Andrew's Hope: On the wings of an Angel

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

On the wings of an Angel

The last few weeks have been very busy in our house. Andrew has had visits to Children's Hospital in Boston, and other appointments closer to home. Jessica and Andrrew both started school on Monday. It was hard for me to drop Andrew off at preschool. I know that things will get better with his school program I just may need to bring in other people to help at his IEP meetings. He has preschool on Tues and Thurs with a service day every Wednesday I want Andrew to be in the least restrictive school envirnoment as possible. Being pulled out all the time isn't the answer. So we will try having him at school on Wednesday to receive thereapies such as PT/ST/TVI/TOD etc.

Andrew's seizure's have declined some. I have not seen a drop attack or clonic jerk in at least 10 days. But, as his Mom (and a nurse) I know that this could be the calm before the storm. I have seen to many improvements, only to only them followed by a much worse type of seizure. I am crossing my fingers that he will not have grand mals next. A small ray of hope lingers in the hope that the diet is working.

He continues to grow and is headed straight for 3T/4T size clothes!! Wow, he is growing so well now with his feeding tube in place.

We wait anxiously for his service dog and we know what a comfort he will get from his new pal.

But, with alll that is good something not so good comes along....My Dad (Andrew's Grandpa) is in the ICU with an infection of unknown origin. He has already been through so much and was recovering very well from a heart surg in April. Please keep "Grandpa" in your thoughts and prayers as we all hope for a speedy recovery. I believe in angels and I believe everyone has one looking over them. I LOVE YOU MOM & DAD

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About Andrew

Andrew is a very handsome wonderful 6 year old boy. He gives us so much joy to have him in our life and, just like any parents, we want to do everything we can to make his life better.

Andrew has bilateral hearing loss and a difficult to control seizure disorder. Andrew also has a visual processing disorder which essentially makes him "blind". While he can visualize objects, he can not process and identify what he is seeing. On top of this, Andrew also has a swallowing disorder which makes it necessary for specialized feeding.

The seizures Andrew has been diagnosed with have also included Infantile Spasms, which is a very serious diagnosis in a child. Due to the severity and frequency of Andrew's seizures, he is termed as "Global Delay" because of the interruption they cause in his daily learning and processing of information. This is despite of being on multiple medications and therapies.

At 3 years of age, Andrew took his first steps. We are still waiting for the day he says his first word. Andrew has come a long ways in the last 3 years. Having Carina enhance her training to include tethering will be wonderful for Andrew. We have fought long and hard to get him walking, including fighting the school when they wanted to put him in a wheelchair. Andrew should be indepdendent as safely possible and noone should ever hold him back.

Carina has improved Andrew's long term quality of life by alerting and providing comfort before, during and after seizures. She can also help to be Andrew's eyes and ears and provide a much needed source of support and comfort to him as he meets the upcoming challenges in his life. We heard about a great organization that places highly trained dogs.

4 Paws for Ability is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities. The dogs are specially chosen and trained specific to each individual's needs. Our previous fundraising was on behalf of 4 Paws For Ability in order to minimize the wait time and allow us to participate in the process of placing a dog with Andrew.

Why 4 Paws For Ability?

4 Paws For Ability specializes in training service dogs for children with special needs and has a very high success rate. We encourage you to visit their site at http://www.4pawsforability.org/ to learn more about this wonderful organization. 4 Paws For Ability is a 501(C) Non-Profit Agency and all donations are tax deductible. 4 Paws for Ability's mission is to "Enrich the lives of people with disabilities by the training and placement of service dogs to provide individuals with companionship and promote independent living." and "Assist with animal rescue whenever possible by obtaining many of our animals from shelters and rescue groups." Through a family friend, we heard of another family currently undergoing the training and placement process of a seizure response dog for their 4 year old daughter Caitlin. 4 Paws For Ability is very highly recommended and has placed over 500 service dogs!