Friday, April 27, 2012

Friday at the Farm: Whirlwind Week

This week - this whole month - is going by SO fast.

Our Medicaid (Katie Beckett Deeming Waiver) annual renewal application was due today, so I was buried in paperwork all week trying to get it done at superhuman speed. Our application surpassed 100 pages this year. Yikes. Gwyneth has had a very busy year medically, and there is much more ahead in the coming few months...

Today I left Gwyneth at the therapy center while I drove over to the pediatrician's office to pick up the Medicaid renewal paperwork that I had left there for the Doctor to sign. Then it had to be copied and sent off to the Dept of Family and Child Services. It was a whirlwind morning. When I rushed back into the Therapy center near the end of Gwyn's morning, I got the summary of the day from all 3 therapists back to back. She had a great day with all of them: working on trying to blow a pinwheel, trying a new Therapeutic Listening chip in her headphones, and being very energized with the PT activities. The discs/chips in her TL headphones are changed every 2 weeks and the OT determines which chips she will do next to try to challenge her in different areas. Right now the focus is on her vestibular sense and spatial awareness. It is a very good sign that she was so energetic during her PT session (which follows OT) and she was moving around in new ways. They said she was moving her body and arms on the swing which she's never done; she's usually very stiff.

I am so relieved that the Medicaid renewal paperwork is done. This is my third year with the Waiver, and I dread it every time, but it is worth it to get the financial aid to pay for Gwyneth's therapies and extra medical costs.

Coming up: Gwyn is scheduled to have her tonsils & adenoids removed, but there are several doctors visits that need to happen first (mainly: she has to be cleared by the Neurologist because of the AAI possibility). We finally had an appointment at the Emory Down Syndrome Clinic in Atlanta which was so helpful. More details on the Emory Clinic visit, the Neurology appointment, and the upcoming surgery in another post...