I know you all may be getting tired of my negative posts, I hope you will bear with me because I really have to share my last two days. As usual, it is some good, some bad and some just unbelievable.
First, I'll share yesterday. Aly had an appointment for physical therapy. Now, I've been through some physical therapy when I had some back issues last year. I think many of you have probably been through some for aches or pains. When you think of physical therapy, you think you are actually going to do something physical, right? Isn't that the whole point? Doing something physical in order to make your body stronger? Well, that is what Aly and I expected. That is not what we got. We got to the appointment, joined the therapist in her office and here's how things went down:
1. The first 10 minutes she took refreshing herself as to why we were there, reviewing her notes on the computer, asking us questions we'd already answered...to me, these are things you do before your client arrives.
2. The next 5 minutes was spent digging through her file cabinet for exercises Aly could do to stretch out her fingers and making copies of those exercises, again shouldn't those be ready beforehand?
3. Five minutes taken showing Aly how to do the finger stretches (that was it for physical activity).
4. For another 10 minutes she talked about things Aly could do at home. She listed off things like doing puzzles, coloring, crocheting (yeah, that is a great preteen thing to do). It went on and on...playing with clay, bouncing a basketball, playing Jenga, playing the piano, shuffling cards, etc. She then pulled out a catalog of things that she orders from. Showing us other items as ideas. So, basically, I'm to go out and blow a wad of money on craft items and games for Aly to use at home. Really??
This lady supposedly has some training in low vision therapies as well. We were directed to her because she was closer to our home than the one we were working with in Bloomington. Even though she is not licensed, we were told she'd be able to help with some low vision techniques. I was thinking it would be great to kill 2 birds with one stone! Well, that isn't going to happen. So, anyways, she says to Aly, "I see you brought your walking stick with you today." Aly and I looked at each other like what is she talking about? Then we realized she was calling Aly's white cane a walking stick. Hmmm....At this point I felt like I was on that show Punked or it was some kind of practical joke. Aly and I shared the experience with Kevin when we got home and he was like, "I would've said something." I've dealt with so many issues like this I tend to go numb and into shock, just sitting there thinking, oh here we go again. Now, it's going to be more work, finding someone else, starting over, more phone calls, more time wasted...UGH!
5. Knowing that Aly has her "walking stick", she wants to know how Aly uses it so we go for a walk around the building. This takes another 10 minutes. The only helpful thing that came out of this whole ordeal was that she noticed that Aly does not use her scanning techniques and scan all the way to her right. She almost ran into something as we were walking around. This is why I've been looking for someone to work/reconfirm that Aly needs continued reminders/training in her daily travels.
6. We went back to the office and sat. She asked us if we'd be able to do the home activities, as discussed, for the next two weeks. I did tell her I wasn't going to spend money on activities and she says, "well, I can understand that." What I should've said is, "I thought that is what our insurance company is paying you for."
Needless to say, I am not taking Aly back there. Which brings me to today. I attempted to call and cancel the remaining scheduled appointments. That should be a one call, 5 minute deal right? UMM...NO...How about 20 minutes, 3 calls, transferred to a total of 6 different people, none of whom could help me. SERIOUSLY, I'm really not kidding, six different people. The last, told me I need to talk with the therapist directly. Why? I didn't talk to her directly to set up the appointments! I ended up leaving her a voicemail. I did tell her I was not happy with the direction the therapy was going and I wanted to cancel all remaining appointments. Sorry!
Ok, to get the good part in here, I have to revert back to yesterday. On the way home from the appointment, Aly and I stopped at Target to pick up some prescriptions and find something for dinner. We bumped into Dr. Leah Colby who is a wonderful optometrist. If you are looking for one, she works at Eye West Clinic. :) She is the one who directed us to the eye specialist that found Aly's tumor. I have a special connection to her as we went to the same college and played on the same tennis team...anyways, we haven't seen her for a couple of years as Aly's been seeing the specialist. But long story short, she saw us, Aly had her cane with, and she stopped to ask us how everything was going and get an update on Aly. I said we have been having trouble finding a vision specialist close to home. She happened to be working with another child who was losing vision, actually going blind, so she had some ideas. Oh, thank you Lord. You knew what I needed yesterday and put me in the right place at the right time. I emailed Leah this morning and she gave me some leads. Of course, now I have more phone calls, but I think we're on the right track, at least with the vision work. She even offered assistance. If I had that offer more often, life would be so much better.
So there you have it...the crazy, the outrageous and some good!
On another note, I was given a gentle reminder, by someone close to me, that as we start this new year, we do need to look at the positives too. Through all the craziness that continues, we need to stop and say, "thank you", again, to all those who have kept our family in their hearts and prayers and have helped support us through prayer, through financial gifts, through kind words. Thank you, to everyone, for helping us through the past 2 years. We are forever grateful and would not have made it through without you. I hope you will continue to keep our family surrounded by prayers and positive wishes. Thank you very much, may you all have peace and good health this new year! Thank you!
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