I did this video last night at 1:00 am. It starts a little slowly but give it a chance and let me know if you like this format. I’m thinking about moving to more of a video based blog. I don’t have to worry about spelling as much. 
Video blog from 11-22-09 – Talk about being a dad and introduction to the Dad book.
Rhizotomy – Next steps
We have decided to do the Rhizotomy this coming summer and have tentatively scheduled it for late may. As I mentioned in my previous post Rhizotomy – Surgery is never an easy answer, surgery is never an easy answer. We saw Haley’s orthopedist today and he explained that the surgery will help make it easier for Haley to get around, run, an not get so tired after she has gone through the healing process, but it is likely her legs will still turn in and we may want to correct that at some point in the future. He also says that it is still possible we will want to do a hamstring surgery some time in the future. I guess even though we will make big progress with the surgery next summer we will still have a long way to go. This is all good stuff to know before going into the operation since it will allow us to go in with our eye’s wide open. The other piece of valuable advice he gave us today was to get on it now. Now is the time for Haley to start strengthening her core and stretching so when we have the surgery her recovery time will be decreased. I’m going to lay out a bit of what we are doing here for me as much as for any readers that might have to go through this in the future.
DONE:
- Pray
- Saw our dr’s both in Atlanta and St. Louis.
- told to contact Dr. Park
- Given information to create a video for evaluation – We didn’t have to travel back to St. Louis for the evaluation.
- Had one of our therapist help instruct Haley so she did all the movements that video requested.
- Sent video to Dr Park’s office
- Pray
- Started scheduling the surgery for summer of 2009 got pregnant with 3rd.
- stoped all procedures
- Had baby Oct 2009
- Contacted Dr Parks office and scheduled surgery for summer 2010.
- Pray
TO DO:
- Pray
- Contact insurance company to find out what they will cover the operation
- Find out how much additional therapy insurance will cover pre and post op
- Develop a home therapy program that builds core strength prior to surgery
- Pray
- Document Haley’s current movements on the blog to help other’s see the improvements the surgery provides.
- Work daily with Haley on PT program prior to surgery
- Pray
Somehow I think I’m missing a lot. I’m hoping some folks who have gone through this before will stop by and give us some pointers. I just want to be sure we have all our ducks in a row. If anyone does stop by and read this please let me know what kind of therapy you were able to get from your insurance companies post op. I’ll post conversations and references as I get them.
I’m Not Weird! moving forward
I’m excited because the publisher for I’m Not Weird reached out today and said they have everything they need to move the book to the next stage of production. That means we have gathered all the releases they need and they now have all the materials. The next step for them is to layout the book. I’ve been told that this process along with cover design will take about 2 months. Then the book will be ready to go to production. Very excited for Haley.
Introduction to a new friend
A few days ago I met a new friend online over at Copyblogger. His name is Josh Hanagarne and he had written a post - What I Learned From Writing 42 Guest Posts in 7 Weeks. In the blog Josh reveals he has Tourette’s and he basically took on the challenge to help him focus outside himself for a while. From what I understood changing focus helps him to alleviate symptoms. His candid writing style got me interested and I hoped over to his blog World’s Strongest Librarian. While there learning about Josh I decided to ask if he would post a gust blog here on MySpellingSuck. I sent an email and less than 10 minutes later I had a positive response via email. All this gave me a warm feeling towards Josh but then on the next day he posted a video to his blog and I realized that we are kindred spirts. I hope you’ll go visit his site and enjoy his writing and view on the world.
ADD – a topic I tend to avoid
As a reader of this blog you know I have ADD and I’ve occasionally referenced how it impacts my current abilities but for the most part I reference how my experiences with it and my dyslexia give me a perspective on raising my daughter with special needs. Unfortunately lately my ADD has really kicked in. I’ve noticed over the years that during some periods in life my ADD tendencies are much stronger than others. The last time I had trouble was about 10 years ago and I went on Aderal for about 6 months. The problem is after six months or so I could no longer sleep at night and I just didn’t feel comfortable in my skin. So I stopped the medicine.
