Caden is still doing great even with a little nasal congestion that crops up each night. He continues to grow and act more like a “normal” eight-month old every day even though he still gets all of his food and medicine through his g-tube. We have still had to suction him several times per hour to help prevent aspiration on his secretions. The swallowing issue is about to come to an end as I told you about in my last posting God is Great.
Tuesday night we had a new nurse. One of the nursing agencies sent her out a few days ago to meet Sherry and Caden. She had a rough time with Caden last night as she woke me up twice to assist her with the suctioning and with getting him back to sleep. We have not talked to the agency about how she felt about her first night with Caden. Our initial impression of her was less than stellar. We are certainly not ones to turn away a potentially good nurse after only one try. We will talk to the agency and see how she felt and then determine if we will use her again.
On the funding front, the Medicaid Waiver has hit another barrier. It has been denied, but we have been HIGHLY encouraged by those working Caden’s case to appeal becuase his case is one that can be won on appeal. The reason for the denial is that Caden is not suffering form a spinal injury, is not on a ventilator, and is not classified as MR/RD (mentally retarded / related disability to mental retardation). I plan to go into this in more detail later on a separate page because plenty of people come to Caden’s Page via searches on Medicaid related concerns. In SC it is very difficult to get a waiver approved for cases like Caden’s where his needs for nursing care are legitimate, but do not fall within the strict criteria of MR/RD , venilator, or spinal injury.
I get emails from other parents and see the statistics of the Internet traffic hitting this web site that tells me how people arrive here (i.e., searching a particular word on Google, came from Yahoo or MSN mail, etc.). Many are just searching for answers on Medicaid or nursing issues. You can see some of this geeky stuff by clicking on the Site Meter button on the left side of this page.
I will be updating a few more things on the About Caden page over the next few days so keep an eye on that. Please keep Caden and Hailey in your prayers. Please remember in your prayers the Youngs with their new addition on the way this week and the Drakes as mom has some modified bed rest with their twins due in approximately two months.
Keep an eye on my new blog Grill’n Time where we will be serving up lots of tasty experiences.