Braces for Straight Teeth

Yes, you heard me right. There are braces for straight teeth. Why would someone want to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for braces when the child has great, and straight teeth? It's called impacted #11. That's the canine tooth. My Brooklyn is about to begin the whole process of getting braces, see an Oral Surgeon for a tooth extraction and try to pull down the impacted adult tooth. This was devastating news to not only us, but the Orthodontist who loved how pretty and straight her teeth are, but I looked at the X-rays and there is just no getting around it. It needs to happen, and happen soon.

Over the summer we have the bulk of the work completed followed by about two years or so of clear braces. She also has TMJ and will be under treatment for that as well. She already has cochlear implants, glasses and now adding braces too. I've tried to encourage her to try contacts really soon but she is nervous and says she isn't ready. With volleyball tryouts only a few weeks away, she may find out that if she makes the team, contacts may be the best option! I can't believe she is about to be in the 7th grade! Gage will be going into the 10th and he is only weeks away from getting his driver's permit! He too will visit the Oral Surgeon to give us an estimate of if/when he will be facing his much awaited jaw distraction.

Where has the time gone?

Very Weird

So just a quick update on Gman's medical symptoms...he's had really nothing to write about. His vision checked out fine, his check up went fine, though we discussed upping his dosage of his ADHD meds. After we go to the beach and after he gets back from camp, I'm going to pull him off his meds for a trial period and see if he has any more headaches.

The month of May hasn't been totally uneventful. About two weeks ago, he did come home from school and instead of playing outside he stayed in...very weird. He was fine at first but then he told me he was STARVING. So I fixed him something to eat, he looked at it with his hungry little eyes and then felt sick. He went to bed-ears off-lights off. He rested for a while and felt much better...it did seem migraine-ish to me. If he is having those again (we were told before he seemed to have migraine symptoms) I'll have to look for the triggers. Since his last episodes a couple of years ago, I've removed most chocolate, all orange juice and Ramen noodles and he's not had ANY MIGRAINES...until now (possibly).

But we are excited that he's had no itching, no chronic pain, no processor removal at school! We are also entertaining the idea (courtesy of the school nurse) that weather (particularly rain) may affect his discomfort. I can only imagine having your head cut open as many times as he has how some discomfort could be expected at times. I know that when it's supposed to rain, my finger that I broke a few months ago (playing football, lol) bothers me.

We start our summer break tomorrow!! Woohoo. We plan to 'fix up' the house a little, go to the beach, play hard and sleep past breakfast. Have a great summer everyone!

Eyes and Ears

Last week I broke one of Gage's processors and due to freezing/snowy weather we just got the replacement in yesterday. When I replaced his backup he said it was awfully quiet. He had been wearing a backup processor since the incident which was running an old set of programs since Mom forgot to bring those things to our last mapping appt. Long story short, that one was fine but after a Ling check (he got them all but not confidently) and some other random babble (which he missed them all in high frequencies and a few in the low), it was determined we need mapping on that right ear, his left seemed fine! So we go on Friday to take care of that.

Now on to Brooklyn...got a call yesterday from school, B was crying, her glasses were broken. Well, not completely broken just unwearable, a screw fell out and a lens wouldn't stay in, and w/little Miss Drama  Brooklyn, when in doubt, cry...just like her Mama used to be, lol. So I checked the little tot out to go for repairs. On the way she says, "Mama, I'm not talking to 'M' anymore, I can't hear her and she's too quiet." I asked her if she had maybe tried telling the little girl that she can't hear as well as some kids do and ask her if she could repeat herself and speak up a little bit. Brook had done none of that but just decided to not speak to the little girl instead, so hopefully she'll take my advice and just ask for repeats or ask her to speak up some. It seems to be this one particular child so I'm guessing her volume isn't as loud as the other kids or Brook would complain about them all.

Now on to report cards, Brook got all S's which is like an A in Kindergarten. She had one N last report card but this time she had no Needs to Improves!YAY B!
Gage, let me just list his grades, keep in mind, I know he did okay last time but if you know him and his potential, it was not at all up to his level and this was pre ADHD medicine. Compare his grades to this time where some areas came up more than 10 points!!! He's doing so good on his medicine and he knows it! I mean the kid is 8 and do things like this!
The first grade will be from last report card and the other is what he made this report card medicated.

• language      81     vs.     98
• reading        75     vs.     87
• spelling      100     vs.    100
• social studies  99   vs.     92
• math           78     vs.     93   and it got harder!
• science        81      vs.    94
• conduct        79     vs.    96        oh yea!!!!

Big improvement, now that's more like the little man's potential!!!  And on a note about reading, he hates it, I'm surprised he got that good, he guesses mostly since he told me he really don't read those books they are supposed to in class!! What am I gonna do w/that child?

Stuff

Gotta lot of stuff to update....

Brook got her new blue glasses

 

Gage's new obsession? WRITING and ILLUSTRATING his own mini books

You can check out his blog of all his latest creations by clicking link below

Gage's Blog

His weird ci episode I talked about yesterday seems to be nothing to worry about, just one of those weird things I guess.

And for all you local families here in AL, I hope to see you at the park Sunday if you go to the HEAR Center, details found here at BAMA EARS

Something weird w/his cochlear implant?

Back to the subject of ADHD and something else weird w/his cochlear implant...

