First visit to the Rehab Institute tomorrow, if someone will quit barfing

[marydell]

We have an appointment first thing in the morning at the Rehab Institute of Chicago's Pediatric Limb Deficiency clinic, to discuss options for a prosthesis!  HOORAY! He's finally healthy enough, and has made enough developmental progress, that he may be ready for a limb.  Even if he's not, they're going to go over all the options with us, and hopefully also hook us up with a PT/OT in our area.  (We initially went through Illinois Early Intervention, who are great, but for various odd reasons it works out to be prohibitively expensive for us. Normally it's a good, affordable option, though, so I recommend checking out your state's early intervention program if you have a young child with a delay).

Anyway, this is very exciting...so exciting, in fact, that Charlie spiked up a 102 degree fever this afternoon, threw up three times early in the evening (once on his mommy), and had a terrifying meltdown with his daddy while mommy was out getting baby tylenol, since the motrin, it does nothing. 

His fever came down to 100-ish after he had the tylenol, and the crying stopped once he had apple juice and some cuddles from mom. If he's 100% well by morning, with a good appetite and no fever, we can still make the appointment.  It's a possibility, since he's had a mystery fever-from-nowhere before, but I won't call it a likelihood.

Comments

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Good heavens, I had no idea they started so young. How does it work, considering his rapid rate of growth?

Best of luck!

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

here's hoping Charlie feels better in time for his appointment!!

And I have to admit, I'm surprised they start so early as well, I would think, given how fast little ones grow, you would be getting a new one every few weeks....so when you are finished walking and snuggling cranky baby, and he's back to crawling around and poking the Panda, can you tell us all about how it works? Or should we get off our lazy butts and google? ;)

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely tell you once I know the answer myself!

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, when are babies meant to be able to talk? Because apart from the obvious growth stuff, I'd have thought that you'd also need to get feedback from him. Prosthetics must be way more sophisticated than I'd ever imagined, it all sounds most exciting!

ETA: I've just found this site (http://www.kidscanplay.com/), so will now settle down to learn more about this.

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful news!

I'm sorry that EI was problematic. Were you eligible for DSCC?

[readinggeek451]

Poor kid! (And poor parents.) I hope he feels better in time to keep the appointment.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*kisses him fever-reducingly on those cheeks*

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Oh my. He is starting to look less like "adorable baby" and more like "adorable baby who looks like the adorable man he's going to grow up into." This is the first picture I've seen of him from which I could imagine a 25-year-old Charlie with the same expression (no pacifier, though).

The fever-and-vomiting thing has been going around with all the very young ladies and gentlemen of my acquaintance here in Boston, so my sympathies on that. My youngest goddaughter had a remarkable case of it--her older sister described her as a "barf fountain."

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Check out this site (http://www.oandp.com/products/) - it has all kinds of prosthetic & orthotic stuff.

(basic defs - prosthetics are for replacement of body parts; orthotics are for support of existing body parts. So a lot of the same technology is used in both.)

I'll put up a separate post tonight about the plan for Charlie :)

[marydell.livejournal.com]

We have funds, but EI apparently charges as a monthly service, instead of on a per-visit basis, and they said he'd only need to see someone monthly at the most. So the price-per-visit averaged out to be a lot more expensive than seeing a private PT/OT will be (since, as people with funds, we're quite appropriately ineligible for a fee break--their fees are on a sliding scale). With luck we'll be able to find someone who specializes in limb absence and prostheses but is reasonably near home.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

and he *barfs affectionately on your shirt*

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

It's going around in the UK as well, cangetmad's toddler has it. Though I think it's fever-and-diarrhoea in his case.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, and good luck, and that is a wonderful picture of him.

-Nameseeker

[marydell.livejournal.com]

thanks! *waves*