I’m going to be perfectly honest here: I’ve never come fully to terms with Danny have a billion therapies. OK, three. It seems like more; the weeks where he has 3 sessions in one week are just overwhelming in a way. I look at him sometimes and think, wow, it takes this much help, this much extra? Part of it probably stems back, as it always does, to the fact that he is almost-typical in his development. He lives for the borderline. Crawling. Walking. Eating. Heck, even his speech and language when you compare to his hearing age.
I often wonder if Danny would be late on most things without all the extra things he’s overcome.
I sometimes wonder, if he hadn’t been symptomatic with his CMV, if he’d be developing on the same schedule or if we’d have gotten him therapies eventually – or if our being so proactive has been a part of him doing so well.
Either way, it is what it is, and considering “it” is so darn fabulous, I am thankful. I’ll admit, though, that the last time we adjusted frequencies and therapies, the fact that we kept heaping on was a bit of a bummer to me. I wondered how long this would be our life, bringing so many people into our home and our lives. It’s not that I begrudge it at all, or am against it; we welcome any and all help they feel Danny will benefit from. It just felt…endless sometimes. We’ve been at this for a year and a half now.
He’s come so far. And it’s paying off.
This time around, the plan is to reduce OT from weekly to every other week, and PT from every other week to once a month.
He won’t be in therapies until he’s 50 after all.
(Well, there will be AVT/speech for a long time to come, but that doesn’t count. That’s part of having cochlear implants, and it’s an exciting journey. In my mind, that’s different.)
He is so happy with everything he can do now. You can tell he’s thrilled with his abilities, with his independence. He wants to do more, tries so hard, and that’s a big part – I think – of why we can reduce the frequency. He didn’t want it a year and a half ago when we started, but now he’s motivated and full speed ahead. I actually can look ahead now and go, this too shall pass, like everything else.
It’s not so much just taking the extra stuff out of our schedule. I’ll gladly cram my schedule if it’s what Danny needs… but reducing frequency means it’s not as necessary. It’s like being handed a platter of hope, a reinforcement of what we see but, sometimes, I am almost hesitant and scared to accept as though waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’s doing well. He’s going to be fine.
