The last month, or so, has been one crazy ride. Starting in the middle of May, we attended my sister's dental graduation, and ordination, several family parties, another ordination, a wedding and a semi-week at the beach. Whew! That was a lot. Now it's time for a change.
In one week, we'll be moving closer to the husband's work and closer to Dr. P for A's treatment. We just moved here, hoping that we'd be settling in for awhile. I have to say that the past eight months have been incredibly taxing. There has been a lot of growth in our family and while I'm excited to move forward -- I'm rather scared.
We've moved a bit and every time it's just so promising ... and then, well, it doesn't quite work out. At this point, I'm not too interested in it all working out with rainbows and unicorns, but honestly, this is my child's head (!) and it's a bit serious.
With all of that being said, we could use a few extra prayers for the next week as we get all of those extra things around the house rounded up and put on a truck and moved to a new location.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Delays and Possibly Delays
So, it seems that single suture craniosynostosis could potentially cause developmental delays (speech, poor memory learning disabilities, etc.). That would follow logic. Put pressure on the brain (or the brain stem because of pressure on the occiput -- the bone in the back of the head) and certain functions could be impacted.
Last week, A was evaluated by early intervention. I wasn't exactly worried about anything in particular, but the evaluation is free (as it is in most states ... so get 'em early and often! or something like that) and something serious, like cranio, can worry anyone. Turns out she is delayed in speech, and has a few issues with other things, but speech was the big one. I've read lots of different things by different people at different times and I've concluded that the higher likelihood of developmental delays would definitely merit surgery. So why have we decided to pursue other means of healing?
Well .... surgery is an excellent option if there were absolutely no other way to help the body help itself. I have an alternative view of the body, which fits into my worldview. This does not make me right and others wrong, but it does make me have to make certain choices for my children. Honestly, I wish I didn't have to make this choice and I could wait until my children could reason all of these things out by themselves, but that is one of the kickers in parenting, no?
Anyhow, I believe that the body can and will heal itself, given the opportunity. Therefore, craniosynostosis isn't so much something to be attacked as quickly as possible but instead something to take a look at and identify why A's head is growing a certain way.
Our time with Dr. Phillips has been illuminating on that front. As I wrote earlier, the muscles of the body all interact with one another, the bones interact and when one thing is out of balance, everything can get out of balance. Right now, her skull is pushing on her brain, causing a speech delay. I think a more long-term approach would be to get the body to stop growing in a certain way that causes the pinching of the brain. Through my research, I concluded that teaching the muscles of the body and the bones of the head to grow differently is more effective than forcing them to be a certain way.
I have to admit, I dropped the ball and didn't follow through with finding a great cranio sacral therapist for A from the get go. It's so sad to look back and to see how my shortcomings have affected both of our children but such great good has come from this learning process. I used to read things like that from others and wonder -- how crazy are those people? I guess we're on the crazy train over here. Cranio has been such a positive in our life and in our marriage and I have to say that I'm glad now that we have chosen the path we did. Hopefully, there will be no more dark valleys but I think we'll be alright if there are.
Last week, A was evaluated by early intervention. I wasn't exactly worried about anything in particular, but the evaluation is free (as it is in most states ... so get 'em early and often! or something like that) and something serious, like cranio, can worry anyone. Turns out she is delayed in speech, and has a few issues with other things, but speech was the big one. I've read lots of different things by different people at different times and I've concluded that the higher likelihood of developmental delays would definitely merit surgery. So why have we decided to pursue other means of healing?
Well .... surgery is an excellent option if there were absolutely no other way to help the body help itself. I have an alternative view of the body, which fits into my worldview. This does not make me right and others wrong, but it does make me have to make certain choices for my children. Honestly, I wish I didn't have to make this choice and I could wait until my children could reason all of these things out by themselves, but that is one of the kickers in parenting, no?
Anyhow, I believe that the body can and will heal itself, given the opportunity. Therefore, craniosynostosis isn't so much something to be attacked as quickly as possible but instead something to take a look at and identify why A's head is growing a certain way.
Our time with Dr. Phillips has been illuminating on that front. As I wrote earlier, the muscles of the body all interact with one another, the bones interact and when one thing is out of balance, everything can get out of balance. Right now, her skull is pushing on her brain, causing a speech delay. I think a more long-term approach would be to get the body to stop growing in a certain way that causes the pinching of the brain. Through my research, I concluded that teaching the muscles of the body and the bones of the head to grow differently is more effective than forcing them to be a certain way.
I have to admit, I dropped the ball and didn't follow through with finding a great cranio sacral therapist for A from the get go. It's so sad to look back and to see how my shortcomings have affected both of our children but such great good has come from this learning process. I used to read things like that from others and wonder -- how crazy are those people? I guess we're on the crazy train over here. Cranio has been such a positive in our life and in our marriage and I have to say that I'm glad now that we have chosen the path we did. Hopefully, there will be no more dark valleys but I think we'll be alright if there are.
Drive your Car .... but not on Route 66
Put the car in drive. Just put it in drive, my friends.
Once you're moving, it seems that great things happen. We talked with Dr. Phillips (now referred to as Dr. P) about having to drive to Annapolis and not being able to start until July (she's booked!). She suggested a cranio sacral therapist, that she trained herself, who is about half an hour from us AND on this side of the crazy that is route 66 and 495. If you have never experienced the one two punch of Route 666, as we call it, and 495 -- DON'T. It will hurt your brain.
But this great news for us because we can get started in June, hopefully.
We're still working out the finances. Honestly, we can barely afford our bills right now, and another rent payment on top of ours is out of the question.
After emailing Other Cranio Sacral Therapist (or OCST), she agreed to meet with us on a barter basis. YES! I love a good barter.
Great. June is in the bag. Now for the rest of treatment, however long it might take. One step at a time, one step at a time.
Once you're moving, it seems that great things happen. We talked with Dr. Phillips (now referred to as Dr. P) about having to drive to Annapolis and not being able to start until July (she's booked!). She suggested a cranio sacral therapist, that she trained herself, who is about half an hour from us AND on this side of the crazy that is route 66 and 495. If you have never experienced the one two punch of Route 666, as we call it, and 495 -- DON'T. It will hurt your brain.
But this great news for us because we can get started in June, hopefully.
We're still working out the finances. Honestly, we can barely afford our bills right now, and another rent payment on top of ours is out of the question.
After emailing Other Cranio Sacral Therapist (or OCST), she agreed to meet with us on a barter basis. YES! I love a good barter.
Great. June is in the bag. Now for the rest of treatment, however long it might take. One step at a time, one step at a time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)