But once we asked him to do what was necessary, lay still and not move, he was perfect. I was in the imaging room with the tech and it was obvious. There was break in the skull that should not be there. The tech was on the phone immediately to the radiologist and doctor. So fast I had to ask her if it was alright for Mike and Ethan to come out of the room.

We rolled back down to the ER area and the doc told us what I had already seen and that he would make the calls to get us transported possibly by Mercy Flight to Rochester and in to the Pediatric ER that night. Based on the discussions the doc had with whomever, it was decided that transport via ambulance would be fine for this situation to Strong Hospital. So after waiting a few minutes we were on our way. Mike went with Ethan in the ambulance. Grandma Edie followed the ambulance with the Tahoe and I ran home with Grandma Donna to pack a bag and get some of Ethan’s favorite things. We’ve done the hospital thing before so I knew a bit of what to plan for. Ethan loves his Nintendo DS from Uncle Matt and requested that and I grabbed his favorite stuffed animals and some favorite books.

By the time I got to the ER around 10:30PM, Ethan was hooked up to the monitors and all his vitals were good. Ethan was in a room with a mentally challenged 10 year old with appendicitis. Ethan was a trooper. He was scared and nervous but so brave. It was finally at Strong that I got the full story of what happened.

While I was asleep, Mike and Ethan were in the back woodshed installing an outdoor flood light. This would light up the boiler and wood pile which is great. So Mike was on step ladder (a taller one, maybe 6 foot). Ethan was on the ground and climbing up the first two rungs of the ladder while Mike was on top. Finally Mike said okay it’s time to go to bed and while coming down the ladder, Ethan either slipped or jumped and missed the first rung, but he fell off the ladder. He went backwards and landed back of the head first into the corner of the arm of an Adirondack chair. He had fallen from about 24″ up and cracked his head on the chair. Ethan was immediately screaming and crying because of the pain and from the look on Mike’s face when Mike got to him, Ethan asked, “Am I bleeding?” He wasn’t but had a very large goose egg on the lower left side of the back of his head.

The resident neurologist, Eric, who had looked at the CT images from Penn Yan ER came in to speak with us and had no definite decision on how we would proceed. The attending neurologist would have to make that call. But what Eric told us was that the fracture was about 1cm and at most would be a cosmetic issue and shouldn’t cause any other damage to the brain. What damage was done, was done. There were signs of a little bit of internal bleeding but again given Ethan’s positive exam results surgery may or may not be necessary. So we were kind of confused at that point whether we were looking at surgery or not but the soonest we would know anything would be morning after Dr. Huang, the attending physician got in. They tried to email the scans to him but he was unable to open them at home. The fact that they were not so concerned with immediate surgery was a bit relieving. Ethan’s alertness, pupil brisk and reactive to light, the fact he never lost consciousness, were all good signs. But given the fact that it was a head injury Eric recommended we start a round of anti-seizure medicine which of course we agreed to.

Well the child that was also the ER room started getting violent and we were moved to another room in the ER and briefly had that room to ourselves But them some obnoxious teenagers with no volume control at 1:30 in the morning were put in the other side of the room.  It was incredibly annoying and unnecessary for them to carry on like they did but what can you do? We were in wait mode to get moved up to the Pediatric Unit and finally Ethan’s ER nurse came in to put an IV in and draw blood for lab work. Once the IV was in we were ready to go and get up to the Peds unit.

At 4AM Saturday morning we got to the Peds floor and Ethan had his first round of anti-seizure medication. Ethan’s Peds floor nurse had to fix his IV that kept getting air in the line and did attempt to get his vitals and check his pupils again but by this time the meds had set in and made him very drowsy. There was no waking him up. Plus he had been awake since 6:30AM Friday morning and had barely slept in all the time at the two ERs so waking him up at 4:30AM just wasn’t going to happen. The fact that he was fighting though to keep himself asleep was good. While in the ER, the peds floor doctor had come down to do her physical and she made Ethan stand up on the floor. He stood up, looked at her like she was crazy and climbed back into the bed by himself. These are all good signs of Ethan being Ethan and being the strongest little monster ever.

