Cleared to fly

Sporting his survivor shirt with his mouth stuffed with bagels



Benaiah had a long day at Children's today.  We started in Orthopedic. The word is his ankles are not bad enough to do anything about.  I again told her that I don't want him smashing his face into the cobblestone in Lviv.  They adjusted his night splints( which I still don't have a picture of) and off we went to Zoie's Neuro appointment.  Zoie's neuro said she could tell Zoie was doing better. We were really fortunate as the Eye clinic usually runs late and I told them that if they were going to run late then I was going to have to skip out on the eye appointment as Benaiah's neuro was way more important.  The eye doctor walked in stating that Benaiah's medical records are very interesting as they state that even though he appears to have crossed eyes, they truly are not.  He wanted to examine Benaiah just so he could look at that. Benaiah charmed him with his sweet personality.  The eye exam proved again that his eyes are working perfectly, thank God.  The eye doctor also stated that there was no reason why Benaiah could not go back to Ukraine.  Another blessing! We then stopped for lunch at the cafeteria as I knew they had pizza hut pizza and Benaiah had done so well that I wanted to reward him.  He even said pipa(pizza) so I was thrilled.  Then we got to see Dr Adam. Benaiah loves him and so do I.  He took 2 hours with us.  Benaiah looks good neurologically.  He has brisk reflexes on one side(always had) but he walks and runs well.  He is delayed developmentally and has severe speech problems.  But with all of that Dr Adam said there was no reason not to go back.  He asked me what the plans for seeking service over in Ukraine and I told him I had already been in contact with Benaiah's Neuro over there.  The plan is that I carry diastat on the plane, it is in the paperwork for the airline, in case he would have a long seizure over the ocean. He then went on to say that our Neuro in Ukraine wrote the best medical history that they have ever seen, even in the states and that the Neuro in Ukraine knew what he was doing.. See, not all things are so terrible in Ukraine.  I am thankful for a good report today.  We fly in 2 month 2 days. Benaiah talks about Kraine(Ukraine) and I think he misses home and Stefa.

Brenden's smile pediatric stroke walk

Benaiah did quite well today.  Zoie did too. They both are sporting pediatric stroke survivor shirts.  It was a blessing to take part in this walk and to talk to people who have been there. 

Celebrating our Survivor

Acting like the chicken man in Toy Story

He wears his underwear proudly

Looking at the Rhino

Talking with me

Watching the elephants.  He loves them 

The elephants were very active today.  2 of them were swimming

Signing elephant to Daddy

Signing hippo

Watching the sea lions with Silas and Buzz

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Freezing while watching the penquins

Today was very hard.  Many meltdowns and I am looking forward to being with people who understand the after effects of stroke.  Zoie wonders if another seizure is coming.  Good question but I hope not.  Another surprise on the therapy front at school, health screenings next week so no therapy.  Are you kidding me?  Lord willing, I will post pictures of our stroke walk.

Knee immobilizers, shoe inserts and more

Well, bad me keeps forgetting to take pictures.  Benaiah has adjusted well to wearing the knee immobilizers at night.  He only took 2 nights to get used to them.  He is doing great with the night splints but has been sleeping with the right one off due to a blister. He loves his new shoes and inserts, they make him look huge.  On another note, the fight continues with the school about Benaiah's speech therapy.  Outpatient therapy was horrified when they found out he would not be having any one on one speech given how severe his speech problem is.  So they called the school and since then have played phone tag with them.  I don't know if it is a coincidence or not but since the phone calls Benaiah's one group speech has been changed back to one on one therapy.  Last Thursday Miss Nikki gave Benaiah an apraxia test and Benaiah now has an official with testing diagnosis of apraxia. I don't know how this will affect services as he needs more speech.  OT also found out that pediatric stroke survivor gets better services than cp so that is now in his medical records also.  My poor, poor baby.  I just want him to talk, to tell me his thoughts, dreams, ect.  Lord willing it will come.