Appointments and more

Alayna's appointment with Shriner's is 6 weeks away. It was the first Thursday they can get us in. And it HAS to be a Thursday because apparently I cannot make appointments for Alayna without Joe signing a power of attorney form that has to be notarized. The laws in Oregon are different that in Washington. The funniest part: I can be designated the person to contact in case of an emergency AND be the one designated as being financially responsible in the state of Oregon, but I can't make appointments OR consent to treatment even with both Joe and Alayna's mom's written consent... Anyways, the lady at Shriner's was willing to work with me on it though and said that so long as Joe comes to the first appointment and signs their form that it won't be an issue.

None of the doctor's in Washington have had an issue and even Casey Eye Institute (which is ALSO in Oregon, although our appointment will be at their Vancouver clinic) didn't have a problem with me being step-mom. I don't refer to myself as "step-mom", it's not a disrespect thing to Alayna's mom and it's not me trying to "lie" to the doctor's offices. I REALLY do NOT like the word STEP. I don't think of Alayna as any different than the other children. I refer to her as my child, my daughter; it just doesn't occur to explain to others that I'm not her biological mom.

OK, back on topic. In October Alayna will be seen at Shriner's in orthopedics for her feet turning out, the toe walking, the tight tendons and muscles, and the "weird" gait. The doctor we're seeing was previously the chief of staff at the Shriner's hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii. That makes me feel like we're getting a really good doctor :)

I don't know much about the doctor we're seeing at the Casey Eye Institute except that she's an assistant professor. Casey Eye Institute is part of OHSU (Oregon Health and Science University). I believe that Shriner's is connect with them as well, so it'll work in case they need to share information for any reason. When it's time to see a geneticist we're going to request to go to OHSU since all of Alayna's other specialist are out of that hospital.

I called the therapy clinic back today because I hadn't heard from them and I found out that the ONE person in charge of scheduling evaluations is out of the office until the 10th (Monday). I left her a message yesterday. I figure I'll give her until Wednesday morning to call me back and if I don't hear from her by then, I'm calling again.

On Monday the 17th we're officially requesting Alayna's IEP. We're going to request a FULL assessment. I'm really more interested in hearing how she's doing cognitively than anything else. The private PT and OT evals will give us a better idea of her physical delays, the IEP assessments will give us an idea of how she's doing academically and cognitively.

Brooklyn has been having a LOT of trouble adjusting to all the changes this past week; the big kids going to school, a new therapist, one half day of school for her, and then meeting her teacher today and seeing her classroom. It has been meltdown central at our house today. We'll see what next week holds, I'm just praying it's better and that she adjusts to school quickly.