what a long strange trip it's been. so much goes on and there's no way to catch you up on all of it right away.
zaavan continues seizure free and we are now in the process of tapering him off his last anti-seizure medication. as a result, he continues to be more alert and interactive with the world around him.
he is still learning how to communicate with us by using 'eye-gaze' and turning his head from one side to the other to indicate 'yes' or 'no'. he is continuing to be more 'vocal' all the time, although he still does not use words. he is still using a head switch with a 'dynavox' to speak for him and make choices, and continues to make progress in this vein.
we do have a major fight on our hands right now with the state goverment over a program that they hyped up to us to help provide funds for zaavan and theraputic equipment and accessibility equipment. but, since we have been approved, it has been nothing but a huge misleading headache. basically, the message is, "funds are available for use! but whatever you want to use them for will not be approved!" in fact, it is as a result of this program and the workers associated with it that we have doubled our debt in the past year. the message was, "get a van, we'll put a lift in it." over and over they gave us that message. we got a van. they then told us they wouldn't put a lift in it. but far too late for us to return it within the 48 hour window we had. and in order to get it we had to consolidate the van into an already existing loan and now the 'negative equity' in the van is so great, we can't sell it back. just one example of the types of headaches we are having with the program right now. the story is much deeper, but i don't have enough knowledge to wax eloquent. we'll have to wait for erin to do that.
and last, but not least, here are some pictures.