That was the third time I’ve taken medicine for my ADD. The first was when I repeated 4th grade at 11 years old. I took medicine then for about a year and then again in College. when I took it in college it wasn’t prescribed but a friend had some and offered it to me. I know this was technically wrong but I was having a hard time and wasn’t going to pay hundreds of dollars to go through testing to prove I had ADD again after having been through it so many times and hating the process. I actually did go to the school clinic first and all they could recommend was testing. BTW it is not uncommon for undiagnosed ADDers to self medicate with various drugs. At any rate I only took meds that time for about 3 months. I also notice that after getting off the meds I have always been able to sustain my newly established thinking patterns for about eight years without the meds.
I have never had good long term experiences on the medicine yet I’m troubled right now. My ADD thinking patterns are disrupting my ability to sit down and complete simple tasks let alone complicated work tasks. I don’t really want to go back on meds but I also have to deal with the disruptive thinking patterns now or I fear they will start to disrupt my ability to earn income. If anyone has any ideas to alternative means like diet, I’d be interested to hear about it but if you haven’t had success with diet please don’t tell me its the answer. I’ve heard natural supplements might work too. Please let me know what you know. I’ll post the results of anything I try.
Daddy Just because your old doesn’t mean you can’t stop!
The other day my wife and I were heatedly discussing something. I sometimes have a bad habit of using potty words. While I’m not as bad as some I’m certainly no angle when it comes to this indiscretion.
Interestingly my oldest daughter has always understood that potty words are bad. She hardly experimented with them as a younger child and when she did it was in front of my mother-in-law when she thought she would be safe. Luckily disappointment pretty much aims Haley in the right direction most the time. So after disappointing my mother-in-law with the words she never used them again.
Well she asked me the other night why I used them if they are bad, and of course I did what most adults in that situation would do and said: “They are bad and you’re right I shouldn’t use them, but I have for so long that it’s become a habbit and it’s hard for daddy to stop. That’s why you shouldn’t start so it won’t be hard to stop.” Lame I know. Apparently so did she.
Then next day I was taking her to Sunday School and she said, “Daddy, I’ve been thinking, just because your old and have been saying bad words for a long time doesn’t mean you can’t stop, if you just make up your mind.” I go into a quick internal dialog – “hmm… I have proof that she listens to me occasionally and understands that if you make up your mind you can do what you choose. This is good news right. But can I really stop cursing, I’ve been doing it forever, and boy my parents (actually dad) always did it when he was arguing with my mom. Well that doesn’t mean it was okay. I guess I can just make up my mind to stop using curse words. I guess I really need to if I want my lessons to stick and it would probably make life in the house better too.” I speak out loud, “You know honey, you are absolutely right. If I make up my mind it doesn’t matter if I’m old I can stop. I’ll tell you what. I’ll make an effort to stop but if I mess up you have to remind me that I promised. Can you do that?” So now I’m on a no cursing kick. If you ever catch me feel free to point it out.
My Goodnest this is going to be difficult. Do you have any pointers?
Welcome back!
Hi and welcome back to MySpellingSucks. The last month has been crazy but I’m finally setteling back into rutine and expect to be back at it on a semi regular basis again. We are still working on publishing the book. It takes a lot longer that I would have thought. We need one more release for photos and then we’ll be sending those in. The next steps are editing, formating, formating review, front cover design, front cover design review and finally publishing the book. Suposedly it will take about 3 more months to complete this process. So look for the book at the begining of 2010. Were still very excited.
I’m also going to try and do another series of radio interviews. I have the guests but have to spend some time cooridinating the schedules. I’ve also been working on another idea for a book about Dad’s by Dad’s. I’m very excited about this project and have recruited some initial help. I expect I’ll be reaching out to my readers and friends soon for a littel more befor launching the full frontal effort. If you have any interest in helping to review questions or a just generally interested in where I’m going with this please feel free to start asking questions. You can always contact me at kevin@myspellingsucks.com.
