natalie-update.org

WOW! These last few weeks have been really hectic! It all started on Wednesday, 9/1/04 as we were heading to the hospital to “just get checked” as Tricia had several contractions throughout the day. After an hour of walking the hallways, our feet were killing us, so sitting down
felt good. But, we didn’t know that it helped with the progression, so they kept us!

It has been a long time since we have been able to post an update. A lot has happened since the last update. Natalie suffered a broken leg last fall, just after the last update, so through Christmas time we were dealing with a cast and a pressure sore caused by the cast. Natalie bounced right through those times like a trooper, and has been doing great since then.

We are sorry about the delay in updating this page on Natalie’s progress, as life has been extremely hectic this summer. We have moved into a new home, which has made life easier on all of us. Some of Natalie’s progress since the last update has been remarkable. We played the medicine game quite a bit this summer to get her seizures under control, and have finally found a good medicine to control them.

Natalie has been doing pretty good over the last month. Her seizures seem to have slowed down some, so we are still working on getting them under control and eliminating them completely. We just completed a round of 10 Hyperbaric treatments, and are getting ready to schedule some more in the near future, so keep your fingers crossed and pray that they will show us some progress with Natalie.

Life has calmed down some in the last few weeks, but not much. Natalie has been having good days, and then bad days with the seizures. Also, we think that she is having them in her sleep due to the fact that she has been waking up several times throughout the night lately. School ends for Natalie on the 21st, and we are enrolling her in summer school, which is twice a week to keep her up with the integration and learning process that they have been working on this year.

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic in our lives. Natalie has continued to love going to preschool, and is doing better with taking naps in the afternoon, sometimes. Lucy has gotten bigger and is more crazy than ever. We have been hectic with work and everything else that we have been working on with therapies, doctors appointments, and everyday life.

This week is spring break for Natalie from preschool. She has been doing so well in there. She has been picking which milk she wants for lunch by visual choice. They will put the milk cartons in front of her, and Natalie will look at them and stare at the one she wants. To be sure that it is the one that she wants, they take them off of the table, move them around when they put them back up there, and Natalie will pick the same one!

Natalie has been doing really well lately. She is really enjoying school and has made lots of new friends there. The teachers and other kids love her, and she just eats it up being around them all. We have scheduled our next round of HBOT treatments to begin on March 17th. We will be doing 4 treatments per week, along with her therapies, and school, so please say a prayer for strength for us.

Natalie started pre-school today and she did great! She made so many new friends and enjoyed watching and participating in all of the activities. She seemed to like the kitchen play area the best, but really enjoyed the songs and story time.

Well, a few weeks after Christmas, and all is slowing down some………yeah, right! Natalie is doing well, other than just getting over the stomach bug that has been going around. We recently became concerned about her Medicaid status with the state budget crisis, and ask for your prayers that all will be taken care of.