Foto Friday vol. 26

Gracie's schedule is busy insanely hectic. Four days a week she has therapy of some type after school (OT, PT, Vital Stim) and then usually about once every two or three weeks, we are also squeezing in a doctor's appointment. The appointments themselves, plus the travel time, often have us arriving home near 6pm. While it is a complete drag that John works every single weekend, it is nice that on many of our therapy afternoons, he's now able to be with Preston and spare our little man being dragged to endless appointments with his sister.

Here's a peek at what it often looks like for the girls...



And the boys...

Preston loves hanging with his Daddy! The other day he came home to tell me they'd been watching planes take off and land at the airport. It was obvious he thought that Daddy had some special access to this magical place that I couldn't possibly know anything about. It was so cute!

They can also be found at the sports store (where Preston rides a two-wheeler with training wheels), the motorcycle store (where he gets to sit on motorcycles and make all those engine noises that boys seem to just know how to make), the field at the park (to play soccer) and the tennis courts (yep... he's already got a racquet of his own). They are plenty busy themselves!

The pics at VitalStim were taken a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, this therapy has been put on hold due to insurance issues. We are in the midst of trying to iron it all out... er... appeal the denials that are forthcoming for the first four sessions in the hopes that we can restart soon. We have a PPO (in addition to her state insurances), so we don't have to obtain a prior authorization. Initially we were told that her sessions would be unlimited based on medical necessity (which there's plenty of documentation from ENT, Pulmonology and GI indicating the necessity), but it turns out that Electric Stim of any kind is considered "investigational" or "experimental" and will not be covered. (Interject whatever expletive you choose... I've thought it - - and maybe have even muttered it under my breath - - while dealing with this!)

Gracie loves this therapy. She'd get so excited when I'd tell her where we were going (we call it "taste & swallow work") and she's more compliant than most kids her therapists have worked with. She's had audible swallows several times throughout the sessions and is incredibly motivated. This makes us all hopeful... and makes the current situation all the more frustrating. We've waited so long for this opportunit - - it's her last hope - - and I will fight tooth and nail get it covered somehow.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure...
This was taken the weekend that Gracie started pushing herself up into a "W" sit. She corrects her legs - - then gets down. The next step is to get her to sit for a bit... she just prefers being horizontal unless given a little support. The good news is she is consistently getting herself into a sit at home now!