VICTORY is being able to say it...

It seems in most families there is one kid who has no luck... In ours, its Jo... from birth, he has struggled with the weirdest health difficulties. Looking back and piecing it together, we realize they are all connected, but everything is clearer in retrospect... At birth, he weighed a whopping 6 pounds. After a few months of slow weight gain, he was diagnosed with borderline failure to thrive and gross motor delay. In his first year of life, he had 7 ear infections and several sinus infections. At 13 months, he had febrile seizures that sent him to the ER 2 times, once he quit breathing. At 18 months, still underweight, he went in for surgery where they put tubes in and took adenoids out, then 3 months later he went back in and had his tonsils out. He was tested at 90% hearing loss and wasn't speaking at all. After years of speech therapy and some movement therapy (which, to Johns chagrin, included ballet classes...) He seems like a normal, healthy and happy child now...

We switched the boys to a new dentist and yesterday was the first appointment. After he had seen all 4 boys, he called me back to his office to discuss each one with him. He immediately put Jo's chart on the bottom and said the concern needed to go last... When we got to his chart, the first thing he told me was that Jo has a shor... (where i interrupted, yes, shortened frenum (Ankyloglossia or tongue tied) , I know) he looked at me and asked why it had never been taken care of. His old dentist told me there was no need for it, and he couldn't do it.... Turns out, this leads to periodontal problems later in life. I knew he had one bc it led to his poor weight gain (he couldn't nurse well), which led to formula, which led to excess ear infections (my nursing babies have NEVER had ear infections...) the ear infections caused the seizures (bc of extreme temp spikes related to infections) , and it spiraled down from there... His speech therapist told us at the end of last year that he was speaking as well as he would ever be able to, and that she would continue working with him, but the r's will prob. never be clear.

On feb. 11th, jo will go in for a quick in office procedure where they will snip and stitch and his frenum will no longer be an issue!!! (and he'll get to eat a ton of ice cream!) the dentist seems to feel that this will help with his speech problems, and I am hoping the r sounds will FINALLY come!

(the frenum is the flap of skin that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth. Jos' comes to the very front of his tongue, causing him to be unable to stick out his tongue very far, or curve it into the shapes to make clear speech sounds)