Few and far between

It's been about 6 month's since my last update.. our life has been ridiculously busy! Bailey had a wonderful summer and on June 30th 2012 Bailey became a big sister to baby Addison Jayne :)

She is a GREAT big sister, she loves to help with feeding her, getting her diapers, and she loves to "play" with her and make her smile.

Bailey continued to have PT, OT, & ST throughout the summer at Howard County General Hospital, she loves it there and often doesn't want to leave when it's time to go. I'm so greatful that she can recieve outpatient therapy!

She took her very first vacation to Nana & Grandpa Steve's WITHOUT Mommy and/or Daddy! She had a blast and is still talking about it!

She turned 4 years old on August 21st, we had a small birthday party at our home with some family and she was so excited. She even picked out her own dress to wear!

Bailey was very anxious to start Pre-K at the end of August, she loves her teachers and has been earning her "Gordy Bucks" to get prizes! I love listening to her tell us all about her day when she gets home! She always seems so excited! I hope the thrill for school lasts for awhile :P

We decided to get Bailey put back in AFO's after 6 month's without them because she was falling frequently and starting to hunch over to keep her balance while walking. We picked them up at the beginning of the month, she picked them out this time and some sparkley shoes to go with them! She does have a slight curve in her back that they are monitoring and her hips are pretty tight so they are asking for more hip stretches BUT she's been walking with her back straight again! Well worth it!

Now for the real reason why I haven't updated in quite awhile... As everyone know's Bailey had a muscle biopsy done back in April and I was waiting for the results before I posted an update. We have gotten all of the results except for the one from the Mitochondrial Lab in New York. We do have some significant findings BUT we are awaiting the last results to put all the pieces together so that NIH can give us the diagnosis they have been thinking of. Have I said before waiting really sucks? Especially when it comes to your childs life! We are due back at NIH in December and this time around Baiely AND Addison will see PT and get muscle ultrasounds. They are looking at Addie just to make sure she doesn't have the same damage as Bailey does. I have no reason to believe she does but I am still extremely nervous that they will find something and turn my world upside down all over again! Steven & I are also going to give blood that day, Bailey is apart of a special gene study where they are going to look at all of her indivudual genes and are also going to comapre them to ours!

Bailey is also due back at MDA clinic in December for follow up!

I will update as results come in and things change!

It's been awhile!

It's been nearly 2 months since my last blog post, we have been so BUSY!



Bailey ended up in the hospital for 4 days shortly after my last blog post. She was very sick with a cold but we had trouble keeping her fever under 104 and with her history of metabolic crisis they decided it would be best she stay. She ended up being just fine and recovered well!

She had an Upper GI done at the end of March to look at what may possibly be causing her to choke. All that showed up but was several episodes of reflux! So she's been steady on her meds since Feb. and the choking has improved so far! *fingers crossed*

Bailey & I took a nice Spring Break to NC, it was nice to forget about doctors appointments and procedures for a week! Bailey really enjoyed being there as usual!



Shortly after we came back from NC it was surgery time! On April 13th Bailey had an open muscle biopsy on her right leg. They took 4 pieces of muscle and a piece of skin to be sent away for several different tests! The surgery went well! She was admitted the night before for overnight fluids and able to go home 4 hours after surgery was over! We will get SOME of the results in June and the rest as they come in! Hoping for answers.. any kind!

3 day's after surgery Bailey had her follow up appointment at Shriners in Philly and we met with a different hand doctor there as well. Dr. vB built up the bottom of her right shoe to try and train her stubborn foot to stay straight along with the small brace she wears. It works well until she is shoe-less! Her left foot is still looking pretty good!! I loved the hand doctor he was very informative and told me things I NEVER knew! There are several surgical options for Bailey's hands and 1 for her shoulder that could be done to increase her functionability BUT her muscles are far too weak that he thinks it would end up being more harmful than helpful! He said she may eventually get strong enough for them but if not she will get stronger as she gets older! He said she is doing wonderful even though there are things she can't do right now and to focus on the positive! I really liked him and will see him again in a year!

Bailey has been having evaluations for outpatient therapy at Howard County General Hospital lately! Ever since September when she quit getting home services and only receiving services at pre-school she hasn't shown significant improvement and therapy plays a HUGE role in how she gets around and does things in her everyday life. So I took it upon myself to find her additional therapy and finally it's done! She will be getting PT, OT, & ST Tuesday's & Thursday's indefinitely! I'm SO happy! She will still get her services at school as well!

