"He has cerebral palsy...any questions???"
That was my first experience with a pediatric neurologist. When Davin was one day shy of 7 months old, he saw his first neurologist and after checking Davin out and saying, "good, good, good" over and over again, he blurted out the comment above. You can imagine how I left that appointment. Not one of my better days. I was terrified to ever go back to a neurologist. I never made another appointment until my pediatrician or someone insisted that I needed to. For one appointment, I could not even make myself go. I had to make Alan go for me. It was just too hard. The neurologist crushed my world and I just couldn't stand going there and giving him the ability to crush my world again. It took me years to get over this.
Yesterday Davin had a neurologist appointment. I slept well the night before. I wasn't sick to my stomach. I hardly thought about it at all, except to figure out how I would be getting Cheney where he needed to be and how and when Davin could get to therapy. That's pretty cool. God has brought me a LONG way. To think back to the anxiety I had in those first years and then to walk in with no nervousness is a blessing. And to top everything off, the neurologist had some nice words for me. We had been there a while and she was checking Davin out and looked at his belly and saw that he does not have a g-tube. She said, "You really have done a good job with him. You really have."
I have to tell you that hearing those words was much nicer than that first appointment in June of 1993.
8 comments:
Glad the appt. went well. Why would she check for a G-tube? Do most children with CP have g-tubes Heather?
Christine, that is what Alan said. I think a lot of kids with CP end up having g-tubes. I guess I have met more kids with them than without them. Especially who are as involved as Davin's CP is.
Heather, you have have spent countless hrs feeding Davin.(like you don't already know this)- I don't think you would have it any other way unless it was absolutley nessecary. I commend you greatly for this. Your love and commitment to Davin has been a wonderful thing to see and watch.
Knowing that usually these appointments are so hard for you makes me wish I was there with you! I'm so glad someone impartial was able to see the amazing person Davin is and the way you have been equiped by God to handle his different needs.
-Nan
Life is a strange journey, isn't it? My poor parents had to deal with a handicapped child and doctors who, back in the 50's and 60's, wondered what the parents had done to make the child behave in such a way. Thankfully, autism, especially severe autism, is better understood today.
Heather, I'm sure you and Alan have been an encouragement to more people than you could ever imagine.
I'm so glad the appointment went well. Davin is my sunshine and you are blessed to be his mom.
Oh, I can't imagine how hard that was to hear those first words in that manner. No wonder you didn't want to go back! But it is evident that you have come a long way since then, and that God has given you everything you needed to get where you are today.
I believe with all of your anxiety over the years about this first appointment that God made sure you would have a nice neurologist. He knew how hard it was for you for so long after that first appointment. He gave you more peace before you went in to this one and you had even more peace when you came out. How awesome is that?
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