Exhausting but priceless

Oct. 10, 2014
It's been quite a week.  To say I'm tired is an understatement.  I don't think it's a physical tired as much as an emotional and mental tiredness from having the weight of all decisions about Arouna on me right now.  Not that there's a ton of decisions to make at this point, but the stress of all the tests, procedures, evaluations, etc....are beginning to take a toll.
This week, on Tuesday, we drove the hour and 15 minutes to Childrens Hospital for a Speech evaluation and occupational therapy evaluation.  The speech was at 10am and Arouna was exhausted from being awake since 4:15am (I'm not exactly sure why he woke up at that time, but he did).  So he didn't really do much at all, so the evaluation was mostly accomplished by me answering questions while I held a sleeping boy.  He was assessed at a 1 month level for voice recognition and a 4 month level for vocalizing.  The OT evaluation was supposed to be at 11am, but because the Speech evaluation went over time, they made us come back after lunch.  Arouna did great during the OT evaluation, other than spitting up and pooping on the therapist.  haha  So far, we haven't heard what his assessment was.  As we were at the hospital on Tuesday, they called to schedule Arouna's MRI appointment for the next day at 8am.  We also found out we had an eye appointment at 1:30 the next day.  So back to Little Rock again.
On Wednesday, we got Arouna out of bed at 6:30am to put him in the car, hoping he would go back to sleep.  He didn't and because they were putting him to sleep, he couldn't have anything to eat or drink until after the MRI.  He went without food and they finally put him under at 9:40am.  He actually did so well and hardly cried.  After 45 minutes, they called us back to recovery as he was waking up.  He cried off and on for about 20 minutes and then began to come out of it.  We were released and we went to eat lunch.  About 40 minutes after waking up, he was back to himself and happy again.  He ate lunch and we went back in the afternoon for the eye appointment.  Dr. Naylor saw him and looked at his eyes.  Unfortunately there is no good way to tell for sure on a child who is nonverbal, but he felt like there was no damage to the eyes and that he was following things some.  He wants to see him back in 6 months to check to see if his eyes are still crossing and see if he's following things and if it's better.  We weren't finished at ACH until about 3:30, so it was a long day.
On Thursday, we stayed home most of the day except for a trip to the park to swing.  There was a little girl at the park that said something cute.  She was talking to her friend and said, Look his face is brown and theirs is white.  Another little girl asked us where we got him from.  Kids say things that adults are too embarrassed to ask or say.
And on Friday, we went into Hot Springs for a few errands.  We also went to First Step, which is a school for children with disabilities.  I have an appointment to take a tour of it next week to see if Arouna could go there when we are stateside.
Although the week has been long, it's been good.  I'm missing my family, home and friends more and more.  But I know I will never have this chance to spend with my parents again like this.  Plus the bonding time with Arouna is priceless!