Hello everyone,
Long time since I have done an update. I feel very slack for that, but a lot of things in life online wise have had to be put on hold or eased up, as I find I just have not had the time to get everything done that I used to have.
Lachlan has been doing brilliantly, apart from a short stint up at the emergency room of the hospital last Sunday evening. He has a bad viral infection, which in turn turned to croup (as usual!) and he was having great difficulty with his breathing. He was very upset and agitated and had a high temp. They gave him some pulmicort and some prednisolone and kept him there for a few hours. Heart rate was also sitting around 163-165, which is quite high for him, but I was hoping it was just a response to the medication that they gave him, as it is steroidal.
He is slowly getting better, but it seems to be taking a lot longer than usual this time around. Temp has gone, that barking cough has gone, he is just now suffering the ill effects of that horrible ticklish post viral cough which, by the end of the day, really has him exhausted. He is also not sleeping well during the night with it and as a result, we are a bit sleep deprived to say the least! :)
He had his general checkup with his paediatrician the other day. He seems to be fairly happy with things. Although his weight and height are now on a slight downward curve rather than the slight upward curve that he has been experiencing since his heart surgery was done. He still has this big barrel chest with poke out tummy, but these tiny little sticks for arms and legs lol. He has asked to have some general bloodwork done for him to check his iron and thyroid levels etc, as this has not been done in quite some time.
He has been going well with his early intervention and, in addition to the two half days he goes there per week, he has also started at the normal mainstream preschool close to home here for 2 half days per week. Of course, every time he attends school it seems that he picks something up and ends up having just as much time, if not more, off school again. Last week was the first week he got through the whole week and I jokingly commented to his teacher on Thursday "Yay, we made it through a whole week!" - only to have him wake up with a temp and cold on the Friday morning. I must have jinxed him :)
He had his WPPSI assessment at school at the end of last term with an appointed psychologist. (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence).
His overall IQ has been set at 73 - with the average range for his age being 85 to 115. His verbal IQ was not too bad, scoring 86 which is where he scored best. His Performance IQ was right down, as was his Processing Speed IQ. His weaknesses are very apparent in motor skills and visual spatial processing. We have been asked to restart OT with him, and I have again contacted the therapy department to get him back in, but as he had officially been discharged, he had to go through the whole referral process again and has now been put back onto the waiting list.
The overall recommendation in terms of his schooling next year, is to have him attend main stream preschooling, and start kindergarten as normal, but for him to be placed into a learning support centre - which is smaller class sizes with more one on one assistance for the higher needs children. Fortunately, the school 2 of his other 3 siblings attend has a LSC, so with any luck, they will be able to accept him into it next year so they can all attend the same school.
Well, other than that, there is not a lot to report. The other kids are doing well and we are struggling along, but happy :)
With much love to you all.
Jen
