Well, here we are...

It's another week, and well, the news has not been so good.

My husband's best friend, Brack, passed away Friday evening. Earlier last week, Mike went on a early morning walk and found him him sitting in his pick up truck hunched over the steering wheel. He walked up to him and woke him up, he was disoriented and from what Mike said, wasn't doing so well. He helped him into the house, sat him down in his chair and made him some coffee. He woke his wife up, she had no idea he had left the house. Mike told her he would start coming to check every morning to make sure everything was locked up around the house and that Brack was inside (he takes his walks around 5-5:30 in the morning). She felt better knowing there was going to be another set of eyes on the place. Thursday, Mike got the call that Brack had been placed in hospice in Downtown Fort Worth, he was becoming a threat to himself with falling and not being able to communicate anymore. She told Mike to come up that day to see him, she wasn't sure if he would make it through the weekend. I wanted to go up with him, but by the time his last class let out (he was subbing for another teacher in the evening), both kids were in bed asleep after a hard day. We planned to go up together Friday night. Mike said he was sedated and not responsive. His wife, his ex-wife and his sister in law were all there, his daughter was booking a flight to come in from California. Friday at 5:30, Mike got the call that Brack passed away. He went directly up there to support his wife and the rest of the family. The funeral is Wends. at 2. He's been so strong though this, I know he is hurting. They have been buds for over 20 years. I keep telling him it's OK to break down and if he needs to, do it, but he said he needs to stay strong right now for Brack's wife.

Along with this news, we had a pedi. appt. with the kids doctor, Marshall in for his 15 month check and Madeline in to get a referral to get her back into Occupational Therapy. Marshall is doing wonderful, 21 lbs, 29 1/2 inches tall and healthy as can be.

Madeline was a different story. Wends. when I picked Madeline up from school, her teacher pulled me aside and said she is having a problem focusing, sitting still and keeping from fidgeting. I have always known she was a active child, but she described Madeline as having the activity level of a hyper-active boy. I didn't realize it was that high. I know her teacher last year for their pre-school program had a heck of a time keeping her busy doing something. Anyway, while we were there at the doctors, I mentioned this too her and she said she's always known Madeline has a higher than average activity level, and was waiting for the day I would bring it up. (I was like, Thanks, kinda my 1st kid, I was thinking this was in the "normal" range). Anyway, she said she thinks it is time for Madeline to get a diagnosis on paper. She's been in therapy (either speech, occupational, physical or all at once) since she was 9 months old. With her starting public school next year, she will need a IEP and we were already denied one (eval when she was 3 and aged out of Early Childhood Intervention) because she was academically advanced. They knew there were other problems when they did the eval, but since it wasn't directly affecting her learning capabilities, they were not going to offer services. With a on paper diagnosis, they cannot deny her services and this will help her with not being labeled a "problem child" with her activity level, her outbursts of gibberish/noises, and the list can go on. I knew this day was coming, but I didn't want it too. She's going to be labeled. She is already a special girl and would have had to have a 504 due to her medical issues, food allergies and Celiac Disease. I know in the long run this will do nothing but benefit her, but it still hurts. I was in hopes, that with us catching everything early (her speech, her developmental delays, her sensory issues, etc...) that the therapy would help her catch up and she would adapt with the help of the therapy services alone before this would happen. I knew it wouldn't, but that tiny little hope is always here, and now I feel it's been crushed. I sat down to fill out the paperwork this weekend, she's been referred to the Child Study Center for her evals (her doctor recommended a eval on the autism spectrum and also ADD/ADHD). Having to fill out her history, going through the therapy reports, her medical records, everything hitting at once, it was like having to re-live some of it all over again. You are searching and searching for the right documents, find it, then sit down to read it, for the hundredth time. You know what it says, but there maybe a chance you missed something, so you read it again, then it brings you back to that time when it took place. I right now have mostly everything filled out and will hand deliver the application this week to them and then hurry up and wait. The front office said they receive a average of 30 applications a month and their review board has to go over each one, and if any information is missing, it's kicked back to start the process all over again (talk about insult to injury). I am triple checking everything right now before it gets turned in. After the review board, you should hear something within 6 weeks to set up a eval with the developmental pedi, psychologist, therapist and then to actually get in to do the eval could take months and months to get into a spot. I feel like I am running a up-hill battle, hoping to make it to the top and not to be kicked back down to the bottom. In the long run, this will benefit my girl, that is what keeps me going.