Tomorrow's Possibilities

Tomorrow is a big day. The administrator, the school counselor and the dean from Jared's school are meeting with Dr. Champagne. They want to discuss various curricula and what would be beneficial for the school. As I mentioned before, the school currently uses a pretty tough curriculum that doesn't necessarily work for kids with neurological disorders. What a blessing to know that the school is willing to look into possibilities for change! They haven't even seen Dr. C.'s formal report regarding Jared (he still has many more subtests until it's complete), yet they want to meet with her... based solely on what I have told them!

Also, Jared will be meeting with a gentleman, who's name escapes me. It's at Dr. C.'s office, so it's someone she works alongside. It's a one hour test, primarily to target neurological deficiencies. I was told I could sit in on the test. I'm a little nervous. What if he's wired from "clown day" at school and doesn't do well? What if he's too tired by 2pm and doesn't answer all the questions? Is this the one test that classifies him for the rest of his life?  My mind is swimming, yet again.

I am hoping for many good things tomorrow.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. Isaiah 26:4 (NIV)

Uncomfortable Eye

Because I'm a piano teacher, I have seen many ways that children respond to hard or uncomfortable situations. If a song gets tough, one might stop to use the restroom. Another might ask for water. Another might start popping her wrist joints, or even her chin. I've seen kids start playing with their noses. I have seen the occasional fist pounding, but most of the "tells" are subtle... or at least the kids think they are.

At Jared's first appointment with Dr. C., he started rubbing his eye. I wondered if she had a cat and he was allergic. She said she didn't have a cat. His eye got so bad, I had to flush it with water and hold a compress to it. The next time at Dr. C.'s his eye started reacting the same way. My mom noticed his eye a few days later, and wondered about the big purple bruise-like area. I said that was from him rubbing it a lot. I figured that he must be allergic to something at Dr. C.'s office. That was my belief, until yesterday's meeting with the school district.

The school district evaluator said, "He kept rubbing his eye. He's never done that before. I wondered if he was allergic to something in my office." Interesting. When the testing gets too uncomfortable for Jared, does he rub his eye?

Look at the crossing of the hemispheres!

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Bringin' APD Awareness to the 'Hood

Jared has an appointment with the evaluator at the school district today. Why? Aren't his weeks already filled with half day appointments with a real doctor evaluating him? That is the question. Here's my answer.

I have been waiting for the evaluator's assessment of Jared for weeks. But, since we mentioned APD to her (a disorder that she is not familiar with), she decided to do some research and delay it. I think that's pretty cool. To me, that means she could possibly help other children in that school if she knows about this disorder... the disorder that most experts believe 1 in 10 kids have. Therefore, she has brought the "first ever" processing test to that school's campus. She said she received it from a speech pathologist and wants to run through it with Jared. She said that, according to public school standards, Jared is within normal parameters with his verbal, listening, spelling, and everything-else-she-tested-him-in skills. Isn't that crazy? I know something is wrong. His teachers from preschool to now know that something is wrong, but our school system says he's fine, for his age.  I mean, Dr. C. told us our child can never even learn how to read without a very specific phonics program for children with neurological disorders! And, I believe it! To the person who doesn't know about other processing disorders, Jared seems like he has dyslexia. Can you imagine teaching a kid with dyslexia how to read?

My second answer is that it's only an hour and it's about a 1/2 a mile from my house. The evaluator is one of the nicest people I've ever met. She's a joy to see. Jared loves her. What will it hurt? If it can bring awareness to the school district, I'm in!

This past weekend we were in Corpus Christi at a conference. I met a mother of an 8 year old autistic boy and she and I had a nice conversation about special needs children. When I mentioned that Europe seems to be unbelievably more advanced in research than the US, she said "everyone is". She would know! She started noticing her son was different 6 years ago and she's constantly researching ways to help. She said the US believes in incorporating special needs children in with all the others... just go with the flow. But that doesn't usually work for those children. She's noticing that now.  You could hear the sadness in her voice.

So, maybe there are 3 reasons... probably many more. The main one is that I want to bring awareness to those around me. And, if I can help bring awareness to my school district, bring on today's test!

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. Jeremiah 17:7 (NIV)

Log Jam

Good news! Jared’s tests with Dr. C. went really well yesterday. He completed 9 subtests! I don’t know how many subtests, of the 36, we have left. I heard some of the tests and quietly cheered him on from the other room. Yesterday was the most hope-filled day of tests I’ve had. Woohoo!

Dr. C. explained it this way: When she was in Alaska, she saw this stream that was jammed by a whole bunch of logs. She watched a man go up to a hill and stare down at all the logs jamming up the flowing water. He stood there for 2 hours. Then he came down and removed one log… one specific log… and all the other logs freed up and the stream was free flowing again. She compared this to Jared. She said that all these things she’s bringing up with us (i.e. he can’t sequence, he mixes up his letters, he can’t hold information, etc.) are symptoms. They are just a bunch of logs that are blocking the flow. We don’t heal everything we see. We don't heal every symptom. Just like if you were to merely start picking up logs, the water wouldn’t start flowing. There won’t be any change. You have to find the right log.

