January was a rough start to our year but we are hoping to turn our luck around! Kade started the month off on a GREAT note after about a year of trying he figured out how to pedal his tricycle on his own!! He rode his tricycle past three houses and it was such a great thing to see, not for the fact that he conquered a goal, but to see the happiness and pride in his face! What a feeling as a parent to see!
On January 23rd Kade turned 4, we can't believe it 4 ALREADY! We did a small party at the train park, with family and few friends it was great to see Kade involved with his friends. The kids had a blast pushing him around in his wheelchair. I am always waiting for the questions from kids to ask why won't he get down and play but the best part was when a friend came to me and said "Can I play with him?, can't you put him in his wheelchair and let me push him around?" and so I did the cutest thing I have seen was a little friend who couldn't see over the handle pushing Kade all over the grass and both kids had a huge smile on their face!
Two days later Kade was sent home from school with a fever, a couple hours later we ended up in the hospital. Kade had spiked a 104.4 fever and we couldn't figure out why, he had a cough and the doctors ran some tests. They treated him for pneumonia in the hospital and we unable to come home until he could keep his temperature down and drink some liquids. Kade kept a temperature at around 102 for almost 3 days. Finally by the end of the week were able to come home and now are still on the mends of healing.
We still have not received any results on our blood work that we took in December looking for new possibilities of what is causing Kade's delays. We will keep you posted!
We don't want to leave our prima ballerina out of this blog as most of you following us know we have two kids! Kaela has had a great month as well. She has become so involved in her dance studio this year that it has been great to see her find her "thing". Although I think she would like to move in to the studio, she would go every day if I would let her! We are very proud of her success in dance but mostly proud of the book worm she has become. She is in the middle of 2nd grade and loves school, she is does extremely well and was so excited that they retested her reading level and found out she is reading at a 5th grade level.. We are so proud! She is looking forward to next month as February is "her" month, she turns 8 :),
Thank you all for following us this month we hope everybody has had a great and healthy start to 2012!!
Love Kevin, Kelly, Kaela and Kade
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Kade in 2011
Kade had a good year all in all in 2011. It started off a little rocky, he had a seizure in February and it took a while to recover from the seizure. At the beginning of the year Kade had started to make steps on his own in his walker. We were excited and honored when Kade was asked to be the ambassador for Easter Seals AZ for 2011, and their walk with me. By the time walk was here in May Kade was able to walk in the walker for about 1/2 an hour. We were excited and with the help of all of our family and friends that we raised $14,400 for Easter seals that stayed here in Phoenix, to help kids like Kade and their families. Over the summer Kade continued with his therapies and we did another round of Oxygen therapy.
At this time we had not pursued any new avenues of finding what exactly was going on with Kade, but had decided it was time to start looking again. Our neurologist had told us about a doctor in Seattle WA, who specializes in children with undiagnosed developmental delays. He has a research study and we were hoping Kade would qualify to help find some answers. After sending all of Kade's medical files to Seattle we have heard back. The Dr. thinks that we may have an avenue to pursue. In December of 2011 we have done some blood work and are waiting on the results, we will keep you posted as hopefully this avenue gives us some answers.
Kade started preschool this year and has really enjoyed going. He attends a developmental preschool and really enjoys being around other kids. With the help of his therapists at home and at school, they are helping us find the right type of speech device to help us communicate with Kade. In early 2012 we will have made a final decision on what device will be the best for him. We have also added glasses to Kades daily routine. He wears prism glasses for about 4 hours of the day, the prism in the glasses makes the room shift up so Kade needs to lift his head up, and its so nice to see him with his head up and he now notices the world around him!
We are looking forward to a great year in 2012. We hope to receive a device that makes communicating so much easier with him. We hope to find some answers and hope that Kade continues to be successful in the walker and it becomes his main way of getting around!
We will keep you all informed and thank you for following our journey!
Kevin, Kelly, Kaela and Kade Groff
At this time we had not pursued any new avenues of finding what exactly was going on with Kade, but had decided it was time to start looking again. Our neurologist had told us about a doctor in Seattle WA, who specializes in children with undiagnosed developmental delays. He has a research study and we were hoping Kade would qualify to help find some answers. After sending all of Kade's medical files to Seattle we have heard back. The Dr. thinks that we may have an avenue to pursue. In December of 2011 we have done some blood work and are waiting on the results, we will keep you posted as hopefully this avenue gives us some answers.