We were waiting though for a Peds doc to come in to the room though once we got up there till the nurse came back in and said, “Oh she saw you while you were in the ER?” “Oh yeah…..” So many doctors, you tend to lose track. 5:30AM Ethan was in his Peds bed, the nurses were done with their checks at least till 6AM and I zonked out. 6:30AM the nurse was back in and I was back up. Eric came in about 7AM and was still waiting for Dr. Huang to get in and see the scans. So we were still in wait mode for what was going to happen that day.

8AM rolled around and a very tall doctor came in. He introduced himself as Dr. Gestring. We had no idea. Over night, Mike’s Aunt Kathy had emailed Dr. Gestring, the Medical Director of the Trauma Center at Strong. He is a personal friend and colleague of Aunt Kathy as well another doctor, named Sue, who is the program manager for the Trauma Center was with Dr. Gestring. Dr. Gestring had viewed the scans and spoke with Dr. Huang that morning and offered a very comforting analysis. He felt based on what he saw and discussion with Dr. Huang that surgery would not be necessary. The injury was not cause for alarm of permanent brain damage or hemorrhaging. We had a very nice chat with him and Sue. He was a fellow at Penn while Kathy was there and I don’t recall how Sue and Kathy know one another but it was obvious that Ethan had the absolute very best care possible to have Dr. Gestring take personal interest in our case. He gave us his card if we needed anything while at the hospital or after. Thank gods, for connections. Mike’s Aunt Kathy is head of Trauma over at a military base in Landstuhl Germany. It is amazing to have such a care network.

Soon after Dr. Gestring and Sue left, Dr. Huang and Eric came in around 9AM and told us that surgery didn’t seem necessary but ordered another CAT scan to see how things had developed over night. We got the okay to order Ethan some breakfast and he was adamant about pancakes, eggs and sausage. Dr. Huang assured us that at this point surgery wouldn’t be necessary. The fracture itself was about 2cm and hinged in about 1 cm. I asked what this meant with the hinged part. Was the bone poking the brain? Eric explained how there is a dura mater that encases the brain and that this fibrous material protects the brain. At some point it might become annoying to Ethan but there are no signs of alarm that the fracture is causing any devastating effects on Ethan’s brain as the dura had protected the brain. Dr. Huang also left his card should we need anything between the hospital stay and when we follow up with him. They recommended the continuance of the anti-seizure meds for the week following our return home. They told us that the bone will eventually fuse back together but his skull will have a divet in it. Where it is located though it should be covered by his hair. There is no way to tell though now what things will look like. It is still swollen though. The bit of internal bleeding will reabsorb into the brain.

About 15 minutes later, we were off to the Radiology Department for another CT scan and Ethan again did an amazing job. I requested that Mike be in there with them and they accommodated that. He said, “I’ve had more radiology in two days than…” I’ll admit, I’m a mean person. I cut him off and said, “For your kid, you can suck it up and deal.” Anyway, once done, one of the techs mentioned in her 30 years she had never had a child hold still so well for the scan. But apparently no one told the radiologists that we knew the fracture was there so they started to worry and asked Mike if we knew of the fracture. He assured them we did and that this was a follow up scan see how things had changed or remained the same from the day before.

It was very odd though. As soon as Ethan’s last image was taken, the entire hospital blacked out. No electricity, I lost all cell coverage on my phone. It was the weirdest thing ever. The tech had also said that had never happened in her time here at the hospital either. It was a true black out for at least 5 seconds before the generators kicked in. Super weird……

Ethan’s breakfast was there when we got back and he dug right in. He was a happy camper to eat but really wanted to go home. 11:30 rolled around and we hadn’t heard anything from the doctors and we ended up tracking down our nurse to see what was going on. If we were going to be there longer I wanted to get Ethan’s lunch ordered as he wanted grilled cheese and soup. It was finally 1 or 2 PM that another neurology resident came in to see us. He had reviewed the scans and said that as long as we were comfortable and Ethan seemed able, we could go ahead and start the discharge paperwork. I was happy to hear that he thought the scans were positive enough to get us discharged. I asked him how the fracture would impact Ethan’s future (i.e. sports, etc.). The doctor obviously didn’t recommend football but all in all the fracture should not impede Ethan’s future goals in that sense. Mike had gone to move the Tahoe from the ER parking lot to the parking garage and returned shortly after I met with the last neuro doc.  A few minutes later, Dr. Gestring stopped back in and gave us passes for the parking garage. “Since it sounds like you’ll be here for a few days, I tracked down some parking passes for you.” We were like “what??? We’re getting discharged actually.” He hadn’t seen the new scans nor talked with Dr. Huang since early that morning. He again offered any help should we need it and I couldn’t thank him enough for his care for my baby boy.