Gage got a 100 in conduct this week! That is just unheard of here at the Blakely home. His teacher stopped me again this week while I was subbing at the school and remarked on his improvement. Yeah! You can tell from the picture his new hobby. He comes in every~single~day and colors and draws for hours. This picture is from this morning when he had a few extra minutes to spare before school, he sat (still) and drew in his notebook. If your kid has ADHD you know unusual this may be.

On to another subject, his cochlear implant. This morning he complained for the second time in a month that when he tilted his head a certain way, he felt a weird pop around his left ci (the re-implant side) and then a sudden sensation of warmth there. Then it would go away. Not sure what that means since it's random and weird and only happened twice. Will be emailing his ci nurse to see what she says.........

Going to pick up B's new glasses this afternoon. The kids have a short day today due to a Veteran's Parade in our county and my dad called wanting to keep Gage while we go to the eye doc. So that works out great! He'll likely just draw the entire time he's there anyway. Will post the new glasses tomorrow.

.......um, I couldn't read in Kindergarten!

Just so we're all clear, I could not read in Kindergarten. I learned my alphabet, I learned rules of the classroom, I learned to play with other children, I learned to color...but I did not learn to read. Brook, is already reading, Gage did as well. This is three months into the school year and wow, I'm shocked. This is without her glasses too! We went to have them(her glasses) adjusted last night and they accidentally broke her specs so we are getting new ones on Wed afternoon. Just before I started filming she had sentences with words like school in them, to me this is astonishing...not to even mention the fact that the child is deaf! So this goes to show you how much they CAN and SHOULD be getting out of public school education!

Weekend Update

The kids had a ball this weekend with all the activities. They enjoyed trick or treating and getting to wear their costumes (outside the house for a change-here they play dress up a lot!).

Gage made some scary signs for different people

Look at Brook checking out the mummy at our friends Rachel and Matthew's house. (oh thanks for all the candy, Mom and Dad   the kids are enjoying it)

This mummy made freaky sounds too so B wasn't taking any chances. With all the scary movies coming on the past few weeks, she's a little on edge. She doesn't really like scary things but Gage loves them! No telling what kinda damage we've caused letting him watch all those horror films but they hold his attention! He asked me once why the music would play in the background of scary movies and I told him that's to help intensify the situation and make it even scarier. Brook has never watched them long enough to ask. Now he listens to music in the films to know when it's about to get scary! (just in case you're wondering how much deaf kids can pick up from movies) Ever since he got his first cochlear implant years ago, he's really been able to pick up a lot from movies, even the overall mood and not just a story line. He automatically looks at me during sad parts because he knows I'll be in tears (and he laughs at me) but he himself has been know to cry at movies (even a cartoon once) so have no fears, they usually do well with tv, though he does prefer captions.

My husband and I even got to get out this weekend (we were married the day after Halloween 12 years ago!) and we attended a costume party at my little brother's house. We had fun, we had laughs, and we were road construction workers.

So far we have a non busy week next week with only one appointment! Crazy I know! But Brook has to go back to the eye doctor tomorrow after school and check on the lazy eye situation. She may need a patch...?

this week....

She's doing so well with her glasses, and she's quit telling people how big their heads and faces (and chins, lol) are...so she's getting used to her new found vision. Behavior in school is sllllloooowwwly improving *smile* so that's always good news. I think I forgot to mention B has a bit of a lazy eye (I had no idea!) and we go back in 2 months to check to see if glasses have helped or look into other options such as a patch, etc. She digs pirate patches anyway!

Gage was out today with a stomach virus (he threw up like 15 times last night) but was much better today and is back to normal now. His ADHD is at an all time high and his grades are going DOWN! Still not sure if he's bored, careless or distracted but we get the IQ test soon (hopefully), mapping next Friday and if those two things don't help solve the mystery then we'll be looking into those meds. I'm in no rush, I want to dot my i's and cross my t's before medicating my child.

As for the October Challenge, I only have seven weeks to lose 11 lbs but I know I can do it. Like I say, now that the kids are in school, I'm not as hungry because I'm not a short order cook all day long.

And we are still waiting on the batteries for the kids' FMs. I've been paying out of pocket for them for a month now and I can't do it anymore so let's ALL hope they come in next week!

I've been keeping myself busy most days working on some special projects which I'll announce later, but yes they are all hearing loss related! Have a great weekend!!

and now visually impaired as well....

Isn't she adorable? Already Miss Independent is cleaning her own glasses! She did fabulous, let them blow air into her eyes, she read charts, she let them put three different drops in each eye, and she didn't go go crazy til the last 30 min, on the way home. Did I mention we were gone for six hours, we waited there while they made her glasses. As soon as they were ready, they placed those tiny specs on her face, they told her to turn to the side and look at Mama. Her precious big blue eyes looked up at me thru her lenses and smiled so lovingly and said to me, "Mama, your chin looks like this" and she lowered her face to turn her one chin into three.......she faced my mom (we made Nanny go with us) and told her the same thing. We may be taking these things back! haha, just kidding. They did tell her everything will look big at first....let's hope her eyes adjust quickly! We went with smaller thinner frames since her CIs are already on her ears. We didn't want to overload her little ears and make them sore. So far so good, hope she does well in school. They said she needed them full time.