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Well, here's the story. Yesterday I called the neuro surgeon's office to talk to them about some if the issues we have been having with Micah lately. He has been extremely irritable and very sensitive to anything touching him especially clothes. Anyways, the nurse called me back last night. She pulled up his MRI from September and read this to me. He has "hyper intensity in the peritrigonal white matter in his brain." What does this mean? It means he has some form of cerebral palsy. I am NOT upset but just surprised that nobody has mentioned this before now. It was not detected here in Kalamazoo back in February. We are being referred to pediatric neurology as well as occupational therapy. From what I have researched, this could be the reason for his strabismus in his eyes, the seizure, swallowing issues, and speech problems. These also closely follow the symptoms of chiari which makes it kind of confusing. However, it does help us to know that he has this because it shifts our perspective on things. Whatever damage was done is done. It cannot be fixed. We need to now focus on "managing" his issues. Yes, he needed the chiari decompression surgery and has made great improvements and is still improving. We just need to make sure he is getting all of the help that he needs. It's probably a good thing that we did find out about the chiari first so that could be taken care of. It could be up to two months before we get in to see the pediatric neurologist. I will update as I find out more of course.

another piece!

Well, we may have yet another piece to our Micah puzzle. I will get to that later today.... It's the middle of the night and I have a screaming sore throat and I was just up sipping hot water. Maggie has her 4 month appointment today and I need to "chat" with someone first before I tell you what we have found out. It just helps in the overall picture of things.

"It's almost Christmas Tree Time"

Micah is so excited for "Christmas Tree Time" this year. He started saying this a while ago when we got the hats and gloves out again. Now that we have seen some snow, he is even more excited and says his phrase all the time. Yesterday was a much better day overall and I didn't end up calling Dr. Ham. Today was ok again but first thing in the morning is still a bit rough. It always has been. Tonight he had a fit about his tag in his pajamas again... even though he wore the same pajamas last night!

Rough Day

Well, I need to update a little. Micah went to the eye doctor today. He is doing great with the "straightness" of his eyes. They are perfectly straight with his glasses on. He sees 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other with his glasses on. This is good. We may try to patch again but not right now. He just seems too irritated lately and is riding the fence as to whether he is happy or extremely sad all the time. It doesn't take much to tip him off. He is still super sensitive to his tags and just screams and screams about them. I am trying to ignore this because I truely think (hope) that this will pass. He did not go to school today because he did not wake up until after 11:30. I was going to have to take him out early anyway for his eye appointment but I figured he needed to rest. He was happy for a while today. He woke up around 6am this morning complaining of his head hurting and again tonight. He has been screaming and moaning like old times. He actually went in the bathroom a while ago and put a band-aid right on his scar! I know he is hurting now. I will be calling Dr. Ham's office tomorrow. I don't know what they will say because he just had an MRI that was normal just weeks ago. I just feel like we have climbed to the top of the hill and are heading back down for some reason. I hope I'm wrong!

Tags!

I just have to mention this. Micah has been super irritated by the tags in his shirts lately. He keeps saying his tag hurts, or his tag is hurting him. It's not just a little bother either. He screams and prances around the room and is totally ridiculous. It's so frustrating. Once he gets busy doing other things, he's fine. I just have to get him past that point. It's the worst first thing in the morning or when it's time to go to bed. He's still waking up right now so we are having a rough time.

Catching up!

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted. I'm trying to think about all of it and not forget anything. A week ago today, we went to visit Dan's Grandma in the hospital. She was back in the ICU with pneumonia this time among other things. We made a day of it stopping on the way up at a park and having a Hot-n-Ready pizza! The next morning, we got a call while we were at church that his Grandma had taken a turn for the worse and would not likely make it another day. We decided that we had said our goodbye the day before and we did not go see her. She did die soon after. That being said... we had a busy week ahead. Wednesday we went to the visitations and then camped in our tent (for the LAST time this year I might add) in Dan's Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve's yard. Thursday was the funeral and Dan's birthday as well. I can honestly say that I had a nice time throughout the whole two days. It was sad for the reason we all got together but it was so nice to see everyone together at the same time.

Thursday night on the way home, Micah spiked a fever and when we got home it was 101.9 degrees. So, I called the doctor at 8am Friday to make an appointment. He has/had herpangina which is a viral infection that causes sores in your mouth and sometimes on the hands and feet as well as a high fever. He had the sores in his throat but no where else. He had this before when he was 11 months and ended up in the hospital. Now he is bigger and handled it wonderfully! He (shhh) seems to be all better now.

Friday night we hosted a hayride for a freshmen group from Spring Arbor University. That was a lot of fun and it did not rain! We have done this for three years now for my friend Jeremy who is a professor there.

Also, Maelea learned to pedal her bike this week! She was so excited! Maggie slept the longest she's ever slept. I actually had to wake her up this morning to feed her. We were going to go the the Kalamazoo Christmas parade today but it was snowing and raining on and off AND I am the only one up still... oh wait, I hear little feet. Anyways, I think we are going to have a day around the house today. Sorry for the lack of pictures this time.