Summer went by so quickly. I honestly think it was the fastest summer we have ever had. We filled our days with a few camps, VBS, the pool, a family visit among a few other things. Then poof, it was gone.
We gave Baylor the summer off of therapy. No speech, no OT, no summer school, nothing taxing. Her one camp was an all day camp for a week and she handled it like a champ. I figured after that she would probably handle kindergarten days pretty well. I finally had to come to terms with the fact that my shadow was going to be gone as shadows fade with the going down of the sun.
The week before school started had an official meet your teacher day and drop off school supplies with the rest of the 800 elementary school kids and the collective massive families they all come from. I mean, who doesn’t have at least 4 kids these days? It is always an overwhelming event as everyone crowds to see one wall of class rosters and pushes through the sea of humans to drop off school supplies and get more paperwork from the teacher. This year we had grandparent help as we had to bail and take Ainsley to Vandy for an MRI that evening to approve a growth treatment plan.
A week later, Baylor starts her first day of kindergarten with a fresh team of people in a very different school set up as the past three years of the early childhood program at the same school. I’m a wreck because my baby who is not able to tell me anything other than requesting her basic needs is going to kindergarten. She is set up in the regular classroom with a few different aids that assist her all day. I kiss her goodbye and up to Vanderbilt we go to see a neurosurgeon as Ainsley had a spot on her brain we needed to discuss. We had received the call the day after the MRI telling us they found a spot on her right front lobe the size and shape of a pea.
I should have been a complete disaster but my God kept my heart and mind at peace like nothing I can experience with my own doing. We brought our petitions to Him and we know He holds our future and our victory in this life. Vanderbilt has great pediatric departments and neurosurgery is no exception. Unfortunately right before we were to see the doctor he was called into emergency surgery. However, the student came in and talked with us for a while and showed us the images. Sure enough she’s got a spot. The good news is they are not that concerned as they believe many people have these gliomas and they most likely won’t cause any problems. It is a good shape and a fluid color so they are not super concerned about it right now. We take the wait and see approach and follow up with another MRI in 6 months to check for growth.
We make it back to school in time to pick up Baylor and her teacher brings her out and tells me her day was horrible. Awesome. I had a feeling it wouldn’t go smoothly as there was no visual schedule set up for her and sure enough I was right. Her teacher and special ed teacher were freaking out. I was incredibly unhappy with the whole situation. I called for a meeting with the head of autism consulting in the county and the new speech therapist and new special ed teacher. We met a week later (last week) and things had gotten much better in the meantime. Right now everything is ok but there are a lot of spinning plates in the air regarding her education and making sure she is taught the way she can understand. She is an incredibly smart girl and she has all the ability in the world to learn and succeed but she has to be taught differently. It goes with the autism saying, “Different, not less.” There is a very sweet staff that is working hard with my baby and with me to help her succeed.
Lovingly the school added a program we started with Bay a month ago called GemIIni to her day. She watches these videos on people speaking words and showing picures of the word (ex. snake, cow, dog) and you play them over and over for a week and then switch up. She has very much taken to these videos and is repeating them and we can already tell her words are getting clearer as she practices! We are very excited she is responding already!
Prayers for my girls school year would be much appreciated along with a great report on the next MRI for Ainsley. On the health front for Baylor, we picked up homeopathy again just a few weeks ago and hope to follow it out to the end. No stones unturned.
Thank you for keeping up with us and believing with us for Baylor.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:5-7
Team Baylor
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