July Update

Hello Friends, Well to start with, in the last post we told you that Cutter's April MRI showed nothing, no trace of CD. However, his June MRI did. Dr. Elkay told us that she was going to talk to a reliable radiologist about all of his scans and see what he thought. She called us a few days later and told us that he saw the CD on every scan that Cutter has had. :( We were not surprised, but of course we were a little disappointed. We also got Cutter's report about his developmental status. Cutter is still developmentally delayed. He scored 10 months behind in gross motor skills, 12 months behind in fine mother skills, 7 months behind in receptive and expressive language, and 14 months behind in visual perception. So, what does this mean? We still have lots of work to do! We were very upset when we read the report. We thought that he was a little further along than what they had determined. For those of you that may not know: Gross motor skills are your large motion skills like running, climbing, walking, etc. Fine motor skills are the small motion skills like grasping, holding small objects, etc. Receptive language is what you understand when someone talks to you. Expressive language is what and how you speak. Visual perception deals with your ability to sort, put together puzzles, spatial reasoning, cognitive abilities, etc. We also had an appt. with the CDSA in Morganton for Cutter's yearly evaluation that they complete. (This is who we go through to get speech therapy for Cutter.) They agreed with what Chapel Hill said in their report. Cutter will continue to receive speech therapy, and they have suggested that Cutter start back with physical therapy and start occupational therapy, as well. Now, the CDSA will only serve Cutter until he is 3. After that, the school system is responsible for offering these services. We had our first meeting to discuss what will happen after Cutter turns 3 in November. It was determined that Cutter will get to attend West Marion for his therapy! We were so excited to hear this. I love the therapists and preschool teacher that we have at West Marion. They will be a major help with Cutter's development. This was an answer to prayers, that is for sure! Cutter will not go to the preschool every day. He is not ready for that. He will attend only a few hours a week. We will meet again in October to discuss all of those plans. As far as seizures go, Cutter did start back on July 6. He is only a few a day and some days none at all. Yesterday, he had 12. :( It was VERY disheartening to see him start this all over again. Once again, it had been almost five months! We have no idea why he has started having them again, unless it is because he is going through a growth spurt. He has an appt. tomorrow to get some blood drawn to see what his medication levels are. Please pray that we get some answers from that! To end on a happy note, let me just say this child is amazing. He is so sweet and loving. He is THE best big brother in the world. I have never seen a child so young love someone so much. And the feeling in mutual. Maverick thinks Cutter is king of the world! He is also talking so much more now. He is learning Bible verses by repeating after us. He sings several parts of Happy Birthday and Jesus Loves Me on his own (at random times)! And potty training is going well! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers! Please continue to remember us as we yet again figure out what is going on with his epilepsy!