I expected today's well child check up at the doctor's office to be a normal visit. It wasn't. We got some wonderful news today, and we got some terrible news today. I will start with the terrible first, so that I can end on a good note.
Justus had his 12 month check-up. He is 28 inches long(short for his age). He is 21.5 pounds(normal for his age). He is developmentally right on track in most areas and a little advanced in some. He had his lead levels tested today. This is the bad news. They want lead levels to be no higher than 3. His level was 34! Yes, that was 34! My jaw dropped. We ended up having to go to the hospital to have more detailed and specific blood work done. We will get the results early next week. They also tested Asher. His level was 9. We are all going to be tested. After Justus' results come in. The doctor will decide if we need to be treated with medicine. We hope that we are catching early enough so that the kids are not harmed.
Our home was built in the early 1900's. It is probably something in our house that we have got to find. We know that it isn't paint or the walls. The interior of the house was redone in the 80's. We aren't sure about our plumbing. We could have some type of lead piping. We are going to have a plumber check it out. We hope that it is not the piping. That will cost quite a bundle-- that we don't have --to correct. Hopefully it is something that can be easily fixed. If not, we hope that we can get the money we will need to get it fixed. God has always provided for us in the past when we didn't know where it could possibly come from. He can do it again.
The good news is that Asher's hearing is now perfect. Asher had his surgery in July. We had a hearing test in August. The test showed only about a 1% improvement. We went today to see what other steps we needed to take to get him hearing. Our pediatrician did a small hearing test in the office. The results showed that Asher had perfect hearing. He then sent us to a specialist to have his hearing more specifically tested. He wanted to see if it was just a fluke. The audiologist couldn't believe it. He passed all of the tests with flying colors. The same tests that he failed a month and a half ago. They had no explanation for it. I do- God did it! Many people have been praying for his hearing.
Now we are going to go through the steps to get him back in speech therapy. Since he can hear now, therapy should actually work and help this time. Our insurance will not cover any more of the cost for therapy. We are going to go through our public school system. Our dr. said that once a child is 3 years old, the school system is required to give them therapy whether they will be attending school there or not. Hopefully we won't have to much of a hastle getting him enrolled. Hopefully they can get his speech development caught up to his age. Hopefully we will be able to better understand him and communicate with him soon. I know that he has been so frustrated at not being able to talk to us. Praise the Lord he can now hear and should be talking clearly soon!
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Last night we went to the high school girls' first home volleyball game. Abbie, our socialite, was immediately surrounded with friends. Asher had one friend that he played with in the bleachers next to us. Justus was so busy trying to not miss anything. Chloe---this little boy, Levi, followed her around the entire time. He is in the 3rd grade. I snapped a picture of them in the hallway. Chloe brought a whole bunch of stickers to the game. He kept asking her for stickers. This brought back memories for Aaron. It scared him a little. The first time he talked to me he asked me for my stickers. I was scrapbooking in the activity center. He still has those stickers.
Chloe, Levi, and Justus.
Justus had his 12 month check-up. He is 28 inches long(short for his age). He is 21.5 pounds(normal for his age). He is developmentally right on track in most areas and a little advanced in some. He had his lead levels tested today. This is the bad news. They want lead levels to be no higher than 3. His level was 34! Yes, that was 34! My jaw dropped. We ended up having to go to the hospital to have more detailed and specific blood work done. We will get the results early next week. They also tested Asher. His level was 9. We are all going to be tested. After Justus' results come in. The doctor will decide if we need to be treated with medicine. We hope that we are catching early enough so that the kids are not harmed.
Our home was built in the early 1900's. It is probably something in our house that we have got to find. We know that it isn't paint or the walls. The interior of the house was redone in the 80's. We aren't sure about our plumbing. We could have some type of lead piping. We are going to have a plumber check it out. We hope that it is not the piping. That will cost quite a bundle-- that we don't have --to correct. Hopefully it is something that can be easily fixed. If not, we hope that we can get the money we will need to get it fixed. God has always provided for us in the past when we didn't know where it could possibly come from. He can do it again.
The good news is that Asher's hearing is now perfect. Asher had his surgery in July. We had a hearing test in August. The test showed only about a 1% improvement. We went today to see what other steps we needed to take to get him hearing. Our pediatrician did a small hearing test in the office. The results showed that Asher had perfect hearing. He then sent us to a specialist to have his hearing more specifically tested. He wanted to see if it was just a fluke. The audiologist couldn't believe it. He passed all of the tests with flying colors. The same tests that he failed a month and a half ago. They had no explanation for it. I do- God did it! Many people have been praying for his hearing.
Now we are going to go through the steps to get him back in speech therapy. Since he can hear now, therapy should actually work and help this time. Our insurance will not cover any more of the cost for therapy. We are going to go through our public school system. Our dr. said that once a child is 3 years old, the school system is required to give them therapy whether they will be attending school there or not. Hopefully we won't have to much of a hastle getting him enrolled. Hopefully they can get his speech development caught up to his age. Hopefully we will be able to better understand him and communicate with him soon. I know that he has been so frustrated at not being able to talk to us. Praise the Lord he can now hear and should be talking clearly soon!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Last night we went to the high school girls' first home volleyball game. Abbie, our socialite, was immediately surrounded with friends. Asher had one friend that he played with in the bleachers next to us. Justus was so busy trying to not miss anything. Chloe---this little boy, Levi, followed her around the entire time. He is in the 3rd grade. I snapped a picture of them in the hallway. Chloe brought a whole bunch of stickers to the game. He kept asking her for stickers. This brought back memories for Aaron. It scared him a little. The first time he talked to me he asked me for my stickers. I was scrapbooking in the activity center. He still has those stickers.
Chloe, Levi, and Justus.
3 comments:
I'll be praying that you are able to find the cause of the lead... My mom is going through a mercury detox because of her teeth fillings--so I can sympathize--It is not fun to think about that harmful stuff in the bodies of those we love--PRAISE the LORD that your little boy can now hear....we will pray for his speech to improve quickly!!
And yes...these last days are so suspenseful and anti-climatic when they end with going to bed :)... this one seems to be the worst-i suppose it comes from having little ones to care for and notice the "big tummy" :)
I remember those dorm chats when you were not sure about Aaron and I about Jeremiah---they were fun tmes nonetheless.
stickers, huh?
I was the only person on campus who could jump start Shane's car, then he just had to take me to lunch...and he just had to drive with me here and there--to save gas--all summer (after we graduated). He asked me to be his "girl" the day after we were married...
Fun times.
Wonderful news about Asher!
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