Sunday, March 12, 2023

Pre-op Appointment & Theo is Sick

Monday, March 6th:

Theo didn’t have school today since it is Casimir Pulaski Day! Never heard of him, but apparently it’s a holiday here in Chicagoland. We headed to Ottawa for a few errands. First, we saw Theo’s pediatrician, so he could get a pre-op physical. After his physical we headed over to the St Elizabeth hospital for some bloodwork labs. Theo only had to be poked once, so we were all very happy about that!


Next we headed out to the Starved Rock Regional Center where Theo attended Toddler School. I contacted his old teacher and DT, Ms Kelly, last week to see if she had a kid that could use Theo’s Special Tomato chair that he had recently grown out of. She did! We donated it to the school, so they could give it to the kid that needs it.

That afternoon I took Theo to PT. He did really well, but he had a good nap so that helps!

[It's tight!]

Theo had three observable seizures today.

Tuesday, March 7th:

We sent Theo off to school on the bus, but just a couple hours later I received a message from his aid. She told that they had Theo in his stander and he was looking a little pale and tired. They checked his blood pressure’s which were fluctuating a bit, so they took him out of the stander. She said he seemed happy and was playing with his iPad. I told her that he had a blood draw yesterday, so maybe that was making him a little extra tired. Theo seemed to perk up a bit later in the day and then after school I took him to OT.



That evening Josh and I listened in to a webinar on VNS. We learn a lot of new things and are now even more excited for him to get the procedure next week!


The Lakers retired Pau Gasol's jersey. He deserves it! 👏🏻👏🏻


It's going to be a crazy last few games! Hopefully the Lakers can sneak into the 6th spot and avoid the "Play-In" tournament!


Theo had eight observable seizures today.

Wednesday, March 8th:

As I put Theo on the bus I told him that he was going to ride the bus twice today. Since he doesn’t have therapy until later on Wednesdays, this is the only day of the week where Theo can ride the bus home. Theo had a good day at school, but when the bus driver dropped him off she told me that he was coughing on the bus. We were hoping it was just acid reflux because he had not yet pooped today. But I sent a message to his feeding/speech therapist and told her that he was coughing and we could Zoom to be on the safe side. She agreed that was a good idea. We got Theo to poop and then we Zoomed with Ms. Jen and Ms. Jeannine. Theo was tired during the session and fell asleep.



Theo only coughed a couple times after getting home, so we assumed the pooping took care of the issue and put him to bed as we normally did.

Star Wars Celebration is taking place in London this year, so my brothers are coming to our house so we can watch the live stream together. 




We'll have SWC on the big screen, YouTube reactions on the small TV, and Hogwarts Legacy set up on the medium size TV. AND we have a 7500 piece Millennium Falcon to build! The previous owners left a TV in the basement when they moved. We never used it and didn't even know how the picture would look. Josh wanted to test it out to make sure the video games would look good on it before my brothers came. He's such a good host!


Theo had four observable seizures today.

Thursday, March 9th:

The next morning Theo woke up and immediately started coughing. It was a deep, seal bark cough, so I called the school and let them know I was going to keep him home for the next two days. He was scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday and I was hoping that if I kept him home for a few days we could get him past this little cold and he would be ready for surgery. We started him on the nebulizer and improvised our own high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest with a massager and a pillow. We did those treatments ever four hours and also monitored his oxygen levels. I called our team at Lurie’s and told them that Theo was sick and we will probably need to cancel the VNS surgery. They told me to wait and see how the weekend goes, go see our pediatrician on Monday, and let them know after that if he is fit to have surgery. Josh called and made an appointment with Dr Dave at 10:15 AM on Monday.



I also called St Judes and cancelled the ultrasound and appointment with them that we had on Monday. I told them that he wouldn’t be better by then, but I would definitely reschedule when Theo was feeling better.

Theo was very, very tired today and slept a lot.


A carpenter came over today to check out our broken couch. He concluded that it was damaged during transport and delivered to us already broken. He said he would submit a report to Darvin and they would let us know what they want to do. He asked us if we liked the couches. We told him that we did and he suggested that we tell Darvin that we want him to fix the couches (“If I fix them they will never break again!”), they need to pay for that repair, AND we need to be compensated for the trouble. I thought that was a great idea!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all very similar. Theo continued to sleep a lot and we continued to give him nebulizer treatments and oscillation therapy every four hours (even at 3:00 AM). His oxygen levels continued to be in the low 90s when he was awake and high 80s when he was sleeping.



[We bought tulips and orchids from Costco. I hope the tulips will bloom soon!]





[How pretty!]

[A tiny bit of snow!]

I gave Theo a COVID test, just to make sure. We didn't want to go to the pediatrician or the hospital without knowing if he was positive. Luckily, he was negative.



On Sunday night I packed our bags. I knew there was a chance that Theo could be admitted to the hospital after we saw the Pediatrician. It's always best to be prepared!

