Only a Matter of Time

Somehow I knew this day was bound to come.

Today was the day.

"Mama, I want patch, too!"

OK, darlin' go pick one out.  Do you want it on your left eye or right eye?  OK - there it is.  What?  You want one on the other eye, too?  Okie dokie!

"Mama . . . . . . beautiful!!!!!!"

Yup, my sweetness, you are beautiful!

Diagnosis for Zabi

OK - I have to admit that I have been begging for an answer to "what is causing my daughter to have so much difficulty in communicating?".  What I wasn't prepared to hear was that her speech pathologist finally came to the conclusion that Miss Zabi exhibits all the signs of what I suggested to the professional 1 1/2 years ago! D.U.H.!!!!  So now what?


What is childhood apraxia of speech?

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but his/her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words. 

• Does not coo or babble as an infant
• First words are late, and they may be missing sounds 
• Only a few different consonant and vowel sounds
• Problems combining sounds; may show long pauses between sounds 
• Simplifies words by replacing difficult sounds with easier ones or by deleting difficult sounds (although all children do this, the child with apraxia of speech does so more often)

• Makes inconsistent sound errors that are not the result of immaturity
• Can understand language much better than he or she can talk
• Has difficulty imitating speech, but imitated speech is more clear than spontaneous speech 
• May appear to be groping when attempting to produce sounds or to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw for purposeful movement
• Has more difficulty saying longer words or phrases clearly than shorter ones
• Appears to have more difficulty when he or she is anxious
• Is hard to understand, especially for an unfamiliar listener
• Sounds choppy, monotonous, or stresses the wrong syllable or word 
• Delayed language development
• Other expressive language problems like word order confusions and word recall 
• Difficulties with fine motor movement/coordination
• Over sensitive (hypersensitive) or under sensitive (hyposensitive) in their mouths (e.g., may not like toothbrushing or crunchy foods, may not be able to identify an object in their mouth through touch)
• Children with CAS or other speech problems may have problems when learning to read, spell, and write
• 
  
• We don't know what our sweetie did or did not do as an infant, but at 4.8 years old, we do know that she said less than 10 words in her native language.

Update and Pies

First the important news - 

My friend, Denise, has not only left ICU, but she is now HOME!

She is wearing a pacemaker unit just in case her heart decides to go willy-wonky again, but she is with us and recuperating beautifully!

THANK YOU, God!!!!!

THANK YOU, friends, who have prayed for her over these past few weeks.

The WA State School for the Blind had some local bakery chefs come in and work with the kids to make some pies yesterday.  Even though JiJi is not a physical student at the school, we are still welcome to participate in any of their events, so we hustled our little tails down to town yesterday to join the fun.

Well, Zabi and Chicka had fun - JiJi did NOT appreciate the cold, sticky texture of the dough and wanted NO part of it!

We were able to bring the pies home and baked one up last night - scrumptious deliciousness!

Tuesday Update on Denise

This is the update that I received this morning - I am headed up to visit her in just a bit.


Thank you, Jesus, for allowing us more time with this special soul!


She is so much better!!!  Still has a ways to go – still has pneumonia, and her chest is very sore (probably from CPR compressions); so it hurts to cough.  She is off the vent,  and they were just starting some feeding (apple sauce, ice chips).  Very slowly.  She is talking some, a little hard to understand sometimes, but getting better by the hour.  Her sense of humor is very evident, and she wants to get out of there.   She seemed glad to see everyone.  She doesn’t remember what happened, or even some time before.

Earrings

Yup.  Sweet girl finally convinced the mama to let her have her ears pierced.

Whaaaaat????? You mean every one of the girls in this household have pierced ears except for MEEEEEEE????  Oh, this will never do!  She ran around checking everyones ears.

"mama - earrin's" while she stretched those little 7 year old lobes till they hurt ME!

"OK, OK my little doodlebug, let's go do it!"

She cried real tears and looked ever so distraught until I whispered into her ear that she was beautiful.  It was as the sun bursts through a dark cloud - the downturned corners of her mouth suddenly shot up into her famous big grin as she pulled in a big breath and echoed breathily -

"beeeeautiful, mama!"

That's my girl.

Beautiful!

Update

THANK YOU, ALL for your continued prayers for my friend, Denise.  Here is the update that I received today -


She woke up and can move her arms and legs.  Arms still a bit weak, but getting better by the hour.  Pneumonia is better.  She is still on vent but is alert and can indicate yes and no by nodding her head.  She really hates the breathing tube, it is very uncomfortable and tends to cause gagging and coughing paroxysms.  She will hopefully come off the vent and tube later this morning.  She has to pass 2 breathing tests before they will remove it.  She is restless and wants to get up and go.  Really great progress in the past day!!!


I am headed north to visit her tomorrow, please keep her, her family and the medical staff in your prayers.

Please Join my Prayers

The Power of Prayer

Please join me in praying.

Please?

My good friend, Denise.

We have been friends since we were 7 - yup that is, ahem, nearly 50 years now.

Her husband had to use the axe to get to her this week after she collapsed in the bathroom.

The medical staff can't figure out why she is not responsive.    There is no indication of a stroke.  No blockages.  No heart damage.

They tried to remove the ventilator but didn't.  She has pneumonia now but it is not getter worse.

That is all I know.  But it is scary.  My friend.

Please pray for her full recovery.  Pray for her family - her husband, her three sons and all the extended family.  Pray for the medical staff doing everything they can to bring this woman back to us.

Please.