First off, we never made it to our overnight at Children's on the 23rd, the enormous snowfall kept us off the roads that morning. The appointment has been rescheduled for tomorrow, the 5th at 9:30 am. We will stay overnight and should be home by 9 am on Tuesday. I will stay through the day and do the appointments and Kurt will stay through the night. He is such a better sleeper than I am and he can sleep through anything.
Christmas was great, Karter was spoiled as usual. I have included a few cute pics of the holiday events. Karter got bedding from Kurt's parents for this new big boy bed. My parents got him riding chaps, boots and a cute little hat(although it completed the outfit, but he will have to wear a helmet during the lesson). Kurt and I and many others got him various clothes and other toys that will aid him this year. He is a very lucky little boy. It was fun this year to see him really enjoy the festivities. He loved the gifts, the people (so much so that we would not sleep on Christmas Day) and just took it all in and enjoyed himself.
Christmas Eve:
Christmas Day:
I have started to introduce 'allergic' foods back into Karter's diet. It has been a full year since we took him off the wheat, dairy, pork and various other foods that tested as allergic foods for Karter. We have chosen to so this at the prompting of Karter's neurologist. Because he is very low in weight, they feel that we really need to be diligent in trying to pack on the weight for him. If we cannot get him to gain weight, there is the possibility of having to look at alternative feeding methods. This is something I am extremely apposed to. So I take very seriously the idea of trying to find ways to get the weight on his little frame. I will meet with a dietitian on Monday while we are at Children's. I am hoping she can give me some really good tips and pointers on how to do this.
Both Karter and Paige have been sick this week. Karter does seems to have a bit of reflux that has returned. I am keeping a close eye on it to see if it is cold related or food related. As I mentioned before, I did re-introduce dairy back and that is what contributed to his relfux the last time. It is extremely possible that this is just a cold related incident, we usually see the reflux rear its ugly head while he is sick. He is back on his nebulizer and I have him on antibiotics right now to clear up the lungs. He has had pneumonia twice in the past and we do not want to revisit that again. Cold and flu season is upon us, it is something everyone seems to struggle with, so we chalk it up as normal childhood events and get through it like everyone else.
One last thing to mention...we received word that Karter has qualified to receive respite dollars. This is part of the government's assistance for families who have children with special needs. We have chosen to use the money to bring someone in a couple hours each week to work with Karter and do his physio routine with him. This is something that I struggle to find time to do each week, and it is such a frustration for me. This person would be like a personal trainer for him. Someone to help him through his workout and help him continue to gain strength and learn new skills. Because Karter has such a great temperament and his needs are not such that they keep us up through the night or take us beyond ourselves, we really do not feel the need to "send" him to be cared for outside of our home. So the idea of bringing someone in to help us really works for us and I think will really help him as well.
I am really looking forward to this year. Karter will start riding this week (Thursday at 10 am) and we have decided to go through with registering him for preschool starting two days a week in September. He will have an aid to assist him in the classroom, so it will be like 5 hours of play therapy each week.
Who knows what this year will hold for our little guy, but we have BIG expectations. With the idea of possible further surgery, with the addition of riding therapy, a 'personal trainer', preschool and various other ongoing therapies, this year shapes up to be a very promising one. Over all of that is our continued faith that God is in control. He knows the day, the hour, the very moment when Karter will meet each incremental step in development. He has Karter's life in His hands. We stand daily on the promise that Karter will be healed. Although there are times that we sit and say "when God, it has been so long?" He gently reminds us, that He has it taken care of. Our job is to just live each day in faith and expectancy for what He will do. The time may go by, but there is not a point where we will give up. We may have to wait a day or it may be years, whatever the case, we will wait, we will believe, we will overcome.
1 comment:
So much on your plate Char, so much to think about. We pray for strength for you as you deal daily with being his helper. Thanks for the update, I need to remember to come on here more often!
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