Our Little Messy Monkey

Isn't he cute! Grandma made his Halloween costume and so we just had to try it on! Here he is:

Update on Drew

Hey everyone! Here are the notes we got from Dr Kelfer, Andrew's Neurologist, thank you all again for keeping us in your prayers! We have a mighty God and He loves our little guy more than we could even imagine!

1. What is Andrew's diagnosis? Cerebral Palsy (aka CP) and Epilepsy from the stroke which is the main diagnoses along with brain damage and seizures. The types of seizures are partial complex seizures, which means it happens on only the right side
2. Does Andrew have hemiplegia CP? Yes right sided
3. Are his seizures epileptic or non-epileptic? epileptic
4. Are they Petit mal? no
5. How necessary is it to treat the seizure's with Medication? Can this be treated without medication? What happens if you don't treat it with medication? Very important it would not be good stop it. Seizures beget more seizures
6. Can you tell is there any sensory loss on his rt. side? he didn't know this we will tell with time
7. When will one be able to tell if there are any profound disabilities? after year and if he has not reached any verbal milestones(mama, Dada) and pincher/ grasping skills, and if not he will need speech therapy. Also there was some concern if these do not happen there could be some mental delays/disabilities
8. Will he be able to walk? need extensive, lifelong care?????? cant tell yet
9. Do you think he needs orthotic device for hand/or foot area? that is up to PT and OT, recommended s to see Dr Marks who is a spasisity Dr, helps with tone
10. Exactly what area of the brain is this damage? what lobe??? temporal, parietal? almost the whole left side not so much any particular lobe
11.What are the side effects of his medication? new med has less than phenobarb, low sodium and increase in appetite
12. How long will he be on it? How will we know when to discontinue it? a year and after they test him to see if he is still having seizures
13. Does it effect liver functions or blood count?no
14. How do you feel about cranial sacral adjustments?similar to chiropractic it will not make a huge difference and did not cause the seizures but could make him feel better
15. Can you recommend another pediatrician that actually works with brain damage/special needs children. Someone that is aware of the developmental delays. Someone trained to identify any weaknesses or potential problem? no the one we have is fine
16. How do you feel about water therapy for Andrew? Do you think this would help his RT side? Would you write a RX for it? yes it would be helpful if we can find it
17. Is Andrew drooling because of motor problems? how long will this last? will it get better? there is medicine if it does not get better that he can take, but it could make him constipated
18. He appears to get startled a lot- loud noises bothering him....explain that. just a symptom of the brain damage
19 How do you tell if he has any visual problems? no (we actually went today to have his eyes check and they were good)

Seizures are very unpredictable. if they do continue there our other meds he can try and they will need to bring him in for an overnight evaluation.

Go vote!

In a couple of weeks we will all be voting (I hope). So in preparation for this big event us Chadwick's have our own voting going on.....so please go check it out and vote!

Artwork

Yesterday I went to Michaels Craft Store for one thing and of course came out with a lot more than I expected.
I recently saw on another Blog a sign that a mom did for her baby with his name. I have been looking for the last year for something like this and was encouraged, thinking I too could just do it myself. So here is how it turned out:

I am thinking of putting it here:



Also on a side note: the one thing I went in for I forgot to get!

Pumpkin Patch

Once again I love this time of year! The weather here has been so nice. Last weekend we decided to get out and enjoy it, so we took Drew to a pumpkin patch along with some of our dear friends. It was fun we even came home with a souvenir: a PUMPKIN!

I too echo my husband

As most of you have heard either from here or from me personally, you know about our friends, The Delgado's. I too am urging everyone to pray! Pray for them that God would give them wisdom in the days ahead, pray that if it is the Lord's will he would heal those precious babies, pray that all who don't know Him will be drawn to Him through this, and pray for the doctors that they would have wisdom likewise. I am so encouraged by this family faith! They never cease to amaze me in the way that they are always pointing everything back to our loving father. I know I too question why? But who are we to question the workings of our father. Who knows what His plan is for them through this, and who knows what His plan is for any of us in any situation we face. But one thing we do know is that we are called to trust in Him despite the situation and be still and know that He is God!

Yummy Goodness

I found a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Little Momma and Company, and decided to make them today. Nothing like warm cookies fresh from the oven on a yucky cloudy day. They are super easy and take no time at all.

Soft cake box cookies
1 package of cake mix
1/3 C oil
2 eggs
Heat oven to 375. Stir together cake mix, oil and eggs with a spoon until well blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets to make 22 cookies.
Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until puffed and almost no indentation remains when touched. Cool 1 minute, remove onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Home Sweet Home

We made it after a very long couple days and we are home! Andrew is having seizures and they have started him on medicine to help. Unfortunately we will not know more until we go see our Neurologist in two weeks. So until then... we are thankful for all that God is doing and reminded that he is in control.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Heb 10:23

What!? A seizure?

Yes so the other day I started noticing Andrew was doing some out of the norm movements. As I further investigated and thanks to his Mimi, I suspected they were seizures. So after a call to the doctor and a week later, we are here in the hospital for a 24 hour evaluation to monitor and evaluate for any seizure activity. They have hooked Andrew up to a EEG machine and he has leads all over his head, he looks very silly, so the can check his brain waves when it happens. Well it happened thankfully while we were here and they came in and were able to catch it. The nurses have not come back to tell us all the details but please be keeping the little messy monkey in your prayers! As far as what the future holds we are not sure but we know who holds it!