Medical Updates on Kate



Our beauriful princess!

 Poor Kate has been to so many doctors in her short time in America!  She is always happy and goes with the flow though!  We've met with two doctors that didn't impress us much, but I'm happy to say that we now have the BEST team of doctors to help her!  We've always loved her pediatrician, Dr. Fennell.  He is also Brennan's pediatrician and so we've known him for eight years.  After going to a specialist that didn't impress us, I asked him for his recommendation and he set us up with Dr. Wooten who is a neurologist in the same building as his practice. 

So we think she has mild cerebral palsy rather than clubfeet, which we originally thought.  All I can say is I am so thankful that China didn't actually list that as her special need because that would have scared us off and we probably wouldn't have ended up with our sweet Kate!  God knew what he was doing and she is perfect for our family! 

Dr. Wooten was amazing and she never even realized she was in a doctor's office!  He thinks her CP affects her legs and possibly her wrists a little.  The only way to truly diagnose CP is to have an MRI done though, which can be tricky with a four year old.  Usually he recommends that you put the child to sleep in order to do it, but he was impressed with Kate and thought we could try it first. Then if it didn't work we could go the more complicated route of putting her to sleep.  We set up our appointment and went to the office to see the mock machine.  The office was in the same building, and so will the physical and occupational therapy sessions too! The office is two blocks from my school and is so convenient!

She wasn't impressed with the mock MRI machine but she was hungry. and so we just looked at it and talked about it.  Two days later we arrived for our appointment and she was AMAZING!  I wished I would have taken a picture of her- she was so cute with her goggles on that she could watch a movie through (she picked out Sponge Bob) and her big ear phones on.  Then there was a Darth Vader looking mask over her head.  She took her Llama and her Hello Kitty and hugged them and I was allowed to stay with her too.  I held her foot and one hand and she was perfectly still the entire 45 minutes.  All she said afterwards was that it was loud and scary. I agreed that it was very loud!   I was so relieved and excited that she did it! 

We have a copy of her brain scan but I have no idea what to look for, so I'll just wait until I meet with the Dr. Wooten again in a few weeks.  In my mind, it doesn't really matter what it reveals.  She's absolutely perfect and her obstacles will just make her a stronger and more amazing person!  On the other hand, I am very thankful that her condition will not get worse... she can walk and run and get around just fine, which I know many kids will never get to do. 

I look forward to setting up her physical therapy sessions though and know that they will be just as amazing as the doctors that work in their building.  I have seen so much improvement in her balance and gait in just the short time we've had her, and so I know that she'll improve even more with guided help.  I just hope that she will always know how perfect she is- the therapies will just help make her stronger.

We have two more appointments to go to though- the eye doctor and the dentist.  We have a great pediatric optometrist that we will see in two weeks.  Dr. Wooten was worried about her wandering eye and wanted us to get in as soon as possible so she won't lose any sight in that eye.  When I told him I had made the appointment he asked who it was with... when I said Dr. Board he said that's who he was going to recommend.  Brennan has been to Dr. Board and so we already know we love him too.  Now I'm just looking for a dentist.  The one that Brennan has seen, isn't in our network, which hasn't been a problem with Brennan because his teeth are pretty good.  Poor Kate though isn't quite as lucky.  I think I probably should find someone in our network.  Any recommendations?  We have United Healthcare as our insurance.

Now that she probably has CP I have started doing my research.  I am an expert on clubfeet and put in many hours researching it... oh well.  There are a ton or resources and now I have a new project.  We're just so happy with our healthy, spunky, and determined little girl!  She truly is a gift from God!