Terry's 3M's
I am so proud of my son! He made the straight A honor roll this quarter!
To some of you that might not seem like a big deal. To me, it is a very big deal. You see, this is the first year only two of John's classes are special education classes.
He started off this year with a C+ in arithmetic. His reading and writing are done in a special education class. He has taken that C+ and improved it to a B last quarter and now an A.
Why is John in special education classes and a speech therapy class?
Well, that (if you haven't read the story of his birth) starts with John being born 2 months early.
The doctors couldn't figure out why he was premature, but, I think I know. John has 0 positive blood. I have A negative blood. And I think that it is very possible that the Rhogam shot that they gave me to prevent complications from blood type incompatibilities didn't work.
I base this theory on what happened to me when I was about 29 or 30. I had gotten strep mouth somehow and was given antibotics. A week later, I still was running a low-grade fever and I went back to the doctor.
Being an old-fashioned doctor, he told me that he was going to give me an injection and didn't say what it was or why I needed it. As for me, I insisted that I be told what I was being and why it was necessary.
I was informed that I have a very strong immune system. Once I had gotten sick, my immune system went into overdrive and would not allow the antibiotic into the bloodstream to do it's work. The injection was a drug that would lower the immune system enough to let the antibotic to it's thing.
I think that's what could have happened when the Rhogam shot was administered. I think that my immune system might have rejected it.
Whatever the reason, John had to be taken out of the womb early in order to prevent his death in the womb.
As well as the usual complications involved in a preemie birth, there was the added complication of a staph infection which developed into meningitis.
Meningitis causes the brain to swell. One of it's complications can be mental retardation.
One of the first things that I did when I got out of the hospital (John's hospital stay was 40 days), was to go to the library and get out about 6 thick books about premature babies. (If I had known that I would one day have a website, I might have written down the names and authors.) I devoured those books and learned a lot.
Among the things that I learned was that developmental delays were to be expected. I also learned that my son might not catch up with his peers until he's in 4th or 5th grade. With the added complication of any damage that might have incurred in his bout with meningitis, it might take longer than that.
I forget which is which, but, one side of the brain handles numbers and the other side handles language and art. The reason for counting sheep to get sleepy is that involves both sides of the brain, thus tiring each--that's the theory anyway.
John does well with numbers. He is artistically inclined. But he has a problem with the written and spoken word.
Sometimes, when you talk to John, you can see that he can hear you, but there's a little delay before he responds. You can almost see his brain trying to process the information that it was given. But, I can see improvement.
Where there is improvement, there is hope. And there has been improvement. He
tries so hard. Sometimes, he gets tired of trying and gets frustrated instead.
But, the A+s that he got in his special education classes mean that he is showing
improvement and he is slowly but surely catching up.
for the border background set.