Babies Born ~ September 2007 #75

I just had the first session with the psych for W and she was amazing! The difference between her and the public health woman we saw last time were incredible. Last time the lady seemed to have absolutely no idea what she was looking at and could offer me no suggestions besides sitting on his hands to eliminate the constant hand licking. She never really talked to him or tried to find out the underlying issue, just wanted to slap a ASD label on him because then I would get some funding - no help at all. This lady took the time to listen and seemed genuinely interested in getting to the cause of the behaviour. I have been thinking for some time that it was SPD and anxiety, which are often good buddies. She said from the symptoms and behaviours that that was what she was thinking too, so next week we will have an OT appointment with a full sensory assessment and go from there. I am quite hopeful that we can find some strategies that will enable him to cope better without always operating at such a high stress level.

Coincidently, I was talking to his scout leader the other day who is giving up leadership at the end of the year to focus on her son and when I asked if he was alright she said he was getting assessed for SPD! We spent the next 15 minutes swapping tales of our boys and I think we both felt better for finding someone else who is living the same thing - kids that are amazing and perfect for everyone else but are a disaster to live with.

Oh Arte :leap: it is such a burden lifted when you find someone who knows their stuff and is the one looking out for your kid! I feel that way about the neurologist for Miss E. I know that he 'gets' it and he always takes the time with her (and us!).

YAY!!!

That's awesome news Arte.

Arte that is fantastic - and I bet it's a huge relief too after all that sustained non-helpfulness! I think you will be much better served in the private system - my experience with the public system is that it's only resourced to deal with the severe cases. I'm also so pleased that you've found someone who you can talk to who is living it as well, makes such a difference. xxx

Re the studies - sounds like a really sensible decision. Unreal that E is so close to going off to kindy! You won't know yourself once all three are at school :).

I LOL'd at shrinkying chip packets! As I remember it, it all started with the Twisties packets & they did at as an advertising thing. I remember kids going around with them on necklaces, keyrings, hanging off their school bags. I told DD1 about this and she looked at me like I have two heads. PMSL. Apparently you can shrinky anything with a recycling #6, which means that if you can find flattish clear bits (like the trays inside the bicky packets), you can draw on them with texta and cut them out and shrinky them just like regular shrinkydinks.

I have been on the lookout for #6 since you posted :) I told DH about the twisties packet earrings etc and he thought I was crazy!! I guess some of the awesomeness of the 80's didn't make it this far south lol

Yeah, I haven't found any #6s yet, either. I get excited every time I open a packet of biscuits though. More than usual, that is :p...

Hope all is well, and that people have made it through the snow! It's kinda sunny here this week, which is nice, but very, very cold. I'm dreaming of gas central heating...

I've just realised it's August and I'd better get planning a birthday party soon, or it won't happen...

MD, I think take away containers are made of #6. Good excuse to get some Chinese or Indian :)

BIL has a bra1n tum0ur. That explains why he has gotten progressively worse long after effects of the head injury should have stabilised and why he is so much worse than expected from the injury that he had. Apparently it was noted on the scan the night of the accident back in 2003 but no one followed it up, and was the size of a golf ball on a scan a few years ago but they misdiagnosed it as a second head injury from a bar fight several months prior. Pretty upsetting to think of the what ifs - if they had correctly diagnosed it a decade ago he might have had a life. Now it is big and even if they do no extra damage removing it then it has still irreparably damaged his personality/emotional control areas.

Edit, making post less googleable.

Crappers, Arte!! No-one followed it up?!!! How awful, not only the diagnosis, but the knowledge that comes with it. :hug: Are they likely to be able to remove it? Or can they use rads/chemo to shrink it? I know it's been in there a long time, but surely there can still be some healing & repair over time. Even if it sorts out his sleep cycles, there's a lot that restoring sleep can do. Maybe not back to his original self, but any improvement is a win. Massive hugs to the whole family.

They may be able to remove it, but he may not want that. It seems that incomplete resection followed by radiation will only statistically improves survival by a couple of years but the damage caused by the treatments risk making those extra years worse than what he already has. If they had acted years ago when it was small he would have had a better chance of complete resection and less chance of recurrence but that is unlikely now.

Oh arte that's just awful :(

oh arte! that is just horrifying. how can a specialist just forget about about a golf ball size lump on a brain?! i mean, that is to me still a blooming big thing to have in your head. wowsers.

how is BIL with the news?

I'm still reeling at that news, Arte - I can only imagine how he and the rest of the family are feeling - it's just one story too many of things that seem really obvious in hindsight being missed at the time when they needed to be paid attention to. We have such powerful machines and medicine and yet disease can still outwit them all. :( :hug: I really hope that now that this has been acknowledged, there is something that can still be done to improve the quality of his day to day living.

Weekend looming - looking like we'll get some sunshine (yay)! And don't tell anyone :shhh: but I *might* be about to head out for a spot of covert kitty-kat hunting just in case there's a little kitty at the animal shelter who needs a new home. :shhh:

oohhh! i would love to do some covert kitty hunting...goodluck MD!!!

Cover blown!!! Kitteh NoName now in residence! :D

WAHOO!!!! :dance: :leap:

I am counting this as a new addition to the September 07 family :lol:

Good work on finding a new feline friend!!

Yay for the new kittt MD. Z would love a kitten but I'm not ready for pets beside the fish lol

MD, congrats on the new kitten :) I love the name! I suspected that you would get one - I have never heard of anyone that goes out looking that comes home empty handed lol

I think BIL is doing alright with the diagnoses - he seemed alright the couple of times I have seen him. I think that despite the prognosis, there is a relief that there is actually a medical issue making him the way he is itms. However, diagnoses or not he still is who he is. They had a meeting in Auckland today that has been planned for a couple of months, tickets etc paid for and he has done the boost over night. He will rock up some time, but too late to catch the flight. Very frustrating. I don't see him taking any treatment for it because he can't even face a half hour meeting. I guess there isn't much hope of any improvement from the last few years, and presumably it will only get worse. At least knowing about the tumour will give IL's a reason for his behaviour which may make it easier to deal with.

The kids and I made a surprise party for MIL over the weekend and I just remembered how much work they are lol. I think that I might be able to deflect parties this year - the girls can take a morning tea to play centre and W is happy enough with a fun day with his friend when we visit north in the holidays.

Oz, well, all I can say is stick with the fish - a kitten really is a commitment. Oh the kitty-proofing that has been going on in this house this week LOL. She's still living in the study, but tomorrow she's having House Orientation 101, and we'll see how she goes with supervised doggy visits as well.

Arte, that's sweet doing a surprise party! Must be nice having the ILs close now. I'm all for a pared-down birthday, but we never did have a party for miss E last year. So I think she's expecting all the trimmings this year LOL.

All good here. I'm not sure if I actually had a busy week or whether it just seemed like it was full on account of all the kitty-patting that went on. LOL.