We reviewed the discharge papers and prescriptions with the nurse, packed up and were on our way. Back in Canandaigua, we stopped at Wegman’s to get Ethan’s scripts filled. They didn’t have the anti-seizure medication but proceeded to call every pharmacy in town and neighboring towns to track it down for us. What impeccable service. They actually did find it another pharmacy down the road, thankfully, after many strike outs. And so we back tracked to Kinney’s and the pharmacist there had it ready to go for us. Wegman’s pharmacists had faxed the script over.

Finally we got back home 5:30-6PM last night and kept Ethan up till 8PM for another dose of the meds and he was out like a light. This morning Ethan has been feeling pretty good and says nothing hurts. I think he’s still sore obviously and walking around like a 90 year old man. He’s sensitive about the area which is good. I’m glad he’s practicing his own sense of precaution.

Whew so that’s been the last couple of days… I’m certain I’m leaving things out but as it stands, all is well for now. We will follow up with our primary care physician’s office this week. Mike has an appointment tomorrow at our PCP’s office and I’ve already told him he’s taking Ethan with him and I’ll force them to see him. And I will have to call and set up an appointment with Dr. Huang for a few weeks out.

So many thanks to family and friends for help and support in getting through this.

Happy 4th Birthday, Baby Boy!

Wow!  Another year has already passed.  Ethan’s turns a whopping four years old today and it’s a bit hard to comprehend how quickly the last four years have flown by.  I almost started crying last night while lying in bed thinking about how we have got to this point.  Finding out about Ethan’s cleft, picturing the perfect birth only to have the complete opposite, the NAM, the surgeries, his first food (avocado), his first use of sign language, his first spoken word, his first cut, scrape, bruise, laugh, cry, all of it.  It feels like a warm, fuzzy blur. 

This past year has been a really big year for Mr. Ethan.  He started pre-school at St. Mike’s and he loves it.  He started a formal day care program and he hates it.  Ethan pretty much potty trained right after last year’s birthday and he’s been amazing at it.  His ear tubes were replaced last September after 2.5 years.  Just last night, he went to bed without his sippy cup.  This is HUGE.  We’ve been trying and trying to get him to go to sleep without it and finally he just decided.  We busted out the t-ball and bat a few weeks ago when it was warmer and forget the ‘T’ because we can pitch it to him and he NAILS IT!  The little developments that he’s excelled in over the last year are just astounding.  We’ve even started working on simple math problems and he’s an ace!

The year ahead will hold more learning and fun, I am sure!  Ethan will finish pre-school and move on to Pre-K this fall.  We will see our Cleft Team in May for the annual clinic.  It’s going to be exciting to see my baby grow even more.  So, with that, Happy Birthday, Little Man!!  XOXOXOXOXO

Updates!

Whew, can time please stop flying??  Ethan will be turning a whopping four years old this month.  I can’t figure out where the time has gone nor why Ethan won’t stop growing!  Pre-school has gone exceptionally well for Ethan.  He loves going to St. Mike’s and we love that he enjoys it so much.  Formal day care has had its ups and downs but he’s doing much better with his behaviour and not acting like some of the ruffians that he tends to hang out with there.  Yes, four year olds can be ruffians.  Oiy.  Ethan has enjoyed the winter weather so much.  He loves sledding and playing in the snow piles from Daddy’s plow.  I’m ready for spring and I think Ethan is kind of looking forward to a break in the cold and snow.  He’s been talking about running around with no shirt on, like a ‘hillbilly.’  LOL That’s my boy!  He never ceases to impress and make us laugh though. 

