Just an Update

I apologize already for the pretty lame post that is about to be written. Not too many exciting things have been happening here (thank goodness), and I thought I'd update friends and family of the regular going ons...

-We have an appointment this week with the Allergist for Darby! Since we cut strawberry out of his diet, he hasnt had any more giant breakouts of hives. He does still have them. They are very very slowly fading... and he gets the occasional new one. But he is definitely not as bad as he was earlier this month. I think we're going to be getting a scratch test, as well as a blood draw. We've also avoided peanuts because he seems to get itchy lips when he had peanut butter, so we'll probably have that added to the gamut of tests.

-We've put in the referral for his Pediatric Orthopedist, but it hasn't come back yet. Our ped said the guy he was going to refer us to is ... interesting. He said that many patients either rave about how much they love him, or complain about how much they hate him. This should be interesting. Either way, its time to get real fitted orthopedics for darb's feet/legs. He's been using a great generic brand that only cost us about $130. These sound like they'll be about $3,000. Can i hear a WOOT WOOT for insurance? yes.

-That brings me to his dynavox. We're still toying with that idea. I think the foundational problem that i'm having with Darby is the lack of motivation to communicate. He knows how to say EAT, DRINK, etc... but he doesnt come up to me and say those things. He just starts to cry or whine and we have to just ask him or try things out until he stops. I think we are going to try to use more real pictures and have him do more pointing. His sign language has really picked up this week, and we really like the idea of that. The only problem is that not everyone in the world knows sign language! I went through his sign language flash cards and took out all the ones he really knows, I then attached them to his diaper bag so that when he goes to the church nursery on sunday, the workers can have a reference. MORE and ALL DONE are probably the most important ones that people need to learn about.

-Jason and I also discussed the idea of getting darby an iPad. His own. In talking to his speech therapist, she said that for roughly $1000 we'd get all that we needed. There are a lot of AAC applications now that you can use on the iPad. Maybe with the new iPads coming out, and the camera function, the apps might become more functional (using real pics instead of graphics). The apps cost around $300. We have insurance on accidental damage to electronics, so it might be a good idea. It's possible that we only have $5000 to spend with insurance money on medical items, so we'd end up spending a whole lot out of pocket if we got the dynavox and the new orthopedic shoes... but possibly iPad would be a better solution. Goodness... I can see it now, Darby with his own iPad strapped to the stroller. I already get funny looks when we walk around with his music therapy headphones on. HA!

I think that's about it for now. I have a couple orders I need to go sew!