Back to Basics
Well I hate to say this, summer is over. Along with the warm weather, Maddie’s break from appointments is over as well. Maddie had a jammed packed summer. Maddie’s summer contained playing with cousins, visiting grandparents, meeting new angels at the ASF Family Conference and developing new skills.
One of the coolest skills that Maddie developed this summer was army crawling.Not only does she army crawl with both of her arms, she is moving both of her legs in an alternating motion. This is great as we continue the long, slow march of our goal to have Maddie walk. Maddie is getting closer to crawling on her hands and knees as well. She does a great job at getting onto her knees. This girl has amazed us this summer.
Therapy breaks are good for both the kiddo and for us as parents. We always see Maddie more engaged in her therapies when she gets back into the swing of things. We had a successful month long therapy break last year, we’re so excited to see how she responds this time around. This therapy break has allowed Nicole and I to reset as well. The weekly three hour trips to Grand Rapids can weigh heavily on us.
This summer saw job changes for both of us as well. I took on a new sales position at a non profit in April, while Nicole was promoted to a new position within her organization in July. The load of taking Maddie to doctors appointments will shift with these changes. As always, we’ll tackle these changes as a team.
Maddie’s appointment break ended two weeks ago. First she had her occupational therapy evaluation. The goal of Maddie’s occupational therapy will be to crawl, use a utensil while eating, and to strengthen her eye movements. Her appointments will be weekly for the next twelve weeks, and we will also start up physical therapy halfway through occupational therapy. Then after that, we’ll do aqua therapy.
Maddie is also restarting her specialist rounds as well. Last Friday we revisited neurodevelopmental. The last time we saw her doctor, we were in the infancy of Maddie’s diagnosis. This kind doctor took an hour out of his day, to sit with us and discuss Maddie’s future. He recognized that at the time, we were lost. This time around the visit went very well. He was impressed with Maddie’s progress. He stressed the importance of being involved with a community of parents that understand our plight. We assured him we know a lot of amazing parents of children who have Angelman.
This year will be the last big year of appointments. In the state of Michigan, Maddie will be able to go to school from the age of 3 until 26. She will be able to get a lot of her therapies at school. Until then, Nicole and I will sacrifice all that we can in order to push Maddie to be the best that she can be.
-Written by Adam Birchmeier
