Q&A #90

We are home!! We drove all night long and got home about 6:30 this morning. I'm playing catch up with email right now and then I get to tackle unpacking. YAY! (Maybe tomorrow.) I promise I'll get back into the blogging groove soon! For now here's the latest Q&A!

Sounds like you're having a great time! I posted to your twitter, but I wanted to make sure you saw it. The car-shaped pool floaties you posted photos of a couple weeks ago have been recalled.
Oh lovely. Thanks for letting me know. I will be sure to get these returned!!

okay, here's my two cents about the highway/freeway debate...you are all wrong. Interstate is the word you are looking for. Hence I-40, I-24, I-65, etc...highways are what you are on when you get off the Interstate and freeways, well, not sure they really exist. You made that one up. :)
I DIDN'T make it up! LOL FREEway is when you don't have to pay TOLLS! LOL hahaha

Actually Renee, here in Philly, it (the freeway) is called the Express-way. I'm guessing you already know that though, since your not a tourist here anymore. LOL
LOL Of course I knew that! I think we paid enough tolls on this last trip that I'm definitely NOT a tourist anymore! haha

We were in D.C. on Sunday. Last minute day trip my husband decided on. Just now catching up and realized you were there too. OMG, can you imagine if we ran into each other??? Are you in Philly yet?
That would have been so cool! LOL We were in Philly, now we're home. It was a whirlwind vacation and now I need a vacation from my vacation! haha

Wow! Private lessons, I'm going to have to do something like that (maybe when I win the lottery), no but seriously, Logan's swim teacher basically told me they couldn't do Chelsea ... sigh. We live in the most un-disability friendly city. I can't stand it!!!! We're looking to move!
Oh oh oh! Move HERE!!! :) We found our girl through the YMCA. She does the swim classes there and we just asked her if she'd like to make some money on the side. It helps that my mom has a pool though.

Renee - Thanks for sharing your journey. That must have been an awful experience. How did you find out she needed the surgery?
It is recommended that all kids with Down syndrome, around age 3, go in for c-spine x-rays to check for Atlantoaxial Instability. AAI is a gap between the C1 and C2 vertebrae in the spine and is common in about 10% of kids with Down syndrome. If the gap is 4.5mm or greater the child is usually restricted on sports (such a football, gymnastics, and horseback riding). Kennedy's gap was 5.5mm which alone would not have required surgery. However she had the even more rare Atlanto-occipital Instability which is a gap between the skull and C1 vertebrae. Where a typical person has a 1mm gap, Kennedy's was 12mm. Any serious fall or car accident could have paralyzed or killed her, it most definitely would have eventually caused compression on her spinal chord and we were very fortunate to catch it before that happened. After her x-ray she was put into a neck brace which she wore until surgery.

I have only been following your blog for a few months and didn't know Kennedy had a fusion done. Why did she have it done? and was the problem diagnosed after a sedated MRI?
Yes, after the problem was spotted on a routine xray, she went immediately to CT and then had an MRI done not long after. They didn't get the right views done for the MRI (always always always tell them you need "flexion/extension" views) and so she had another sedated MRI done to confirm.

Please be in prayer for this little sweetie, Kate McRae. She was taken to the hospital last week with hand tremors and was found to have a brain tumor. She and her family all need a lot of prayer right now.

Also go check out Dawn's blog, she is doing fundraising for all sorts of kids with special needs and is looking for people who may be able to donate items. Please go read more for this great cause!