She said that many kids in schools are diagnosed with spelling problems. The school helps them work on their spelling and they are 90% helped. But the spelling is not the root problem. Spelling problems are caused by a root issue like visual and memory processing. We are trying to find the root issue within Jared. What a relief that we don't have to fix all his symtoms, just find the right log! I truly believe we can do that with Dr. C. She is such a blessing to us!

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. Jeremiah 17:7 (NIV)

The Clown’s Behavior

Today is Jared’s third appointment with Dr. Champagne since last Thursday.  And, for some reason, he has been horribly misbehaving this week. A behavior notice was sent home with him yesterday. He was not respecting another child’s personal space. If you know Jared, that’s not hard to imagine. He’s a hugger. He also gets up close to say, “What?” and “Huh?” But, the teacher told him to move away from the other child and he kept doing it. Also, he was ugly to another child. Apparently, this other child made fun of him because he was wrong about one of his letters being a “G” (that part of the story is Jared's version) and Jared said, “You’re a baby. I’m a big boy, I’m 6” and kept saying the other child was a baby.

For this 9 weeks, his behavior has been the best ever… until this week. I don’t know what’s going on with him. I talked with his teacher this morning, and she doesn’t know either. We’re not on new medication. His diet hasn’t changed. I don’t know if it’s spending 11 hours with Dr. Champagne this week or if it’s the unspoken stress in our household. We try to act like everything’s “normal”. We had a wonderful birthday party for his brother and he had a blast, as you can see:

Jared is the class clown. He has taken on that role. I believe it’s one of his coping mechanisms with his disability. This morning, I heard three kids call him “Silly Jared”. When we were in carpool, with the windows down, I heard a little girl tell her mom, “That’s crazy Jared over there”. He does these weird faces, which results in laughter from the other boys and girls. Yet, he mentioned again today that the other kids are making fun of him and laughing at him. When I talked to Jared about him seeking their reactions and laughter, he didn’t seem to get it. If he’d be less silly, he’d get less laughter. The other kids might think he’s being “silly” when he doesn’t say his words correctly or names the wrong letter. Who knows? I’m really hoping his behavior improves and we can all have a much better week next week!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NIV)

Stress and the Emergency Room

This week is a highly stressful week of meetings and travel. You don't want to see our schedules. They're insane. Both Ray and I are constantly rushing from meeting to meeting and city to city. If I add in our unexpected financial obligations, it can definitely bring me down. Just yesterday, a friend and I were discussing financial woes. Her family has some financial hardships, as well, and we were wondering what God was showing us through this time. Just after that conversation,  I found out that Ray would not be furloughed this Friday, which had been originally anticipated. He will be receiving a paycheck for (at least) the next 2 weeks. I thought, "Woohoo! That's right! We're going to get through this! Things could be worse."

Yesterday I had 2 serious health episodes. For the past 16 years I have had intestinal issues. I don't know what causes them, but my doctors have always believed they were stress related. I experience a severe pain in my lower intestine which immediately drops my blood pressure and usually results in losing consciousness. Yesterday morning was my worst episode yet. I don't even know how long I was passed out. I just remember a period of 40 minutes that I was conscious one moment and unconscious the next.  I was drenched in a pool of sweat and it was the longest episode I've had, thus far.  About 20 minutes later, I had another one. I've never had more than one a year, and sometimes, only one every 3 years. They usually don't last long, so I just figured this is my life. I feel them coming and I know to drop to the floor and suffer through. However, my dad's brother died of an intestinal aneurysm a couple years ago and I recently found out his son, my cousin, just had part of his intestine removed. Therefore, I've decided that, even if it relates to stress, I really need to see a specialist. That's on my list of things to do.

As I was driving to Austin today for an Army meeting, I couldn't seem to reach Ray on his cell phone. I wanted to meet up with him before the meeting. When I finally reached him, he told me that a couple hours earlier, he had experienced some chest pains and went to the medical facility on Camp Mabry. They immediately rushed him, by ambulance, to the Seton emergency room because they thought he had a mild heart attack. Yes. Heart attack. When I was with him in the ER this afternoon, the doctor said that he didn't think it was a heart attack, however, his valve could be 90% blocked and then became totally blocked and then went back to 90% block. Nevertheless, he'll be meeting with a cardiologist in the morning.

When the doctor was talking to us about schedules and possibly admitting Ray for the night, we both were so stressed. No, this is Ray's only night home... he can't stay in a hospital. He has to pack for the next 4 days - 2 ceremonies, commander conference, etc. After interviewing 4 people that must be interviewed tomorrow, he has to rush back to SA and then drive to Houston in the afternoon and then on to Corpus on Friday. And, I have an early appointment tomorrow, then rush to pick up Jared and spend 4 1/2 hours with Dr. Champagne and then pick up and drop off Ray and then rush the boys to soccer practice. It was like our heads were saying, "You don't understand! We don't have time for a heart attack! Are you crazy?" I know that sounds ludicrous but it's hard enough to keep our schedules going this week.

You would think that our serious health issues during the past 35 hours would slow us down. We do plan to slow down. Unfortunately, it may have to wait until Monday. I am definitely trying to slow my mind down and focus on Someone much more important than our crazy schedules.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^? Matthew 6: 25-27 (NIV)

Celebrating Life

There is nothing like seeing the joy in your kids' faces when they blow out their birthday candles. It's nice to know that, through all of this, I can still feel so blessed!

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him. Psalm 34:8 (Mes)