Been Way To Long

Sorry for not updating Olivia's blog and i can surely tell you that so much has happened since the last blog in November. To begin Olivia went through a very rough patch at Christmas time with 3 weeks of continuous crying and rages once again. Since we were told in October to not take Olivia back to the hospital we stayed home and toughed it out.

Olivia was on 3 medications to help control her mood swings and we are slowly trying to wean her off them, she is already off the Clonidine (and we have already seen a difference) she is much calmer. There are 2 left, Risperdal and Tegretol that we are trying to get rid of. The hospital was over medicating her and therefore messed her up pretty good, it will take a while before she will be drug free.

As for Olivia's progress she is babbling so much more, and is able to get around much more independently by holding on to surfaces while walking. The independence is fantastic and she has come a long way and we are so proud of her. We are so confident that she will one day walk on her own.

With Olivia everyday is a learning experience and we have learned more in 4 years than we would have learned in a lifetime. Raising a child with any form of a disability is a 24 hour / 7 days a week commitment and i commend all the parents out there and that in our situation, better or worse to do everything we can for our children. As I recently said to Olivia's Neurologist, that as long as I have breath in my body I will never stop at getting answers.

As for that said, we took Olivia to see a wonderful Neurologist in New York at the Montefiore Children's Hospital. She was wonderful and took the time to explain and help us understand the way the brain works and how it's affects development. She spent 2 hours with us and listened to our concerns and our hopes and she was very honest as to the fact that 50% of children with a Neurological Delay go undiagnosed. Our appointment was Friday and by Monday morning she had already e-mailed me the report of her consultation, i forwarded it to 3 of Olivia's doctors here in Montreal and only 1 was kind enough to respond and reply to the questions. What can I say, I guess when you pay you get the service.

We have a few projects for Olivia and we may be taking her back to Montefiore for some testing but we are also planning a trip to Peru in November to try to seek for some help. We have heard wonderful things about Peru and are very eager to set on yet another journey with Olivia. We hope that she will be stable with her mood swings to make the travel a little easier or it will be hell. We will keep you posted....

Sorry for the delay...