Back story:
(Dr. Z was Pookie's original pediatrician. I loved him. He is fabulous with kids and is an excellent Dr. And a God-fading Christian man. He is a husband and father. And he goes to my church.
When Pookie was just 6 months old she was diagnosed with an inability to purposely process sensory input. The term used for this is Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). While this diagnosis is well-known, respected, and understood among therapists, many pediatricians do not yet have much knowledge or understanding of it. Unfortunately Dr Z wasn't convinced that Pookie had a problem. And so he didn't want to sign for her to receive therapy.
I made a difficult decision and found a new pediatrician. One who was familiar with SPD. Dr H was excellent. The only downside was that his office was over an hour away. But we made it work. He allay became Pixie's pediatrician when she was born. He would probably still be their pediatrician except that my douche bag ex husband refused to pay his part of the girls' medical bills and screwed up the medical insurance on them.
Long story short Dr.s don't like it when you rack up big bills without proper insurance and don't get them paid off really quickly. We were told that he would no longer see the girls.
So. When Pookie started showing signs that there was a real problem and I knew we needed help, I had to try to find the girls a new Dr in order to get help. That was when we met the frenemy Dr. *shudders*.
The second call I made to find a Dr was to Dr Z's office (the original ped). This might seem counterproductive but I was hoping that he would see my desperation and at least refer her for an evaluation.)
My insane (and possibly counterproductive) optimism paid off in a big way. We got the referral we so desperately needed for a psych/developmental evaluation.
The psychologist saw Pookie a week later. In these parts you see a psychologist first, then after several sessions you meet with a psychiatrist for the actual formal diagnosis, if need be. The psychologist however usually makes an informal diagnosis and requests the psychiatrist to sign off on treatment in the interim period while waiting to actually be seen by the psychiatrist.
After an hour with Pookie, she looked at me and said the best and worst things to me.
She agrees with the SPD diagnosis.
She thinks there is more to it than that.
PDD-NOS pervasive developmental delays not otherwise specified.
I've never felt such mixed emotions in my life.
Finally someone was listening. Finally someone didn't think that I was crazy, didn't think it was a parenting problem, didn't think it was a discipline problem. Finally someone was saying that there was an explanation, instead of just a problem.
I was elated. To finally feel like there were answers.
And I was devastated. Because no parent wants to hear confirmation of their fears.
But a diagnosis, even if it's hard to handle and scary and overwhelming is a good thing. A diagnosis means treatment. And treatment usually leads to improvement.
......
And then my ex husband lost his job (the same week my husband lost his- isn't life funny like that, because why only have 1 thing go wrong at a ?!?). While this seems totally unrelated, bear with me a minute. You see, my ex is court ordered to do a few things.
1. Keep health insurance on both girls, and pay half of their medical bills not covered by insurance.
2. Pay child support and pay for a portion of the education costs. 3. He is granted but not ordered visitation.
So. When he lost his job he lost the girls' health insurance. (He had had 2 jobs since then but hasn't kept either of them. He also hasn't reported them or paid child support.)
Well the psych office wouldn't see Pookie without insurance so all of that got put on hold. He still doesn't have insurance and its been nearly a year. I just got the girls in Medicaid and am working on getting an appointment for another referral to the psych office since the first one has expired. Hopefully we can start getting some more answers soon.
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