Thursday she has her post-op check up, so hopefully her leg is healing well and all is good in that area!



Other than that Bailey is doing pretty well! Still going to pre-school when she doesn't have to miss days for appointments or being sick(which is constant). She is still her sassy almost 4 year old self, growing up fast and very anxious about becoming a big sister in July!

Sorry for the book, I will try not to leave so much time inbetween posts!

Bring on the Spring!

Hello March 1st!

Bailey has had a few things going on lately!

She's 3ft 2in & 31lbs! Growing so fast!

Her choking episodes seem to be back in action. She choked 4 times last week, one resulting in a call to 911. It isn't seeming to happen while she's eating or drinking but random and afterwards she seems to have quite a bit of saliva in her mouth. It's very scary so we brought it up at her Genetics appointment on Monday. Her doctor looked in her mouth and noticed that her throat was extremely red and irritated! Her thought was that Bailey's reflux is back and causing her to choke. She e-mailed GI and we went there on Wednesday! They aren't sure that it's reflux because other than her throat still being very red and irritated she shows no other reflux symptoms. They put her back on her meds, made her an ENT appointment, and are debating on repeating a swallow study, upper GI, or endoscopy to take a look.

We FINALLY got a surgery date for her muscle biopsy! April 13th! They have decided that it would be best if she is admitted the night before so she can remain on IV fluids through the night and no fasting will be necessary that way. Too afraid of a hypoglycemic episode to occur. She is getting a piece of muscle cut out of her thigh to be sent for testing and some to be kept for further testing later on. It will be a pretty big size cut and she will need stitches but she should be able to go home after the surgery is done as long as no problems arise.

We are actively trying to get Bailey into outpatient therapy because we (and her doctors)think her stand still in speech and some other things may because she receives so little therapy at school! They also want her to go 60 days with no therapy over summer and that is unacceptable! I found a place that will take her and we are waiting on getting orders from her Pediatrician.

We follow up next Friday (My Birthday!) at Shriners since she finished casting! I personally think she needs put back in AFO's! She was much more stable with them and since she has been without she's been falling all over the place and skinning her knee's up! Her feet are turned in and casting seems like it was HUGE waste of time and put her back instead of forward but we'll see what happens!


Until next time... :)

Accomplishments!

((*Updates*))

((Bailey's new hair cut! She donated 10 inches to Locks of Love))

Bailey finished serial casting on her right foot on January 20th! Her foot was very sensitive to the touch and very sensitive to bear weight on. After almost 2 weeks of being cast free she finally started to walk independently again. She is still a little unstable and her foot doesn't look so good to me but she is back to walking and soon she will be able to go on the school bus without her Cruiser.

Within the last week Bailey has given up her Ninny. Bailey has been very attached to her ninny her whole life. In the last year we only allowed her to have it at night time or if she was sick but at almost 3 1/2 years old it was time to get rid of it all together. The first night was very rough with alot of tears but it got easier every night after that!



We have also been working very hard at potty training her! She has done extremely well with only 1 or no accidents a day! She has been wearing pull ups to school and big girl underwear at home! We are trying to find ways for her to pull her pants up herself, she can get them down but her hand strength just doesn't allow her to pull them back up!

In the last 5 months since Bailey has been in pre-school she mastered drinking from an open cup! So now as long as we are home she drinks from an open cup that's half full and she doesn't spill or gulp!



We are so very proud of all of her accomplishments! She is making lots of progress in a small time frame!

Up coming things:

- We are still awaiting Bailey's muscle biopsy to be scheduled!

- We have Bailey's 2nd parent/teacher conference and IEP meeting to discuss her getting services over summer!

- She has a GI appointment this month because her feeds will officially be over after slowly weaning her since her hospital stay in August! Hopefully she will not go into metabolic crisis!

- I am still trying to get Bailey outpatient Physical & Occupational therapy! She receives therapy at school but it is just not enough!

International Day of Acceptance

January 20th, 2012, is the 3rd annual “International Day of Acceptance.” This day of celebration and advocacy was created by the people at 3E Love in order to celebrate who we are as disabled citizens. Disability pride awareness focuses on the abilities, not disabilities, of each person.