Other big news this month is that Ethan will be declassified from speech therapy this Friday.  We’re happy yet sad.  Miss Rhonda has been with Ethan since he was six months old and Ethan absolutely loves her.  It’s going to be a rough transition to not have Rhonda in Ethan’s life in such a large capacity.  We will still be in touch I’m sure but he has been seeing her two times a week for the last year or so.  His speech though is very good.  Ethan primarily struggles with the /s/ and the placement of the tongue behind the teeth; not letting it slip out in front of the teeth.  Mike and I will continue to work with him at home on this.  We’ll probably reassess his needs in another year or so as well as keep track of his speech needs through his speech pathologist on the Cleft Team.  It’s truly bitter sweet to be done with speech therapy for now.  Miss Rhonda has been such a good part of Ethan’s growth as a little boy.  We have been so lucky to have her work with Ethan.

And finally, we’re gearing up to start fundraising for the Craniofacial Department at Strong in this year’s 15th Annual Stroll for Strong & 5K run.  I’m always very excited about this event especially with the addition of the 5K.  This year the event falls on June 4th and I look forward to helping reach this year’s total goal.

Ear Tube Replacement Surgery

We will report to the surgical center tomorrow morning for 11AM surgery.  Ethan’s current tubes will be removed and replaced with new ones.  As a child with tubes grows, like clothes, they grow out of the tubes.  We’ve been lucky that these have been in so long.  Usually it’s about a 2 year life span and we’re over 2.5 years with this set.  But it is time to replace them.  I’m still skeptical how he will receive the activity of it all tomorrow.  I told him today that he has surgery tomorrow to get his ear tubes replaced.  He said okay and went back outside.  Though he and daddy just came inside and Ethan has a big ole scrape on his arm.  Wow.  Between this and the gash under his eye from the apple tree, he’s looking good.  Oiy… kids.  Tomorrow’s procedure should be pretty straighforward.  I think it will just be a little difficult to get him settled and under anesthesia.  We shall see though…

Pre-School & Surgery Coming Up

YEA!  Pre-school!  Or maybe I mean:  Yikes… Little Ethan has started pre-school at the private, parochial school in town.  It’s a big step but I think it’s going to be great for him.  He has his own little backpack and is such a big boy!  Ethan does speech with Miss Rhonda right before his class time right at the school.  His school has been very accomodating and so far I really like working with them.  He’s brought home some lovely colored apples and just like his momma colors a little bit out of the lines!  LOL  Yesterday he told me they had a tea party.  I don’t know what to think of that but as long as he’s having fun.  His class has one other little boy and 6 little girls.  I imagine we’ll be seeing some more tea parties than monster truck racing.  Ethan seems pretty enamored with his teacher and that’s a good thing.  I have a few details to sort out but Grandma Donna is probably going to volunteer and help Ethan’s teacher out a couple of afternoons per month.  She seemed pretty grateful to have a perspective volunteer.  :)  Ethan already has a little head cold.  He came home with the sniffles yesterday and was pretty groggy this morning.  Can’t wait to start day care two times a week next week.  Ugh… I feel the bubonic plague coming on….  Kids are so gross.  LOL 

As well, this past Wednesday, we went up to Dr. Hengerer’s office (Ethan’s ear/nose/throat doc) for a pre-op appointment.  He and a studying doctor checked Ethan’s ears over and we’re all set to get Ethan’s ear tubes replaced next Friday.  This is the first surgery when Ethan has been at an age where he is cognitive.  His last surgery was at 18 months so still young enough you can just take him any where and kind of do what ever.  This time he’s bigger, stronger and smarter.  **<—read like the movie trailer impending doom voice**  I’m a little worried he’ll fight the anesthesia and the whole process but we’ll see.  The scariest thing is seeing him pass out under the gas anesthesia.  It totally creeped me out last time.  It’s short procedure to replace the ear tubes, about 10 minutes, so that’s nice but still worrisome for any parent.  Luckily, it’ll just be the gas and no IV drip to keep him sedated.  So that’s nice about this time around.  We will find out Thursday what our surgery time is and be ready to roll on Friday.  We’ve told him he’s getting his tubes replaced but did not explain the details of what is happening.  Maybe we’ll swing by the library on the way home.  I know Curious George has a book about going to the hospital.

So that’s the latest and greatest.  We’ll see how formal day care goes next week!  Lots of big changes this month for our little man!

