Saturday, August 21, 2010

Update! Moved... and Say What?!

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It's been 5 months since I last updated in here.   Normally I'm pretty good about keeping up on my blogging/updating ...  but since March we made a major move from Wisconsin to Washington state and another move into our own place...  trying to get settled (still trying to get settled) and trying to get established here with Doctors and Specialists...  trying to determine what is "more important" to do first...

At the end of April, before we left Wisconsin, Nathan was diagnosed with Russell Silver Syndrome...  my reaction...  "FINALLY" .... and "Oh, no" ....... it's hard to know that your child has something, deep down, and still not want it to be true.  We are thankful, don't get me wrong, to finally have that diagnosis and be able to get him the help that he needs and deserves.  But it's never what you want for your child, it's never what you want to hear.  We had stopped the autism testing, knowing we'd probably have to start all over again once we got here, and sure enough, that's the case.  The paperwork is all turned in for that to start up, but it's going to be 3 or 4 months ...  I don't mind that.  I still kinda go back and forth on the whole thing but over all, I am almost positive he's going to end up being on the spectrum somewhere.  Not typical autism, but somewhere on the more social end.   He also had to have oral surgery since we got here.  I went through all that in my other blog instead of here, which I normally don't do.  It's why I have this blog, to talk about all the medical stuff here, however I barely have time to write in one blog let alone two.... or five.... muahahhaa...  so


I first mentioned it here:  Nathan's going into surgery ...and... Thursday Random Babyness ... I updated with pictures here:  Nathan's Oral Surgery Update ....  and showed off his new teeth here: New Teeth and a Visit to School .....   We went to endocrinology this past week to discuss Nathan's thyroid issues and his RSS.  Took Noah along for the ride, and found out that he's growing well - YAY - but he may have hypothyroid issues like Nathan, only with Noah, he actually is gaining a little weight.  It took forever for him to hit 30lbs, and 35lbs...  and NOW he's about 45lbs!   HGH was discussed for both of them, and just like several years ago with Noah, when it was discussed, and put off to be addressed again down the road.  They are happy with Noah's growth right now.  He's ACTUALLY ON THE CHART!  Yay!!   Nathan on the other hand is no where NEAR being on the chart .... so he will be starting HGH here soon :(   We have to go through training and wait for insurance stuff to make decisions, but we'll be starting soon.  I'm both happy about this, and nervous.  I'm happy because it will hopefully work for Nathan.  I have talked to some other RSS families, and it seems to work well.  As long as it's all monitored, there are very little side effects.  One child is now 13, has been on HGH for 7 years and is the same size as his peers.  That's all I can hope for Nathan.  Noah, I'm happy to announce, has gotten to a point where he doesn't have major anxiety about needles.  As long as it's not a shot, and it's a blood draw, he can do well.  This last time, I explained to him that it was a blood draw and that's it... and he didn't cry at all!  Not one single freak out, not a single tear. 

In other news... I had talked before about Nathan having some mild Scoliosis and apparently Calahan does too, he had to have an x-ray done and sure enough... he also has mild Scoliosis.... 

AND..... we are not homeschooling this year, we've decided to (as a family) try the schools out here.  We've heard that they are really good and don't allow bullying period (as in they actually follow through with the "No Tolerance" rule, not just say it like WI did) ... 

We went to both the leading children's clinics in this area....   Seattle Children's we went to for Urology ... Here are some of the photos we took there...
Seattle
Nathan (infront) and Kaedyn...  in the Cadillac of strollers :)
Piggy Bench....
(looking from above) ... a little Whimsical Garden.... 
I'm taking the picture from the 6th level, the guy in blue with the little girl are walking on the 5th level and the check in desk in the near the whales mouth is on the 4th floor (and happened to be where we were going)
Whales from the 4th floor check in desk

The elevators were set up like submarines complete with animals peeking in... 
This is walking into the cafe, and knowing how much my oldest loves Orcas .. I had to take a picture...

And we went to Mary Bridge in Tacoma for Endocrinology, Nathan's Autism clinic is going to be there too once they get around to getting to him.  LOL....   I really liked his Endocrinologist. 
Nathan was automatically drawn to the fountain. 

We thought that the animal shaped hedges were awful cute...
There were flowers all over ....
We got up to the front of the clinic and noticed the front of a boat sticking out of the window...  how funny...
Noah liked the round cushion chairs.........

Both places were VERY kid friendly ....  I didn't get pictures of either waiting rooms but both were set up very kid friendly with lots of activities, I think Seattle Children's more so then Mary Bridge, but both were great.  We only saw small areas of each place. 

I guess that's it for now.  Hopefully I can get back into the habit of updating!