Our last appointments began at 8am this morning. The doctors immediately introduced themselves to Annabelle and our family. Within minutes they made the morning into a fun time and a game. Annabelle followed one doctor and began "playing games" to conduct her assessment and we followed the other to answer her series of questions. The questions were hard, some were painfully easy but most required deep thought that left us in a sad train of thought about our daughter.
Thinking about her mental state, everything she has been thru, the outward signs of how sad she is and how clearly she articulates "it isn't fair mommy, I don't want boo boos, I don't want pokes, I just want to play like my friends and I can't". It's hard. It's not a place you want to witness your toddler in.
After we answered all our questions, we were sent back to the waiting room with piles of paperwork to complete. Questionnaires about how Annabelle behaves, acts, thinks etc. One panel of questions were given to both AK and I - we had to answer them individually and couldn't cheat off one another. After we were finished, it was pretty fun to compare each other's answers.
Scale 1-4, does Annabelle get frustrated easily?
FOUR!
While we did our paperwork, Madelynne did her own homework and Annabelle remained alone with the psychologist. Every couple hours they would bring Annabelle back to us because she would get too tired or irritable.
We were able to break for an hour at lunch time and then ventured back upstairs to finish the testing. They were done with Annabelle around 2:30p and we could leave.
The results from the eval will not be ready for Two weeks, at that time we have to return to Cincinnati to discuss the findings and results with the team. Fortunately, Annabelle does not need to be at this appointment. Unfortunately, we cannot do this appointment over the phone, we have to be present.
They are assessing multiple angles of Annabelle, how she behaves, thinks, processes, etc. Our main concerns for Belle are whether or not damage was done during the period of time her neurological system was being damaged by ammonia in her blood stream. We see this damage outward in a couple ways.. One of the easiest to show you is the left side of her face is not a mirror of the right. Her smile is crooked and her left eye doesn't open fully most the time.
Another one of our concerns is how she has emotionally handled and processed everything that's happened to her. We know she is struggling and we feel like she is at the age we could use some help and guidance on how to help her process everything that's going on, now and in the future. She asks questions we don't know how to answer. She gets so frustrated and angry at things we don't understand. As parents, we want to know how to help Annabelle as much as I know Annabelle wants help and wants to just be happy.. The happiest Annabelle can be.
Once we left, both girls waived goodbye to Cincinnati and we talked about all our favorite parts of the trip. The Zoo and Motorcycle friends made the top of the list ;)
VIDEO: http://youtu.be/3K6CP_v04Qs
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