NOVEMBER IS EPILEPSY AWARENESS MONTH!
Well, Change is upon us and change has certainly happened with Victor and us. I ended my last entry telling of Vic’s new school. So far, Vic really seems to enjoy his new routine: going to Preschool 4 mornings/week. In the first few weeks, Gary & I stayed with Vic while he transitioned; making sure everyone felt OK with Vic’s seizures and how to handle them. After 3 weeks, I finally took the plunge and left the school grounds altogether (but not too far). That 1st day, Bernie and I walked around Greenlake (just behind the school) on a gray, rainy day. It felt strange having all of 2 ½
hours to myself! I found myself slowly wandering around the lake, not sure how far I should go as I worried that I’d be getting a call to return quick! Not sure what the hell to do, while my child was left behind with practical strangers! But I filled my time.I, with my jeans and rain jacket, wearing my favorite green fishing hat and holding my cup of tea. Bernie: sniffing everything under the sun, happy to be outside and attempting to chase the ducks, squirrels, anything that moved. There I was, loafing about on a Monday morning and around me were lots of women. Women-jogging.
Women--walking & talking on cell phones. Women with babies-running with joggers. Women-pregnant women, running, and running while pushing 
joggers! Women--participating in some sort of Mom & baby jogging exercise group! I passed these women and thought to myself, “If Vic were a typical child, would I be one of these women? Would I have joined this exercise group? Would I be 
donned with matching running pants & jackets, looking well coiffed in the rain?”Just as I had this thought, the Mom exercise clan; pushing their sparkly new joggers were coming up behind me at full speed! I literally moved aside and
watched them pass as they were determined to get to their next park bench for more jumping jacks. I returned to my thought and quickly answered myself: No Way!After this run-in with reality, I wandered to a coffee shop and sat on the bench outside, holding my empty cup and decided to call my Dad and anyone else who answered my call. The sun began to beam through the clouds, Bernie received attention from nearby construction workers and I continued my chat with Dad. Somehow I filled my time and headed back up to school to get my boy. “He
did well”, Teac
her-Laura said, “He even laughed”. Hmm…I suppose he’s doing just fine here! We feel blessed that Vic is in a wonderful classroom with a talented & caring teacher.Now that school is underway and Vic is doing well. Vic has also started hippotherapy 1x/week. Following school, on Thursdays, we drive to Woodinville and embark on the most peaceful therapy I’ve ever witnessed. Vic seems to really enjoy being on his horse, Zoro. He calms and every now and then smirks and laughs with delight. His therapist is wonderful and very conscientious. I’ve now joined on as a volunteer and assist the therapist during Vic’s sessions. On our way to Little Bit, we have just enough time to go to the park and let Bernie run around,
chasing balls. It’s a long day, we don’t get home until 3p or so, but it seems to be going quite well.Another new thing we just began last Monday is the Tomatis listening therapy. Vic’s sound sensitivity isn’t quite what it was prior to July, but it still exists. At times, he is more sensitive and seizures sometimes follow a sudden burst (of sound). We have 3 more session to go and will then see what happens but after only 2, we’ve already seen a bit of a transformation. Perhaps it was the commotion around Election Day, who knows, but that day Vic was the most vocal we’d ever heard and wanted to move more than ever! Vic seemed to be shouting his new sounds. I’m excited to see what comes of our next few sessions.
While Vic was feeling real good last Tuesday, later that night and still to this moment, Vic has had a hard time keeping liquids down. On top of this, he’s not been sleeping well at night and his teething has come into full bloom! The teething came on again during my mom’s visit several weeks ago. On Halloween, it took center stage and detracted from the evening’s events altogether. We’re grateful that he finally slept a full night last night but not sure if this was the calm before the storm.
There doesn’t seem much else for us to do, outside of what we’re doing for him. We did learn that Vic is anemic (low iron) and have since been giving him weekly liver shots to help boost his iron. An outcome of this, is that his hair is finally growing! We continue to work closely with our naturopath in attempts to give him the nutrients his body has been depleted of for so long.
I end sharing news of Vic’s amazing strength throughout all of this BS: While it has only happened once, Vic rolled over from stomach to back about a month ago. He has also made gains in attempting back to stomach and is really becoming quite strong. When he’s feeling good, it is real obvious---big smiles, laughter. We’ll get over this recent weirdness and welcome any positive thoughts in his direction that it remedies itself real soon!
“Anticipate the good, so that you may enjoy it!”
-Ethiopian Proverb
Happy Turkey Day!
-The Leeman’s