Kade started preschool this year and has really enjoyed going. He attends a developmental preschool and really enjoys being around other kids. With the help of his therapists at home and at school, they are helping us find the right type of speech device to help us communicate with Kade. In early 2012 we will have made a final decision on what device will be the best for him. We have also added glasses to Kades daily routine. He wears prism glasses for about 4 hours of the day, the prism in the glasses makes the room shift up so Kade needs to lift his head up, and its so nice to see him with his head up and he now notices the world around him!
We are looking forward to a great year in 2012. We hope to receive a device that makes communicating so much easier with him. We hope to find some answers and hope that Kade continues to be successful in the walker and it becomes his main way of getting around!
We will keep you all informed and thank you for following our journey!
Kevin, Kelly, Kaela and Kade Groff
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Kade's Begining..2008 to 2010
Kade was born January 23, 2012. My water broke at 10:00 pm Tuesday the 22nd and Kade was born by repeat C-section in the morning of the 23rd, it was already predetermined we were going to have a C-section it was no surprise. He looked perfect the delivery was a very typical C-section, there were no complications. The family was so excited to have a boy (especially his big sister Kaela who was 4 at the time). We brought Kade home, and we enjoyed the feeling that our family was complete.
As Kade got older we started to noticed he wasn't hitting some milestones. At six months he was unable to hold his head up, he could not sit up, and he had only rolled over a couple of times. At our six month appointment with our pediatrician she recommended getting a CT scan due to the fact his head was measuring small for his age. Physical therapy (PT) was recommended at this time to help Kade get stronger. Also at this time Kade's eyes were crossing inward and our pediatrician recommended seeing a Opthamologist. August of 2008 we received a x-ray in addition to a CT scan. Everything seemed to appear normal despite his head measuring on the small side. At this time Kade was attending Physical therapy 2x a week for an hour at a time. He worked hard and by October he was rolling over consistently. Our goal for Kade at this time was to sit by Christmas so we had a lot of work to do.
In December of 2008 Kade had his first eye surgery to uncross his eyes. He did fantastic and after the surgery his eyes looked good. At the end of the month we had seen an new neurologist and he suggested a MRI. Due to his age, Kade had to be sedated for the MRI, so the day after Christmas, Kade has his first MRI at Phoenix Children's Hospital. It was a long, nerve wrecking few days until we heard the results, Kade's MRI was normal. Great news!! However, that meant no answers. Kade continued to have blood work every week for the next 6 weeks testing for various disorders, every blood work came back negative (or normal). PT was moving slow and our therapist recommended we contact the Division of Developmental Disabilities for more help, she said that Kade needed more help than what she could give him. We applied to DDD and to receive therapy services, this was not an easy process - it was a fight to start the services and its been a fight to keep these services. In this system it can take 2-3 months to receive a therapist. So to get our team in place it took some time. During this time Kade was evaluated for Long Term Care which helps pay for services for children who will need services for 6 years or longer. He was accepted and qualified for 1 hour per week for feeding, speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy as well as a developmental specialists visit.
In June of 2009 we received our Feeding therapist, at this point, Kade was only eating some baby food but would choke on many of the baby foods. Also Kade underwent another eye surgery ( this time only one eye - his left eye had started to cross in, so they went in to fix it.) So far this has been the our last eye surgery. By August of 2009 we had all 5 therapists in line. Jane (feeding), Rosanne (Occupational therapy), Marla (Speech), and two therapists from Easter Seals/SWHD - Gayle (Physical therapists) and Tina (Developmental Specialist). Kade's schedule was now about to take over with each of his therapies last one hour a week.
In August of 2009 Kade had been sedated again for another MRI. During this MRI they did more detailed testing with a spectroscopy as well as a spinal tap. All results came back normal which was good but still no answers! For the next several months Kade worked hard with all of his therapists. He was progressing every day but it was a SLOW process. By Christmas, Kade was sitting on his own!
Kevin and I felt that we have been chasing the medical doctors and receiving no or little information or help. So we decided to do some alternative medicine along with his therapies. In June 2012 Kade started Biofeedback treatments. With the start of these treatments and allergy treatments we saw a huge change in Kade in a matter of a month. Kade was more aware of his surroundings, making more eye contact, and just seemed to cognitively change. It was like he came to life. We were pleased with what progress we had seen so far so we decided to keep down this path and Kade started Hyperbaric therapy. He attended Hyperbaric therapy for 40 days for one hour each day, along with his 5 therapies at home so his schedule was VERY BUSY!!. With the Hyperbaric therapy Kade seemed to develop more cognitive skills, and he became more vocal. He showed more age appropriate preferences as well as tempers! To us he developed so much that summer he showed a personality as long as becoming more social. Although Kade continues to get better he has a LONG way to go. We are working hard on many goals walking, talking or communicating in any way are just a few.