Our First Cleft Clinic

We’ve reached the point of attending “clinic” with Ethan.  Back in May we packed a borrowed portable DVD player, toys and snacks and headed to Strong.  We were brought into an exam room and waited as various members of Ethan’s cleft team ushered in.  It’s actually a fantastic way to do this.  We spend part of a day seeing everyone on Ethan’s Cleft Team versus numerous trips back and forth to Rochester for appointments.  Our first visit was with Ethan’s pediatric dentist, Dr. Karp, and the team orthodontist.  We saw Dr. Girotto, his surgeon, the team speech pathologist, the team psychologist, the team coordinator and even the geneticist popped in just to say Hi.  We haven’t seen her since shortly after Ethan’s birth but she wanted to see how things were and how Ethan was doing.  Everyone was impressed with Ethan’s surgical results and how much of a character he is.  He’s quite the character but by noon he was getting cranky and ready to leave so the speech pathologist didn’t really get a pleasant welcome from the little man.  Last week we received the letter regarding the visit.  After clinic day, the team sits down and evaluates each child and sends a recommendation letter to the parents.  Fortunately, everyone is in agreement that we don’t need any major surgeries in the near future.  Though we are planning on an ear tube replacement this fall.  Ethan’s tubes have lasted almost 2.5 years so that is to be expected.  The letter basically summarized that everyone was happy with Ethan’s teeth, post-surgery development of the soft palate and his speech for the time being.  As he ages and grows, orthodontics, surgeries, speech therapy is imminent but not anything looming in the near future.

From our discussion on clinic day with the speech pathologist, there is a possibility next year for Ethan to be evaluated to see if a pharyngeal flap surgery is necessary.  Ethan is not an age where it’s really conducive to test for the necessity.  He would have to sit still and repeat some sentences with specific words that accentuate any air escaping through his nose.  A three year old, well at least not this three year old, is going to sit still for that!  So next year we will probably address this again at clinic and go from there.  For now Ethan is continuing with speech therapy and doing wonderfully with Miss Rhonda. 

We’ve enrolled Ethan in pre-school too for the fall.  I was doing alright with it till sent the forms.  It’s just bewildering to think of little Ethan attending school.  He’ll spend three hours, two days a week at pre-school and I’m hoping he’ll really enjoy it.

STROLL FOR STRONG KIDS!!!

It’s that time of year again!  We will be participating in the Golisano Children’s Hospital Stroll for Strong Kids this Saturday, June 5th!  I am running the 5K and then we will be strolling with Team Strong Smiles!  Strong Smiles is the cleft and craniofacial anomoly group including folks from the surgical team and families that are lucky to have such a great group of medical care professionals to care for our little ones.  Feel free to support us and the rest of the Strong Smiles by clicking the link below.  I’m very excited to participate this year and the weather looks very promising for Saturday’s stroll and run!!

 http://www.helpmakemiracles.org/participant/ethans_strong_smile

Ethan’s 3rd Birthday!

Another year in the books for our littlest man!  Ethan’s birthday was another joyous event with lots of cake, presents and balloons.  My goodness, that kid loves balloons.  Once again, he made out like a bandit and mommy and daddy didn’t help by adding a Power Wheels F-150 to our fleet of vehicles.  But he absolutely LOVES it and his face full of joy is when he drives it makes it a very worthwhile investment.  Plus, I shouldn’t have to buy him a car ever again, right?  Either way, he was happy to share his day with the whole family. 

Ethan has been extended till the end of August with the county Early Intervention program.  He is still seeing Rhonda twice a week and his vocabulary and speaking abilities are really coming along.  We are so grateful for Rhonda’s work and the effort she put forth to keep him in speech and get him approved for continued speech through the school district’s Committee on Pre-School Education.  At three years of age, children in Early Intervention “graduate” to the next level offered in the school system.  So after various evaluations and his speech being deemed a level unacceptable for his age, he will continue with speech therapy but it will be based on the school year instead of every week like it is now.  Either way, we are happy that he’s staying on through the CPSE program.  If any regression is shown during school vacation times, we will reassess his situation and move from there. 

