Friday, October 15, 2010

October 14th, 2010
I haven’t had much time to write about Amelia’s progress lately, since we were dealing with some of her grandpa’s health issues. But he seems to be on the mend now, so I’ll try to get you caught up.
We don’t have nearly as many doctor’s appointments now which is nice, but we still take her to occupational therapy, physical therapy and she has been to the ENT clinic, the endocrinologist and the family physician. The endocrinologist did another blood work-up which showed that her growth hormone is still low, but she has been staying very consistently on her growth curve in the 25th percentile, which is pretty good. At her one year check-up she weighed almost 20 lbs and was 29 inches tall. The visit to ENT showed both ear tubes clear for the first time. A couple of weeks ago we were very worried about a lot of discharge from her eyes and a quick visit to the eye surgeon revealed that she has a blocked tear duct. Some surgery may be needed to deal with that in the future. Her eyes are extremely light sensitive and she does not like to be outside when the sun is shining. She hates hats and sunglasses don’t fit on her nose, so we are quite limited with outside activities.
Kristina’s efforts to have Amelia evaluated at the House Ear Clinic in LA have been absolutely frustrating! You would not believe the number of phone calls, faxes and the amount of paperwork that has gone into trying to get the insurance company to agree to this. After two rounds of appeals (each requiring about 30 days) they finally approved the visit, but when Kristina tried to make the appointment at House Ear, she was told they did not accept her insurance company! At this point the insurance company itself is appealing. We just keep praying for the Lord’s timing in this.
Amelia is of course quite unaware of all of this hassle and is having fun learning new things every day. She is still not walking on her own, but getting a bit more adventurous. She has been cruising along the furniture for such a long time that she only knows how to walk sideways, but lately she is trying a few forward steps. She loves all her toys, especially wooden puzzles and board books and things that fit inside each other or have levers to pull and buttons to push. She’s very curious and explores everything she can reach. She pokes her head behind the doors, under tables and chairs and inside cabinets. She’s willing to eat just about anything we put on her high chair tray and she recently started holding her own bottle. This may not seem like such a big deal for most babies, but since Amelia has very little suction and has to chew on the nipple while squeezing the bottle at just the right rate we think it’s a great accomplishment.
Her sign language vocabulary is growing also and she is trying to communicate with us in her own little way. She is now only wearing her right hearing aid and is tolerating is much better. As far as we can tell there is no hearing, but until we know for sure we’ll keep using it. Please continue to pray that we will be able to meet all the challenges ahead for Amelia.