Kevin, Kelly, Kaela and Kade Groff
As Kade got older we started to noticed he wasn't hitting some milestones. At six months he was unable to hold his head up, he could not sit up, and he had only rolled over a couple of times. At our six month appointment with our pediatrician she recommended getting a CT scan due to the fact his head was measuring small for his age. Physical therapy (PT) was recommended at this time to help Kade get stronger. Also at this time Kade's eyes were crossing inward and our pediatrician recommended seeing a Opthamologist. August of 2008 we received a x-ray in addition to a CT scan. Everything seemed to appear normal despite his head measuring on the small side. At this time Kade was attending Physical therapy 2x a week for an hour at a time. He worked hard and by October he was rolling over consistently. Our goal for Kade at this time was to sit by Christmas so we had a lot of work to do.
In December of 2008 Kade had his first eye surgery to uncross his eyes. He did fantastic and after the surgery his eyes looked good. At the end of the month we had seen an new neurologist and he suggested a MRI. Due to his age, Kade had to be sedated for the MRI, so the day after Christmas, Kade has his first MRI at Phoenix Children's Hospital. It was a long, nerve wrecking few days until we heard the results, Kade's MRI was normal. Great news!! However, that meant no answers. Kade continued to have blood work every week for the next 6 weeks testing for various disorders, every blood work came back negative (or normal). PT was moving slow and our therapist recommended we contact the Division of Developmental Disabilities for more help, she said that Kade needed more help than what she could give him. We applied to DDD and to receive therapy services, this was not an easy process - it was a fight to start the services and its been a fight to keep these services. In this system it can take 2-3 months to receive a therapist. So to get our team in place it took some time. During this time Kade was evaluated for Long Term Care which helps pay for services for children who will need services for 6 years or longer. He was accepted and qualified for 1 hour per week for feeding, speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy as well as a developmental specialists visit.
In June of 2009 we received our Feeding therapist, at this point, Kade was only eating some baby food but would choke on many of the baby foods. Also Kade underwent another eye surgery ( this time only one eye - his left eye had started to cross in, so they went in to fix it.) So far this has been the our last eye surgery. By August of 2009 we had all 5 therapists in line. Jane (feeding), Rosanne (Occupational therapy), Marla (Speech), and two therapists from Easter Seals/SWHD - Gayle (Physical therapists) and Tina (Developmental Specialist). Kade's schedule was now about to take over with each of his therapies last one hour a week.
In August of 2009 Kade had been sedated again for another MRI. During this MRI they did more detailed testing with a spectroscopy as well as a spinal tap. All results came back normal which was good but still no answers! For the next several months Kade worked hard with all of his therapists. He was progressing every day but it was a SLOW process. By Christmas, Kade was sitting on his own!
Kevin and I felt that we have been chasing the medical doctors and receiving no or little information or help. So we decided to do some alternative medicine along with his therapies. In June 2012 Kade started Biofeedback treatments. With the start of these treatments and allergy treatments we saw a huge change in Kade in a matter of a month. Kade was more aware of his surroundings, making more eye contact, and just seemed to cognitively change. It was like he came to life. We were pleased with what progress we had seen so far so we decided to keep down this path and Kade started Hyperbaric therapy. He attended Hyperbaric therapy for 40 days for one hour each day, along with his 5 therapies at home so his schedule was VERY BUSY!!. With the Hyperbaric therapy Kade seemed to develop more cognitive skills, and he became more vocal. He showed more age appropriate preferences as well as tempers! To us he developed so much that summer he showed a personality as long as becoming more social. Although Kade continues to get better he has a LONG way to go. We are working hard on many goals walking, talking or communicating in any way are just a few.
Kevin, Kelly, Kaela and Kade Groff
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Enjoy
Kevin and I have decided to start a blog to keep our friends and family near and far updated in our lives. We would like to keep you all updated in our triumphs and hardships, but know that every day brings a new beginning. We find ourselves very blessed to have two fantastic children and all of you. Enjoy our page and thank you for being a part of our lives!
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