Ethan is just an amazing little boy with so much going on.  His love of being outdoors is great.  And the new fun with the Power Wheels makes it very hard to get him inside for dinner and bed time.  I don’t think the chickens appreciate his antics as he chases them through the lawn and field.  He already puts his seat belt on immediately when he climbs in the driver’s seat.  It’s all just so funny to watch.  Luckily living where we do, there isn’t a lot of neighbors around when Mommy has to drive the little pedal tractor.  I can only imagine how ridiculous it must look.  But we have too much fun to ever say no when he asks me to ride.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Holy cow, the last post was in October. I’m terrible!!! But look at it this way - No news is good news!! So in a nut shell, things have been crazy as usual seems we never stop moving. Ethan is blossoming into a little man with great personality. He’s very persuasive and has most everyone wrapped around his little finger. His appointments last fall went very well and we’re not looking at any surgeries in the near future. We start what is referred to as “clinic” this spring. Basically, we will spend an entire day in Rochester meeting with everyone on the Cleft Team. So many specialists are involved with a cleft child’s care that “one stop shopping” makes it efficient for families and to some degree for the doctors.

Ethan is enjoying winter and his happiness makes these winter months a little more bearable for me. He loves being outdoors and sledding is incredibly fun. It’s adorable when he tries chase Maggie through the yard. Yet hilarious because there is no way his marshmallow man snow pants could possibly give him a flying hope to catch the flying fur-ball known as Maggie. So many face plants that just do not deter him from any wintertime mission. We’re working on snowballs still but he gets the idea and thinks it’s too much fun. He’s just becoming a very well-rounded little guy with so much spark. His speech is coming along so well and his knowledge of his world around him continues to astound us.

Ethan will be three next month and I do intend to post again very soon with an update to his early intervention status and pre-school plan regarding speech therapy. As well as new photos. Though some of the major surgery stuff is either behind us or too far in the future to really matter, other behind the scenes stuff is constant.

October 2009

So, we’re back at it. Off to the series of bi-annual doctors appointments. Ethan and I trekked up to the ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat) doctor, Dr. Hengerer, back in mid-September. Both ear tubes are still in place though Ethan’s right ear tube is seemingly irritated. We’re on ear drops to hopefully reduce the inflammation but this might result in another set of tubes being put in. His current set of tubes has been in place for almost 21 months, which is really good. We will have a follow up with his ENT next month to see how the tube is doing since using the drops. At this point we hope to determine if we need to expedite a replacement surgery or simply wait till we can lump it with another surgery. We will also visit Ethan’s plastic surgeon in November and review Ethan’s speech therapy report with Dr. Girotto. Ethan’s therapist is fairly certain we are looking at a pharyngeal flap surgery. Basically the repair of Ethan’s soft palate was successful in closing the cleft but the structure of the palate needs to be reworked. The pharyngeal flap is the structure that blocks airflow through the nasal cavity as an individual speaks. Ethan’s is not functioning properly so air is escaping while he talks causing hyper-nasality. We are not certain if this will definitely lead to another reconstructive surgery but are preparing ourselves for it. I definitely need to research the procedure some more.

Last week I met with Ethan’s Early Intervention Coordinator and his speech therapist for his year end review. Ethan’s vocabulary has blossomed from about 25-50 words at 2 years old to over 200 the last six months. That’s a huge leap for him when he would barely talk a year ago to this level. I’m really happy with his progress this past year and receiving speech twice a week with Rhonda has made a big difference. We’re still working in /g/ and /k/ and putting two consonants together at the front of a word like /tr/ in ‘truck.’

In the end of September we also had a meeting with Ethan’s E/I coordinator and the school district’s representative for the Committee on Pre-School Education (CPSE). That went very well and we basically have to have Ethan’s speech re-evaluated, a mental evaluation, a physical and get the ball rolling to get Ethan enrolled in the next step of speech therapy. When Ethan turns 3, he will age out of the Early Intervention Program. At that point he becomes eligible for the pre-school program. The school district that we live in does not have a preschool program for 3 year olds so hopefully we can just continue therapy services with Rhonda. My biggest concern after speaking with some other parents was that I did not want him to “test out” of the program. If we do have to go through with the p-flap surgery then I want him in therapy while he recovers. Another mother shared horror stories about her child going through the same thing (p-flap) and they had not set up a back up plan for her child to be enrolled in the CPSE program. The county coordinator and Ethan’s speech therapist both agreed with my concerns and guaranteed that we would have a plan in place with out a problem. Ethan’s poor enunciation should keep him eligible for speech therapy services.

Whew! So, I suck because I didn’t post all summer. But thankfully this past summer was quiet. No surgeries, no major catastrophes.