Hmmm...looks like surgery stands at May 27 or will it?

Our visit with Dr. Moffatt at Family and Child Eye center went well...we think. The good news is that Andrew has definitely improved since his last visit with Dr. Mazow. On his vision test he was a strong 20/50 in his left eye the best he has done since he has been with us. Dr. Moffatt concurred that surgery was imminent and that we should proceed with surgery as scheduled. He did not even suggest any vision therapy until after surgery. We were however disappointed that he felt Andrew would need much longer therapy than the first optometrist had suggested. Dr. Moffatt felt he would need 2yrs post surgery where previously we were told 9 months. We left still very skeptical and unsure since we are being told that while we will be given things to do at home we have been strongly cautioned that it needs to be done under the careful instruction of vision therapists not attempted on our own. This line of thinking I am familiar with. It is what many told me about home schooling--leave this to professionals. So, if we do vision therapy you can be sure that I will be taking careful notes and perhaps looking for a vision therapy textbook. Much for us to consider and pray about. Unfortunately, none of the vision therapy is covered by insurance and it is very pricey. I am not sure how we could afford it even if we wanted to do it--trusting the Lord for His provision should He lead us to do this. On a more positive note though I noticed how automatic Andrew's recognition of his letters has become. I am still convinced that Andrew has needed more time for his language to catch up before we could really get a good idea of where his vision is lacking and where he is developmentally.

This of course is the great challenge when adopting internationally because you know that there are delays (many that can be overcome in the natural course of life), but always the possibility that additional help may be needed in areas that have gone untreated for longer periods of time or where real damage has been done. For Andrew we have felt all along and continue to feel that most of his developmental issues are/were institutional effects--like the lack of opportunity to learn some basic skills when he was younger.

We talked to Dr. Ky about our visit with Dr. Moffatt, and Dr. Ky was not ready to concede just yet to surgery so he made another call to a Neurological Chiropractor who mentored him and asked for some advice. We continue to be amazed and thankful to the Lord for sending us Dr. Ky to advocate for Andrew and encourage us.

Interestingly, Dr. Ky's mentor had some activities for us to try with Andrew at home (finally, this is what we have been asking for since we first set foot in a Dr.'s office 10 months ago!!). He suggested 15mins a day of each of these activities: crawling, marching, and using an upper body ergometer (device you can use to pedal like a bike with your arms). Andrew could crawl just fine, but when we tried the marching he was all over the place and not able to control his arms at first. We worked with him to show him how to get control and his timing down and in no time he was really making some progress. He definitely did not learn this activity and apparently it is useful in developing a certain part of the cortex in the brain related to visual development. Now, we couldn't say for certain that--again because of lack of opportunity--he hadn't learned this or is there some damage to this area that is causing him to have difficulty with this activity. We think the former, but from a neurological chiropractor's stand point, whether there was damage or lack of opportunity working this "like a muscle" and strengthening it along with Andrew's chiropractic adjustments we could see an improvement in his vision, even the possibility of his eye straightening. We continue to hold out hope, but have a peace that if surgery is still needed we will do what is needed.

What the neurological chiropractor is telling us makes sense as we took the same approach in teaching Andrew English "lets start at the beginning" then move forward. So, we did many activities that you would do with an infant, and he of course progressed quickly through these simple skills, but I have to wonder would we have hit a wall by now linguistically had we not taken that approach. Had we skipped what seemed too simple because of an artificial need to have him "at level". Hard to know. We have felt all along less is more which is why we have been reluctant to pummel him with specialists who hear his background and immediately jump to the worst conclusion and want to subject us and Andrew to every kind of therapy and test. Simply time and the ability to work with him at home with the freedom of homeschooling to tailor his time and learning to what he needs most we believe has given him a more stable environment to bloom in. This is not to say that we would not seek additional help, but that we are not running to dozens of specialists first in that critical first year.

For our family what was most important was for us to get to know Andrew, and for him to trust us, and for us to trust the accuracy of any analysis of him. When evaluating what doctors tell you it is critical that as a parent you know your child well enough to know if this is too much right now or a waste of time. The phrase we hear most often is "the younger the better" and while this is true it is unreasonable to think that we could undo 5+ yrs in less than a year--no more than I could set out to be an astronaut in 10 months :).

