The Battle Continues
We are still on schedule for our court date July 28. We had hoped the DDD would cave but they are apparently going to go through with it. We got a letter from the Attorney General naming which of their lawyers is going to represent the DDD. We are going with self-representation. Cathy called a legal aid charity but they have far more requests than lawyers. We think it will be OK, but that’s what we thought about the original claim and the appeal!
We have enlisted the help of a local newspaper columnist. She usually writes about kids who have fallen through the cracks of Child Protection Services but she was appropriately outraged by Maria’s story. She is going to interview us on Monday. Our concern isn’t so much about Maria specifically. We wonder how many other people the DDD are screwing over who don’t know how to fight back.
Maria’s been having seizures lately, a couple a day pretty regularly. Then she had a bunch on Tuesday and ten today; both times she got a dose of Clonazepam (the emergency medicine). The PT suggested that since Maria is gaining weight (she’s up to 33.5 pounds by Cathy’s scale) that means her regular dose is too low. We realized this today (Friday) at 4:30 pm of course. Cathy’s going to try to get through before the weekend to see if he’ll up the dose over the phone but it may have to wait until Monday.
Maria continues to work hard toward walking. Today she took 57 steps in a row when working with the PT! She still needs support since she can’t manage to hold her own weight, but she initiates the steps. She gets bursts of 10-20 steps that are in a very regular tick-tock rhythm. Today was the first time I’d seen it and it’s really great! We figure she must have heard about the hearing and is hoping to walk for the judge.