Thursday, May 10, 2012

How to begin......?

I don't think I'm a natural blogger but I think I need to get the thoughts out of my head. I'm hoping by writing it all down it may also help another Mum going through a similar situation. It has been so hard to find blogs written by Mums with special needs children, maybe we are all too busy! I have 3 gorgeous kids a boy J nearly 6 a girl A nearly 4 and a baby girl just turned one. I wanted to start blogging a few years ago when I started on my long journey with A. So many thoughts so little time. Well better late than never. My daughter A about 4 months when we noticed a few small issues. She wasn't putting on weight and she started having dietary issues. We had a great paediatrician who helped us along the way. He sent us off for lots of tests. While A was still meeting milestones she was increasingly upset and grumpy. We had ultrasounds, Xrays and blood tests. Allergy tests did show a mild reaction to milk so at 8 months I stopped breastfeeding and she went onto Neocate. A special dairy free formula. While it didn't fix everything she did start putting on weight. At one we went and saw out child health nurse where I bought up my concerns. She was nearly walking but had no words and didn't even try to sign or gesture to communicate. After completing a survey of milestones she was referred of the child development centre. She was not developing at the right rate. At 16 months we finally got our appointment to get her assessed. She was just starting to say Mum or Dad but often got upset when she couldn't get her point across. She was a clumsy child who often bumped into things but she has a definite stubborn streak. If she wants it or wants to do something she will make it happen. After we saw the full team of specialists they agreed she was needing therapy to bring her up to date but also to undergo more testing to find the cause for her developmental delay. A few months later we went off to Princess Margaret Hospital to get a MRI under general anesthetic. It was a long wait and painful process. Even worse was waiting 12 months to get the results!! Yes twelve months We saw the neurologist who told us she had mild ataxic Cerebral Palsy. Only 10% of suffered have this type of CP. Well where to now...?

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