[Right on the edge!]



Sunday, March 5, 2023

Domain Meeting, NuMotion Update, and Rare Disease Day

This week was a pretty normal week for us. Theo went to school and therapy every day, I continued my triathlon training, and Josh held the house together!

Monday, February 27th:

Theo learned about mummies during social studies and had a great day! The school got a new nurse last week, so he has been spending a lot of time with the kids getting to know them and their needs.

I found this company that makes diary-free and vegan food pouches. Theo seems to really like peaches, pineapples, and mangos right now. So, I made sure I picked out a bunch of fruity flavors for him to try.


Theo had seven observable seizures today.

The next morning (Tuesday, February 28th) we sent Theo off to school and then I got a call from NuMotion. We took Theo to a clinic back in November to get him some new equipment. I called a few weeks ago to get an update and they were still working on it. But then today they called to let us know that insurance denied our claim and we would have to pay out of pocket for the activity chair and bath chair. The activity chair is currently $4430.40 and the bath chair is $2466.40! AND that is with the discount that NuMotion will give us for paying cash. This just completely blows my mind. Insurance claims that these chairs are not medically necessary. Do they want to try to lift a wet, slippery, 60 lb kid out of the bathtub? Do they know how hard and scary that is? Nope. Looks like we are going to dish out $2400 so that my son can safely take a bath. Good thing we bought that second hand activity chair a couple of weeks ago. At least that will hold Theo over for a while.

[Art from school]

Speaking of chairs, we bought this one for Theo a few years ago. We are going to donate it to a child in need who attends Theo's old Toddler School in Ottawa. These chairs are ridiculously expensive (see above) and most families can't afford them if insurance won't pay. Hopefully this will help that child out.


And today (the last day of February) is Rare Disease Day. We love our zebra!



Theo had three observable seizures today.

Wednesday, March 1st:

Theo had such a busy day at school that he ended up sleeping through most of Feeding therapy. That's okay. It gave Ms. Jen and I a chance to catch up and come up with a new plan for Theo. We are both very excited about his progress!

Josh found this jewelry polisher and it worked so well! YAY!


You see that?! Lakers are just barely out of the Play-In! We'll get there!


Theo had three observable seizures today.

The next morning (Thursday, March 2nd) we put Theo on the bus, got ready, and then headed to his school for his Domain Meeting. This meeting takes place every three years (not to be confused with his yearly IEP meeting). We met with his teacher, school therapists, nurse, principal, and a few other ladies from the district. The meeting is mostly to talk about his progress and to see if anyone thinks he should undergo additional testing. Each person talked about their interactions with Theo and they all recommend that he not be tested at this time. Theo is soooo tired and has regressed so much this last year. We are all hoping that once he starts to come off the meds, he will get back to baseline and start to progress again. All of the therapist mentioned in their evaluations that Theo's fatigue is affecting his ability to participate in therapy and progress. We hope this will change soon! 🤞🏻🤞🏻

[Theo using buttons to say "more"]

Theo brought his favorite book, The Little Blue Truck, to school today to share with his friends. 



After the Domain Meeting Josh and I headed north so I could get my allergy shots and then we went to Costco and grabbed lunch. 

[Tulips and orchids from Costco]

Theo had nine observable seizures today.

The next morning (Friday, March 3rd) we put Theo on the bus and then prepared for some bad weather. We were right on the line between rain and snow, so they were forecasting we could get rain OR 1-4 inches of snow. Luckily, we got mix, but the roads were still pretty warm, so we didn't get any ice and everything melted quickly.

After school I took Theo to PT and we drove home without any issues.

Theo had six observable seizures today.

Weekend:

I had my longest workout of my triathlon training (so far) on Saturday. A 2 hr 40 minute bike ride with two 15 minute threshold intervals followed by a 25 minute jog. When I was done I felt great! I ate my three gel packs and drank plenty of water which helped. 


[Finished another program]

After my workout I made myself a protein shake and then promptly spilled it all over our beautiful rug! UGH! You gotta be kidding me! We tried out best to get the shake out of the rug, but our little spray bottle of cleaner wasn't cutting it. So, Josh ran to the hardware store and bought a fancy carpet cleaner while I moved everything out of the family room.




It works! Josh was able to get all the stains (new and old) out of our rug! YAY!


To go with our new couches we bought two new coffee tables. I love the dark wood!

Old tables:


Josh was mad that he has to modify/reinforce furniture that we purchase. Don't get him started on the new couches.


The darker tables are much better and contrast the couch and rug really well!


The couch guy from Darvin is coming on Thursday to evaluate the couches. It's just mind blowing that there is a chance that they may not fix or refund them because we signed for them. They literally delivered a broken custom made couch to our home and because we didn't notice immediately we may be stuck with it. 

Theo actually opened his mouth and asked for more food at dinner! YAY!


Theo had seven observable seizures on Saturday and four on Sunday.

I love this: