A new year

It's a new year so hopefully it will bring with it hope, progress and success. One of my resolutions is to update more often but so far that has been an epic fail. It has been a busy couple months. Korbin is no longer in orthopedic shoes but now in SMO's which are little custom made braces that go to his ankle and fit great under shoes (the shoes that were made for AFO's). He has been doing so much better with the SMO's than he did with he shoes. Makes life oh so much easier when he doesn't mind wearing them!

Our next venture will be a TheraTog suit. It is an undergarment that is made out of neoprene (think wetsuit). From what I understood, we are hoping this will help with his trunk control and stability as well as preventing "W" sitting and hyperextending his back and neck. I am hoping that we will be ordering the suit soon.

We did get a huge Christmas present from Korbin. He was given a walking toy for Christmas by his uncle. Shortly after assembling the toy, Korbin stood up behind it and started walking!!!! It was truly amazing. It's still not a pretty walk but it's a step in the right direction for sure. Also, his language skills have pretty much exploded over the last month or so. His vocabulary has increased exponentially and it seems that his receptive skills have improved quite a bit. We also just had a follow up eye appt. and his eyes are still looking good.

All in all, things have been going very well. He has been pretty much healthy and really making progress. I am however going to seek a second opinion if we are accepted to Shriner's hospital.I can't help but wonder if Korbin is getting all the care he needs. I am constantly reading about kids with CP getting this therapy and that treatment and using such and such equipment. When we go to therapy it's the same song and dance. Stretch, Stretch, Stretch. I get that stretching is a requirement and I do understand that they want him safe before he starts walking. *With Korbin hyperextending his neck and back, it causes him to fall backwards at times. Pair that with the lack of stability and inability to stand unassisted, it makes for some knots on the head* I really do get all that but I guess I would assume that they would work with him and maybe practice some. I guess my confidence in my "team" has began to falter and frankly, that is not a good thing. If you don't have confidence in a team that is helping you, it makes things difficult but if you don't have confidence in the team that is helping your child, well, that's even worse.

I know that Shriner's will not have the magic wand that I am always in pursuit of but I would really like to see what they have to say and what they recommend. Unfortunately it's a little over 10 hours round trip. I have questioned my intentions about applying trying to make sure that deep down I'm not going hoping for a quick fix (I think I will always secretly want that). I guess the worse thing that can happen is they tell me that our "team" is doing all the right things and that's what they would do. Then I would know that he is getting what he needs. I can't seem to shake this feeling that we're missing something. I don't know what that would be nor do I have a clue as to where I would start looking but I just think that we are missing a key piece of the puzzle. Maybe if we found that piece we could make everything better or at least easier. And of course, it could just be the part of my mind that wants everything all better and normal creating wishful thinking. Nonetheless, I really do feel that we are missing something. Maybe Shriner's will find the "missing thing" or at least put my mind at ease that no, we aren't missing anything and are doing all the right things.