This is why this entry has been dubbed The Mish Mash.
So, to give some kind of semblance of organization, I'll go in chronological order. Sorta, this may jump around a bit.
Around the beginning of December we received a very large package from Kristy Botden. Kristy is the sister-in-law to Melissa Botden, a wonderful mother we met in the NICU at CHEO, and our friendship has only grown when things usually sputter out and become long and forgotten. Our friendship remained even after the death of Melissa's dear baebe, Dallas, and progressed regardless of our harried lives with Wyatt's disability. Melissa is a true friend, and that bond between us, seemed to affect her SIL as well. Kristy wrote a beautiful letter to us explaining how much she appreciated our friendship with Melissa and Phil, told us how she shares Wyatt's story as much as she can, and basically told us - I'm here for you, and I hope Wyatt gets better. It was a wonderful surprise. And December was full of surprises!
The third week in December, we received an email from an editor from NBCNews.com, asking if they can use Wyatt's story as one of the 'top' stories of the year, and because the editor had used our YouCaring.com fund in her piece, we received over $2000 in additional donations! These are people who will never meet us, and were giving $5 here, $50 there, and even two $500 donations!! It was amazing to see that kind of generosity, especially at the time of year when money is so tight for so many people. Once Wyatt is seen by all of his specialists, (we're still waiting on an Orthodontist to perform a TENS on Wyatt, as well as, an MRI on his brain), and IF his tests (MRI) come out normal (again), we will use the money to seek opinions outside of Canada. We have looked into two renowned children's hospitals, one in Texas and another in Boston. So, once again, we find ourselves in the waiting game...
We finally got a call in January, coincidentally after a nice piece done by CBC news on Wyatt, that Wyatt will finally be seen by a speech therapist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist. We saw all three specialists within the same week, and we came home with care plan, and received some really good answers to some tough questions. For instance, Andrew and I stopped doing mouth physio on Wyatt, because the physio would increase the risk of Wyatt being able to insert objects/food into his mouth, which we didn't want. So, we stopped. But, we also wanted Wyatt to learn how to swallow and speak, so how could we get around this? Well, it turns out, according to OT and Speech, that if we want Wyatt to speak and eat, we need to do mouth physio on him. It's a risk we're just going to have to live with. Wyatt is older, and isn't so prone to shoving EVERYTHING into his mouth, but we still catch him trying to put certain things in there. Not pebbles. Or chicken.
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| One of the two awesome pjs made from his best bud Laura. She bought a regular zip up polar fleece, and inserted two holes, with piping sewn around them. One hole was placed near his ankle, for his 02 probe, and the second hole near his belly button, for this feeding extension! It even has a cute, little matching flap to hide the hole! |
Wyatt's Occupational Therapist gave us the green light to feed him orally, and her one recommendation was to not wipe the food away from his mouth as he is eating. Apparently, the whole eating process is incredibly complicated, and by introducing a foreign object/material into the process, it can throw Wyatt's focus on what he is trying to do. Makes sense doesn't it?
Wyatt's Speech Pathologist seemed to be quite happy with the amount of sounds he was making, and was also happy to learn that we have kept up with the American Sign Language (ASL). We bought this great sign language package from Baby Signing Time, which included DVDs, CDs, books and flash cards. Wyatt loves everything! I highly recommend any one of these products to parents whom are interested in teaching their child sign language. A big thank you goes out to the Military Family Fund: we would not be able to afford such a package, without your help!
Wyatt's Physiotherapist was just smitten with his gait: he was symmetrical, well-coordinated and was able to pull himself up with assistance. He was five months delayed for walking, which she wasn't concerned about, as you only start to worry once the child has turned 2 years of age. She had estimated that he would be walking by the end of the week. In the end, it would take Wyatt an additional four weeks before he took his first steps.
On Tuesday, February 10th, Wyatt took his first steps in front of his pediatrician, Dr. Issa. It was such a momentous occasion, but it was a little bit confusing at first. Dr. Issa was sitting on a chair, bent over, speaking to me (squatting down to be at Wyatt's height, who was cruising at the time) and we were guiding Wyatt between each other, not *quite* letting go of him. And then it happened. Wyatt was in my arms, facing me, he turned himself around, and let go of my extended arms, and walked into Dr.Issa's!!
Me: Those were his first steps!
Erin (Nurse coordinator): Really?!?
Dr.Issa, nonchalantly: "Oh yeah?"
Turns out, Dr.Issa thought it was Wyatt's first steps taken in CHEO, but not his actual I-just-hit-a-major-milestone-first-steps. Once the confusion was cleared up, there was ecstatic squealing (I could only imagine those outside of the room's closed doors thought when they heard the racket coming from our room), and tears. It was such a great way to end a doctor's appointment. I am so happy that Dr. Issa and Erin were a part of such an important, and long-awaited milestone. They are two very important people in our family. I'm certain Dr. Issa has saved Wyatt's life simply by intervening with her medical foresight.
So, I've quickly gone through three months of topics that I really wanted to touch upon, and I really hope my next blog isn't a month or two later; rather a week so later, which has always been my intention! I've also added some new pages to Wyatt's website, whatswrongwithwyatt.com, so make sure to check those out in the Timeline section!
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