My Head is Spinning!

Abby's day did get better yesterday! She came home, changed into her Woody costume and was happy the rest of the day. This morning went better and she didn't fuss so much at school. She wouldn't take her jacket off at school yesterday and wouldn't wear one today.

I had a rough morning. I was feeling like a bit of a failure this morning. Why didn't I push earlier for help for Abby?? Why didn't I question the doctor more when he said she was fine? Then my mind got away from me and I started thinking about all the things I'm not very good at. So while I wasn't feeling like a good mother, I then started feeling like I wasn't very good wife, sister, daughter, employee...

I don't shave my legs enough, I can't keep up with the laundry or keep the house clean, and my cooking is barely edible. I love to bake but one cannot live on bread alone. :) I give my work very limited hours which poses scheduling issue for them. I don't call my family enough or send them birthday cards. I cried a little on my way to work this morning.

Work was actual a nice break. I was able to think about something else for a little bit. On the way home I was thinking about how the bible says that God gives strength to the weary. I do feel weary today.

On to another subject, I have been working on getting Abby therapy/treatment, etc. Right now we are waiting on the Chesapeake school system to say what services Abby will be eligible for. I decided I didn't want to wait until April to get Abby started in therapy so I made some calls yesterday and today.

Abby's pediatrician's office was great and faxed prescriptions for Abby to receive occupational therapy and speech therapy. Thankfully our insurance was approved for another year based on the fact that we make a dollar. :) CHKD should have Abby in for speech soon and I called another office about occupational therapy since the wait is several months at CHKD. They said they could get her in on the 17th for her evaluation.

The next step is finding out how I can get her access to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). This is THE best therapy for children like Abby. The approach is proven to be effective in getting the child ready for school and life. Yay you say, you've found something great to help Abby! Unfortunately, the only insurance that pays for this therapy in this good state is Tricare (military). Mike isn't planning on enlisting so that isn't helpful to us. I called the main center that provides this therapy today and found out that it costs $40/hr. Oh, you get a discount if the child is there more than 6 hours a week. So now we are talking $180/week. So that is defiantly not going to happen. I don't even think we can pay the $40/week for her to get one hour of treatment although that is a bit more plausible. My only hope if the school will pay for her to go to this center. I would be thrilled with even one day a week for a few hours.

I am going to try and get Mike and I to go to the center sometime next week to check it out and talk more to the lead therapist who should be able to give us more advice about how to proceed with the school system.

At this point my head is spinning because I am not sure how I am going to get Abby around to all her appointments or who will watch the other kiddos while I do and how we will pay for it all. Hopefully I will know more in the next couple of weeks.