We could not be more proud of Andrew and all that he has accomplished in almost a year. He remains an extremely bright, sweet, strong, brave and loving child. By God's grace he is growing by leaps and bounds still. As his parents, by God's grace we continue to prayerfully consider what is best for Andrew as a whole person. It is one of the greatest challenges as a parent, but we know that the Lord is faithful to give us wisdom when we seek Him.

First Adjustment

Our first adjustments with the Chiropractor went pretty well. Andrew is liking them. He really likes the part where he gets to play with the toys in the waiting room, but he also did very well for Dr. Ky. Andrew actually received two adjustments today. He went early with Daddy for x-rays and was also adjusted. No surprises from the x-rays so that was good.
All of us went back a few hours later for our adjustments. Kathlena was very curious and watched closely as Dr. Ky adjusted E and J first then her. She liked it...especially the Cheeto crunch. Kathlena also showed some severe C1 and C2 misalignment's...not surprising as a result of her head tilt. We are hoping this will help her as well for her nystagmus and to strengthen her neck. She was really excited about her first time to go to the "fire cracker" this is what she calls the Chiropractor.
After their first adjustments I was talking to Dr. Ky and the kids went back over to the play area. I catch Andrew out of the corner of my eye pushing on something on the floor...almost as if administering CPR. I casually walk closer to see Kathlena on the floor with her arms crossed and Andrew pushing on her chest giving her an "adjustment". While I suppose this is the Chiropractic equivalent to playing doctor. I quickly suggested to both of them that we leave the adjusting to Dr. Ky.
I must say from my own adjustment that I have felt really good. Oddly, my nausea is gone. Hmm...I originally thought it to be unrelated except that it happened after my first adjustment too. It lasted for about 2 days then the nausea was back. Thankfully, I was in the next day and now it is gone again. I go back Mon. so we'll see if it holds.
I couldn't let the day go unnoticed. It has been 10 months today since our precious Andrew and Kathlena officially became Shiflets. It seems a lifetime ago since then and yet hard to believe not even a year yet.

Providential Postponement

We were two weeks from surgery, but have now decided to wait another 2 months. Over the past week and half we have been working with a Chiropractic Neurologist. This began as a search to help alleviate some back and neck pain that David has had chronically for years now and that I have started having 4 weeks ago; I think pregnancy related. Anyway, in the course of evaluating and working with Dr. Ky we decided to go ahead and have the kids evaluated also. As it turns out Andrew was off the chart in an area in the neck that is considered critical to a healthy central nervous system. This particular area is known for affecting the eyes as well.
After much prayer we decided to postpone Andrew's surgery a few months to give Dr. Ky a chance to work on Andrew and just see if he improves. If nothing else we believe it will help Andrew to be in better shape for the surgery.
I am not quite sure why this surgery thing has been such a difficult process for us. Everyone we have talked to who has had the surgery says it is a "piece of cake" as far as surgery goes. It seems just as we have dealt with it and moved forward with plans for surgery something providentially steps in that causes us to postpone. Maybe we have just needed more time; I do not know, but we prayerfully weigh what is best for Andrew and desire for him the very best outcome for his vision. I never knew how hard it is when there are so many varying opinions of treatment to single out what is the best one for the whole kid. I feel like I am constantly coming back to focus on what is best for Andrew as a whole child not just a pair of eyes. That may seem strange, but over the course of 10 months David and I have desperately tried to keep that perspective because Andrew has been changing so rapidly in so many areas one month it may seem like there is a problem but it resolves itself the next or because of the severity of trying to "fix" one thing it throws other areas out of whack. One thing is for sure it has kept us on our face before the Lord in Andrew's behalf causing us to trust the Lord more with each new challenge.
I should also note that Dr. Mazow gave us the option of waiting until summer anyway to do Andrew's surgery it was only because we believed nothing else could be done that we pursued surgery so quickly. We have now moved surgery to May 27, 2009...Lord willing. For now we will continue to patch 6-8hrs daily to "hold" his vision and begin tomorrow with Andrew's first adjustments at the Chiropractor.