FAVORITE QUOTES:

"BE WHO YOU ARE AND SAY WHAT YOU FEEL, BECASUE THOSE WHO MIND DON'T MATTER AND THOSE WHO MATTER DON'T MIND."

Friday, June 22, 2007

A great end to the week

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day, aside from working late but that was not even so bad.

I woke up yesterday and discovered 20 bucks in the pocket of my skirt, what a start eh…this justified my Starbucks coffee yesterday and today, thank god!!!!!
With ice coffee in hand Tatum and I sat out for the Genetics Doc. No more then 2 min’s after getting on the interstate I hear Tatum in the back seat yelling at me. I was minding my own business listening to the radio she had a bottle and a banana nut muffin so I had no clue what her deal could be. I turned around to evaluate the situation and Tatum is yelling (talking loud not crying) and gesturing to the car roof…. That little bugger wanted to watch Peter Pan!!! As soon as I pulled the DVD screen down she was quiet. This lasted all of 2 min’s. I think that must have been how long it took her to realize that she had the cartoon to watch but instead of the cute little voices she was hearing the morning radio show…again I got the gestures and loud noises until the sound to Peter Pan was also on. Look’s like Tatum next trick is mastering the headphones in the car.

Anyway…

We got to the doctors office and were shown right in. Dr. Rosenbum is awesome and very informative.
This was just her regular check up with him and he’ll see her again in 9m and from there he said it well be yearly…He wants to see her in 9m so her annual schdudle coincides with her birthday.

During the visit Tatum babbled climbed and crawled, she was laterally all over the place. She kept her glasses on some; by the end of the visitI hooked them to my shirt, figures.
She was 10% in height and weight on the regular scale and 50% on the WS growth chart this is pretty much where she has been for a while. 21.6 was her weight...

While talking with the Doctor he informed me of how lucky we really were with Tatum (heart issues aside) she has had no medical problems like many WS kids have. No calcium issues no scoliosis not even eating issues believe me we count are blessings everyday. Her eye problems, most likely associated with WS, are very common in any child and really would not have been an issue at all if her heart were healthy. He said heart is not making her sick at this point in her life it is just sick. To take a look at her she is the epitome of a healthy child. Although she is a bit delayed she is pressing forward with leaps and bounds in the development department right now. He suggested shoes with orthotics in them and told me a store to check out. We are going ot get on this about mid july, we agreed that would give her a little more time to countinue learning how her feet work.

The comment he made I found most interesting was also the best thing I had heard in reference to Tatum’s condition ever…

He said when he started doing this 35yrs ago he told all WS parents that there children would have some degree of mental retardation over the last 10 years he has found this to be untrue. He now tells parents that their children are going to have some degree of learning disabilities and maybe a degree of mental retardation but not all kids have this.
Going back to how lucky we are with Tatum he informed me that although slightly delayed now she shows no sign of any mental retardation. He assured me that we well have learning issues to deal with but she is a totally with it child and he was very impressed with her communication skills especially since she does not use words but multiple sounds. I was psyched, who knows what the future holds but the now is pretty good.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. You can guess where we'll be; pool and birthday parties...Molly turnes one on Sat.!

9 comments:

Noel said...

That is great news!!
I got the reports on Abi's development from her new school yesterday...Maybe I should post them too! It seems that things are going along smoothly for you...yeah!!!

Noel

Aspen said...

Wow, sounds like you had a really great appointment! Congrats. It is always amazing how great it is to finally get a few good words coming out of a doctors mouth.

Enjoy your weekend now!

Nancy said...

Wow...glad it went well.

I guess there is always hope for all of us, judging by the doc's words.

Even if our kids end up with MR, it isn't the typical kind anyway. Gotta love the strengths they have.

Katie said...

What a great appointment!
Fantastic news, Go Tatum!
Its nice to hear a positive Doctor for a change!

Katie

Lynn said...

So glad to hear the good news on Tatum! How wonderful to come back from a doctor's appointment feeling positive!!

What place did your doctor recommend for shoes w/ orthotics? Curious since Nick is still wearing his orthopedic shoes at night. His orthopedist loves Orthotic Solutions (http://www.orthoticsolutions.com/), which has offices in Frederick & near Shady Grove. They've been so good to us and they recommend another store for regular street shoes.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you have found not just a doctor that is not just technically good, but, has real wisdom, too. I am sure that is really gratifying.
I'm glad to hear you're having a smooth patch. Tatum sure looks cute in her glasses!

Heather said...

Hey Lisa, that is great news. It is always encouraging to hear that kind of thing from a doctor. I think that it is hard to say what our kids are capable of.Or should I say not capable of. Especially at such a young age. Nobody should ever tell them they wont be able to do something. Caleb improves with leaps and bounds every day, and is already doing things we thought he would never do. I bet there are great things in store for Tatum..lots of love

Laura said...

Lisa,
That's great news to hear!
It just goes to show you that these kiddos surpise the doctors all the time.

Teresa and Shawn said...

That is great news about the mental retardation. I had not heard that, but I swear that Clare shows no sign of being mentally retarded. She definitely is delayed in her gross motor skills, but that's it. Gives you hope, huh?