We started Maria on a new drug this week — one of the ones her physiatrist prescribed in March. It’s Amantadine, originally an anti-viral and for Parkinson’s patients. It’s supposed to help her hearing and cognition. Monica (my friend visiting from WA to help me out) and I noticed a difference almost immediately! She seems happier, more mobile (rolls/army crawls across the room to reach me or someone else), pushing up to a crawling position more, she almost sat up from laying down once. Lots of things!
Thursday evening we went to the school for “meet the teacher” night. We met her new general ed teacher, special ed teacher, and nurse. Didn’t meet the new speech therapist. Found out she’ll have the paraprofessional we liked from last year, plus another one they say we’ll like. All-in-all things went well. Her gen ed teacher placed Maria at the end of a table near where they do reading. She seems to be integrating Maria into the class as a forethought, rather than an afterthought like her Kindergarten teacher. We liked her, but this one seems better (or perhaps I’m more relaxed?). The other comforting thing about this teacher is her husband and brother have seizures, which isn’t good, but she’s not as freaked out about Maria having seizures as some teachers might. Her sister is Maria’s school physical therapist, so she’s had more experience? with special kids.
It took Maria a little while to relax when we went to the school, but when she saw Sara (special ed teacher from last year), she was happy; and when we got home, she was in a really good, goofy mood. It was cute, really.
Friday I spent about an hour with her new nurse giving her all the prescriptions Maria might need for the year, when to take what, and how. She’s an RN, used to work at another school, very experienced. Seems like she’ll work out well.
Monday I’m going to send Maria off to school on the bus alone. (Last year I spent the entire 1st day with her in school by mutual agreement. And I rode the bus to school with her when she started riding it a couple weeks after school started. — ahh what a difference a year makes!). I knew last year would be the intense year; now that I know some of them and they know me and Maria, we’re all a bit more comfortable!
Monica left today. I was sad to see her and my sis go. I’m still not ready to lift Maria up, so tomorrow night I might have her sleep on the floor…although that could put her off a bit the night before school…. We’ll see. Nanny Sue is going to come every morning next week to get her ready for school and will be here when she gets home until she goes to bed. Surely by next weekend, I’ll be ready and able to lift her again? I have a follow-up appt Wednesday, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m still feeling quite punky and am not convinced the pelvic pain is gone, but trying not to be too depressed too soon.