Doctor Appointments...

Yesterday was one of those days where we had lots of dr appts. The last appt of the day was a regular dental visit for our Andrew, which resulted in a referral to the orthodontist for a braces consultation... fun. We knew this was coming at some point, so it wasn't a huge surprise.

But on to the girls' stuff...

Katelyn and Courtney had their renal ultrasounds yesterday (ultrasounds on their kidneys and also their bladders). We had Katelyn go first so Courtney could see it was no big deal, but Courtney still screamed her head off the entire time. We'll find out the results at the Clinic appointment in August.

After that, we walked across the hall for their Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy evaluations. Once again, Courtney decided this was not what she wanted to do and screamed like crazy during the PT evaluation. The guy that does these evals is amazing... soooo nice and very calm. Katelyn did great with him for her first eval when she came home, but Courtney didn't want to have anything to do with it. Still... he was able to find out enough info. He is not recommending any therapy at this time, as he does not feel there's anything they can do there that we aren't already doing at home with her. He also said it was fine for her to walk around without her AFOs on while at home. Apparently there are studies that have found that wearing the AFOs all the time can actually cause muscle atrophy. So he recommends that those that CAN walk without the AFOs (provided it can't hurt them) do so, when able, in order to build up more muscle strength. Katelyn did super well with her PT eval. She is getting stronger and stronger and does not need any therapy at this time. He was very happy with her progress.

Katelyn did her OT eval first and the woman said she was off the charts!!! I was so happy. We've been wondering how Katelyn was doing... now it's obvious that what's going on at home is not a reflection of her cognitive development, but rather the adjustment of her not being the baby of the family anymore. She really has come a long way since she first came home two years ago.  :)  Unlike the ultrasound and PT eval, Courtney couldn't wait to do her OT eval... and she did great! She was eager to complete each of the tests and was very cooperative during the whole thing. Watching her do her first OT eval and comparing it to Katelyn's first OT eval really reiterated the differences between living in an orphanage and living with a loving family (who also happened to speak English). So, neither girl needs any OT at this time either. Overall, a pretty good day!!!

Now we wait for the Clinic next month. I'm pretty sure the neurosurgeon will recommend a detether surgery for Courtney... every doc/specialist that has seen her so far has commented on how her back needs to be checked. In comparing the MRI films from China to the ones recently taking, there has been a lot of scar tissue growth, and there is tethering. While I know that tethering is usually visible for most kids with SB, Courtney is also starting to show some symptoms. So, we'll monitor things for the next few weeks and go into the Clinic appointment ready to discuss our options.