Merry Christmas to me!

Last week, Micah was assessed by a specialist that deals with reflex integration.  (Let me just remind you that I am no medical professional.  I feel like I need to attend medical school just to keep up a working knowledge of all that is discussed at these appointments).  Apparently, Micah has retained most of the reflexes that babies have.  (I'm still learning about what these are...so I can't really explain this in detail).  These reflexes should integrate by age 1 and make way for a higher level of development to take place.  But, if they stick around they inhibit things like sensing, perceiving, listening, talking, playing, riding a bike, drawing, reading, writing, catching a ball, and maintaining balance (all of which are issues for Micah).  The appointment went just okay.  Micah had a hard time...I think he knows that something is not right with him and he just kept getting frustrated.  But she was able to get the information that she needed.

Today I met with her to review the results.  Again, all of the information was pretty overwhelming and I would do such a disservice to the field to even try to explain it.  But, for the first time I felt as if we understood Micah!  Everything she said made so much sense.  Even more than that was the fact that there is a program that works with kids like Micah!  It will take a while (18-24 months) and it requires us to do specific exercises every day, but she said that we should see small improvements pretty quickly.  We were able to talk about some of the issues that we are really struggling with (such as sleep/startle issues) and she actually had explanations!  We've felt so lonely for such a long time because everyone just seemed "puzzled" by Micah.  So, to say that I was excited and a little bit giddy is an understatement.  I realize that we have a lot of work and more frustration ahead of us...but to hear that there could be a reason and a treatment is just the most amazing thing ever.  Merry Christmas to me...

Until the next time :-), C

P.S. Stay tuned to hear about how our little family has been laying hands on each other and praying together...and the answers to prayer that we are seeing :).