Neurologist Appointment

Bill is home sick with what they doctor thinks is a small case of pneumonia. Yeah! Not really of course. He called me this morning to tell me that our pediatrician had called with the referral to the neurologist. It is with Dr. Howard Schub of Child Neurology Associates on January 12.

Now I know this is 10 weeks away, and after having some freak-out conversations with my mom and aunt, I called our physical therapist who assured me that an earlier appointment is not necessary. Meredith is not in any kind of critical state, nor is she regressing in any way, she is just not progressing. Our therapist said that if between now and then she feels Meredith should be seen sooner she will let us know. I feel confident that she would to because she is not the type to beat around the bush. She also told me that if it were one of her children, this is the practice and doctor that she would want. So that says a lot to me. Yes, it will be a while, but it will be here before we know it.

Also, Meredith met with a Speech Therapist yesterday and will probably start speech therapy in the next few weeks. I discovered that while Meredith is taking more table foods, she is not chewing them, she is sucking on it until she can swallow it. Having the therapist there to watch her eat and be able to compare her with the other kids was a real eye-opener. The therapist also stressed the importance of teaching Meredith the meaning of on, off, in, out, up, down and what not. She says it is great to know vocab, but she needs to know to put the ball in the cup. The therapist also will be calling the pediatrician for a swallow study. This is where Meredith will go to the hospital and will eat different kinds of foods with barium in them and they will watch how they go down. Meredith has coughing spells while eating and it could be that her food isn't going down the right way. She just wants to rule things out. Other than that she did really well and was able to identify more objects than I thought.

Now, more on Bill. He has been out of work since last Wednesday and he finally sounds better today, but I don't want him to rush things by going back to work. He did that over the weekend and got worse, so he is home in bed. Luckily Meredith and I are still fine and we just blow kisses to him.