Grady Update

So this kid.....

...had a rough couple weeks....

...but through lots of testing....

and evaluating......

....and researching.....

....and treating the flu......

....he has been a trooper!

So this was the last thing I posted about his health concerns.  

Since that post, Grady had his ears rechecked at the ENT.  All clear.  She said his tonsils are "actually really small" and his adenoids werent enlarged.  I was sorta hoping his adenoids were the issue since its a "quick fix" and couldve explained his poor balance, but nope.  

He also had his longer, more detailed Early Intervention/Early Steps evaluation.  After being so convinced that he would qualify for speech services, he again knocked it out of the park!  He needed a 70 in one area or a 78 in two areas in order to qualify for services through the State.  Grady's lowest score was 90.  Not even close!  They said we can have him re-evaluated after he turns two in April, and if he truly has Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), then he should certainly qualify for services at that time.  

The previous pictures are from his meeting with the Pediatric Neurologist.  That doc said he definitely noticed Grady's poor balance, but was super impressed with his intelligence (Grady said some letter sounds for him) and his social interactions.  He ordered an MRI and EEG and some bloodwork.  

Grady was a CHAMP for the MRI.  We were at the hospital super early, and he really did great! He woke up sad, but that was understandable as he had just anesthesia for an hour.  We were released from the hospital and went home to get ready for Thanksgiving the next day!

At about 4:30pm the day before Thanksgiving, I noticed that Grady was warm.  I thought he was acting lazy because of the morning's events, but when his fever kept getting warmer and he woke up from his nap covered in puke, I knew something was wrong.  

It turned out that it wasnt the anesthesia upsetting his stomach, but he had gotten the FLU! Yes, again.  In October, both kids were treated for Flu A.  In November, we were treating them both for Flu B.  The visit to the doctor's office was not pretty.  And there are no happy, fun pictures from the wonderful thanksgiving meal my mom cooked....because Dude woke up from a nap at their house and had puked again.  We wolfed down our food and headed back home.  

The day after Thanksgiving, Eric stayed home with a sleepy, recovering Grady.....

....while I got to take this little girl to see "Frozen" (the BEST Disney movie in YEARS! LOVED it!)

That night we started watching all the fun Christmas movies on TV.  Grady was instantly obsessed with "Polar Express".  He LOVES it!  And makes the best faces while he watches :) 

The rest of that holiday weekend was uneventful and spent holed up in our house, trying to keep the germs away from the rest of the world.  We got the phone call that Grady's MRI had come back NORMAL! No tumors or cancer or growths.  No surgeries or scariness ahead! WOOHOO!

And we scheduled his EEG for that Wednesday.  I had been putting it off because I have heard horror stories of toddler EEGs because they have to be sleep deprived and they have to sit still for 20 minutes after they spend 10 minutes getting a gajillion electrodes stuck to his scalp with gel and tape.  Didnt sound like fun to me, and while I know he wont remember any of this, I also didnt want to put him through anything unnecessarily.  

Part of the instructions for the EEG involved depriving Grady of sleep.  We had to put him to bed two hours after his normal bedtime, and wake him up two hours before his normal wake time.  

Stay up to 9pm and wake up at 5am.  Super. 

In the two hours of extra play time Tuesday night, Grady took over Whitney's room and played "doctor", checking out my eyes and ears and working on Doc McStuffins.  He climbed in the dryer.  And he tried to break a record for the number of times he could press the button Whitney's "Away in a Manger" singing Veggietales book.  We were all pretty exhausted by the time he finally hit the pillow.

The next day, his EEG was a piece of cake! He did a great job and we are so grateful for answered prayers! I was so nervous about bringing him to this test by myself since Id heard how terrible it can be, but he did so well and we were done in 45 minutes.  "No news is good news" is how this neurologist operates, so we were thrilled when we didnt hear from them aside from a "Grady's EEG was 'normal'" note in the mail this week.  YEAH! 

Another hurdle overcome!  

So for now, we know that there are no seizures or tumors and nothing truly tragic.  Hallelujah! 

According to the Speech Pathologists, he still has severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech and will require extensive speech therapy to overcome that diagnosis.  So for now, Grady attends speech therapy three days a week for a half hour each visit.  He really enjoys meeting with and playing with Miss Pam, his SLP.  He is SUPER, DUPER CRAZY young to officially diagnose with apraxia, so my mommy heart is still praying and hoping he is just a boy and a "late" talker (though he definitely talks more than any of the other 18 month old boys *I* know!)  I am around him so often that I dont think I notice any major growth in his speech or vocabulary, but my dad and Eric have both said he is talking more and babbling more/trying new words than he ever did before speech therapy.  So Im hopeful he will be one of those stories I have heard 1,000 times...just wake up talking one day like none of this ever happened :) 

His balance is still considered "poor", so we will keep an eye on that, though I sorta think all toddlers are wobbly.  So Im choosing not to get too worried about that issue as long as he can stay away from the ER and more stitches and out of trouble :)  

So the bottom line, as I emailed our church: 

Grady's MRI and his EEG both came back as "normal"!!! We are so relieved and so grateful for all the thoughts and prayers we have received over the last several weeks.  Unfortunately, Grady's Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and dysarthria (muscle weakness) diagnoses still need to be addressed, so we will continue with speech therapy three times per week (soooo thankful for insurance!).  But we can now rest assured knowing that these issues and his poor balance/equilibrium are not caused by any tumors, seizures, stroke, or brain damage, but just how God made our Grady! 

Thankfully, we caught the CAS very early (kids typically arent diagnosed until closer to age 3, often much later) and are praying early intervention will help him overcome the difficulties he has forming words.  I am still praying he will surprise us all and wake up talking our ears off someday! We definitely believe in miracles and we know God put Grady here to do big things, so we believe He can and will fix this difficulty in Grady's life.  We are certainly learning a lot through this process! 

Thank you SO much to you and ALL of our friends and family.  I felt a real "out-of-character-for-this-mama" sense of calm as Grady underwent all of these tests, and I can only attribute that to the power of prayer.  I would typically be a worried mess as our child was lead off to anesthesia, but I know all the prayers for us and for Grady were being answered, and we are so grateful!  THANK YOU!

So we move forward enjoying our happy, silly, Cars-loving baby boy! 

Updated to add some recent shenanigans and Grady adventures:

I found him like this after I took four seconds to fold some laundry. 

I woke up and peeked at the monitor. Caught him mid-strip. 

The doll stroller has become a liability for more than one reason. 

We went to story time for the first time today. He loooooved it. In fact he loved it so much we stayed for a second class 😃 

We came home and played with cars on the windowsill. His favorite thing to do! 

We were both excited when the UPS guy stopped by!

And this was taken about an hour ago. Their new favorite book is "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site". We've owned it a week and I think we've read it 50+ times. Loooooove when they both climb in my lap for books!