First Hiccup of Many! CB Program @ Boise Eloit

I forgot to post this earlier this month, but I think it is worth doing, just to show how the best laid plans are just that - plans. Also, to highlight something most of you know - SPED is a moving target, and nothing is written in stone (even that IEP you worked so hard on a few months ago).

Back in the spring, there were the exhausting collection of meetings regarding Olivia's entry into Kindie. The IEP was signed off on, and her placement was confirmed by not one but 4 people on the SPED team. CB Academic K-2 with increasing time in the mainstream class, at Alameda, next door to her big brother in the CB 3-5 class. It was obvious, easy, and agreed upon all they way up to Mary Pearson.

Then in early August I received the letter from SPED confirming Olivia's placement.
At Boise-Eliot.

This did not surprise me too much. We received a letter last summer confirming Isaac's entry into the CB program at Roseway Heights which is not l only in another cluster, but is also the class (with same teacher) where just a year prior he had the joy of two police involved incidents, an EMT was called, and an expulsion hearing was called on the then 1st grader. It had been agreed on that he would attend a CB program at the MUCH closer Alameda prior to this, so you can imagine how I reacted to THAT letter. A quick call to Mary assured me that Roseway was an accident and of course he was still heading to Alameda.

Olivia's letter was handled better by me. I did not melt down when I saw it and assumed that yet again, there was a miscommunication. I made the required phone call to discuss, and found myself arguing with an unknown woman about why my daughter should be at Alameda. I know I could have called Mary or Colleen Forbes to bypass this argument, but I was curious to see how this was handled by the placement department in general. So I told her the was a mistake.

"Oh no, it's not a mistake. Olivia is in the Boise Eliot CB class."
Her IEP meeting minutes clearly states she is at Alameda. It's been signed off on.
"Boise Eliot has just started a CB K-2. And Alameda is full."
Yes. With Olivia.
This was annoying me now. So I mentioned Isaac being at Alameda already.
"I am sure he will be transferred as well to Boise Eliot."
It's a K-2. He's in 3rd grade.
"Oh. I don't see him on the Alameda list."
Look again.
"found him. It's not noted that they are related."
Are there that many Sanchez-Bishops in PPS?
"Well, we have her going to Boise Eliot."
That was her argument. Her list was correct, Olivia's IEP and the fact her brother was in the same program at another school that was actually in our cluster was not. Yes, I know at this point, I should have gone over her head. But now I was irritated and itching to make my point.
So let me get his: you expect me to send my kids to the SAME program at DIFFERENT schools that just so happen to start and end at the same time. There is no way to put her brother at Boise Eliot since it is K-2 since he is a third grader. And that school is not in our cluster. And her placement has already been confirmed.
Silence on the other line. Followed by this oldie but goodie.
"Alameda already has 15 kids in it. Boise is a new program, and is not as full."
This is how we ended up at Roseway Heights. Alameda is full, Roseway has a much better ratio. Within 3 months Roseway was bursting and the ratio was crap. She was supposed to be one of the 15, put her back in Alameda.
"OK. If you are sure."
Yes, dammit.
"She's back on the list for Alameda, then."

Heart pounding, amped in that nasty mama-bear way. I hate being THAT parent, I really do. But PPS corners parents in this way. What do they expect? These last minute changes are too hard on families, not knowing who your teacher is going to be is hard on kids sensitive to transitions, we work hard on the IEPs and placements, and then 3 weeks before the school year everything goes haywire. And then they wonder why we call emergency meetings and rant away.

Chiari 1 Update: Better Than Birthday Cake

So after all of the anxiety, headaches, and tears (please note NOT from affected child, totally from mama), it has been almost anticlimactic. 9 days since cracking open O's little nut, and the biggest struggle has been trying to get her to take her antibiotics!

All went well. We checked in, doped her pre-surgery, watched her wheel away, and 90 minutes later were called into the recovery room where a very pissed off Olivia was groggy and demanding that the nurses remove her IV. They then wheeled her into the PICU where, for the next 24 hours she was monitored. She was very doped which went at times from sad to kinda funny in a "wow-I'm-a-bad-parent" way. Lovely nurses, lots of gifts from friends and family, and Olivia seemed to be herself. We then left the PICU and were wheeled into a normal room, and one hour later, signing Discharge papers.

And that, folks, was it. They had assumed 3 days in the hospital, we left after a little over a day. They sent us home with meds and an order to avoid standing water and trampolines for two weeks.

And results? It's a bit too early to tell. Her brain still needs to retreat from her spinal column into the new space that was opened up. This can take weeks. This will then reduce the pressure and allow spinal fluid to move normally. Only another MRI can confirm this, so one is scheduled for the fall.

Her eye is still a bit crossed, and the stimming actually seemed to increase for a few days, but then has tapered off a bit. It is still unclear if she had related headaches to begin with. Will the absence of pressure on her cerebellum alleviate these in the future? Time will tell. At this point I'm more worried about making things worse, or discovering that the surgery was unsuccessful and we will have to go back in again.
But it seems the more I worry the less goes wrong (and the more weight I lose!). I will accept that trade for now.