Yesterday we took Olivia to her first appointment with the new Pediatrician. I am still loving this Dr. and I love her approach of getting right into issues and not just waiting and seeing how things may or may not work out.
Olivia as I have admitted several times has been put on the back burner with her issues, I am not proud of it....but I am human and I can only handle a few major events at a time. Generally, Edwin and Tobey fill up our lives with those major events. Anyway, Edwin and Tobey are in a good place and we figured we could finally help out Olivia with her issues and get her "officially diagnosed".
So, here is a little bit of a back story on Miss Olivia, Olivia used to be the most confident and outgoing child we had. If you know Emily, she was just like her. And then 2008 happened and we "lost" her. As a family with all the trauma that we went through we have defiantly come out as better people. But, Olivia did not....slowly she has become a weaker, less confident child who developed real issues.
Medically, Olivia has had intestinal blockage problems and has been in pull ups and had "accidents" for a while. Eddie and I have tried charts, bribing and even avoided some situations with this. Is it denial? Yep, probably I still have a problem admitting there is something wrong with my kids, as insane as I know that may sound with the boys. She may also have ADHD, Anxiety and to top it off some real sensory issues.
I feel better knowing what is wrong, that it is not our parenting. But, there is a huge part of my heart that just does not want to go down this road again. It is heartbreaking to think that 4 out of 7 kids has special needs. (Alison, has ADHD and sensory problems....become a non-issue anymore). I want to look at this with a light heart and say that Eddie and I are obviously a good combo for making unique children....just not there quite yet.
When I got to the appointment they gave me the forms to fill out for Asperger's (horrible name), which is the higher form of Autism (Temple Grandin has that one). With how much I deal with Autism you would think that I would not bat an eye with these forms, that I would be comfortable with yet another Autistic. Believe it or not, I panicked! I went back to that place of denial and part of me wanted to run out of that office...I was not prepared to hear "Your child as Autism" again as crazy as that may sound.
So, Miss Olivia has a long road ahead of her...first off the intestinal issue. She had X-rays yesterday to see how much of a blockage their is, she is on meds for it twice a day. There is a chance that part of her intestines may not regenerate and she may need surgery....right now we re not going to worry about that yet. We are going to concentrate on helping her with confidence and get the other problems officially diagnosed in the next few weeks.
And that is life at the Holstein's.....
Today, I am going to start my new duties as a house manager, so that will be fun. But, first I am off to the store to get a professional looking outfit and the stuff to make yet another chart for Olivia. I hope you have a great day and enjoy the snow! How freaking crazy is that? I am just sick of that stuff!
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