I have been meaning to update on this for quite a while, but it never seems like we've reached the "end." I guess I was trying to wait until we closed the book on some of these issues, but it seems like they are still ongoing.
So, here's Luke's update on all of his "stuff:"
EYES
Luke continues to do great with his glasses. Really, he couldn't be easier or more relaxed about them. He happily puts them on the in the morning, and wears them all day long. Throughout the summer and fall we patched his right eye daily for 1.5-2 hours in an effort to strengthen that left eye. At our most recent appointment last month (November 1st) we received the good news that the patching has continued to make a positive impact and that when wearing his glasses, both eyes are very close in visual strength. This is exactly what we were hoping to have happen. So, as of November 1st, we are only patching 3-4 days per week, and will likely be finished with patching completely at Luke's next appointment in January. At that time he will also be re-examined for a new prescription. All in all, wonderful progress.
EARS
Unfortunately, this is the thing that I was hoping we could close the door on, but it appears that we can't. Luke had an ear infection just before we left for Cabo - his first of the season. When I took him in because of drainage from his left ear, we walked out with both oral antibiotics and ear drops. Poor guy - apparently it looked pretty bad. The good news: the tubes seemed to be working since he didn't have a ton of pain and there was drainage. He took the full round of antibiotics, but I continued to notice blood in his ear for weeks afterwards. I took him back in only to find out that the ear was still very infected and was referred to the ENT. After then paying a visit to Luke's ENT, we now know that the actual tube (which was still in the eardrum) was infected, causing the continued bleeding. The Dr. immediately removed the tubes from both ears (NOT comfortable for Luke on the side that was infected ... poor guy), and we will be visiting the ENT again for a re-examination of that eardrum once the inflammation is down. Of course, we're hoping for the news that it is healing normally now that the tube is out. In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for a new ENT. I've never been super impressed with Luke's and now I'm noticing that he seems to have issues hearing me (now, whether that's a HEARING problem, or a LISTENING problem ... one can't be too sure!), so want to take him to have his hearing re-checked. Ahhh ... the ear drama continues. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no more ear infections this winter. Without the tubes in, he will definitely feel them again.
MOUTH .... well, SPEECH
The update on Luke's speech is that he was re-screened by the local school district in October. The speech pathologist thought without scoring the test that he would end up being "borderline" on whether or not he would qualify for services. So, as one option we were offered an interim 4 week small group class to work on specific sounds for kids with similar articulation issues to Luke. I took him on the first day, and he completely blew us all out of the water. Answered and clearly articulated every single word correctly. Every. Single. One. It was laughable. SO ... apparently, he is able to articulate with some support, but it just has not yet become habit. Needless to say, he did not qualify for any special services through the district and we didn't go back to their class. In the meantime, Mandala (Luke's preschool) offered a speech screening through an outside company and I requested that he be tested. Of course, their results indicate that Luke may benefit from speech therapy, so I may be looking into that further after the first of the year. As a side note, Luke's scores for language skills overall (comprehension, vocabulary, expressive language, etc.) on the assessment administered by the school district placed him in the 97th percentile :). No issues there!
