After dropping off the girls with my parents yesterday, we headed to Joshua's appointment in a rather sketchy part of town. We checked in and made our way to the "Behavioral Health" department. Behavioral Health... Those words are now part of our family vocabulary and it's a little difficult to swallow. Quite honestly, I always thought behavioral health was regarding people who are mentally insane. Yes, I know I am uneducated about some things (aren't we all), but my understanding of behavioral health is changing very quickly.
The first part of the appointment was meeting with Joshua's Autism Care Coordinator, Leah. She's super sweet; very encouraging and reassuring. She set-up referrals for Occupational Therapy and Social Skills Therapy. Unfortunately, she also explained that CHP+ only pays for up to 20 visit a year for each therapy. She has encouraged us to look into the exchanges once those come available so that Joshua can qualify for MUCH more autism benefits (in addition to the two therapies he will be receiving). Apparently, the new autism benefits (Health Insurance Mandated Autism Treatments, or HIMAT) that are federally regulated did not get extended to CHP+ or Medicaid...? Make sense to anyone else? Good grief. This link is what we need to get informed on. I can see why switching to one of the exchanges would be good for Joshua, but we also have to consider Jenna's needs and whether or not they would be good for her, or do we/can we switch one and not the other? It's all so overwhelming and confusing. Plus, the exchanges come at a cost and we are already stretched thin. Praying we find a good group of people to help us wade thru this mess of information. My circuits are fried and we aren't even in the thick of it yet.
Joshua's appointment lasted approximately 2 hours. The majority of the appointment was spent sitting with the specialist and discussing Joshua's milestones and family medical history. This was followed by a brief exam (which she observed that Joshua's head is in the 98th percentile...lots of brain in that noggin) and then lab draws. Lab draws. Some might wonder why in the world you would need to draw blood for autism. Well, apparently, sometimes (not all of the time and not very often) autism can be a result of an underlying illness or disorder. They felt that with Jenna's medical issues that it was a very good idea to check things out, so they are running for basic things like organ function, iron levels, etc. to a panel of genetic tests. Poor Joshua has never had blood drawn before and it was quite traumatizing for him. I am so thankful Nick was there to help. I stayed in the lab waiting area while Nick went in with him. You could Joshua hollering and crying. He was so scared to go in that his little body stiffened and tensed up.
We should have some results in a few days, but the genetic results will take several weeks. We're use to waiting for genetic lab results and half way anticipating what they will say, but not with our healthy baby. We're hoping nothing shows-up. Autism? Fine. Genetic disorder? Please no. Either way, we know that God will guide, uplift, encourage and provide. He already has and does in so many ways. I'm so thankful for the prayer support our family receives. PLEASE DON'T STOP anytime soon.
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