Development update

Ava is very close to crawling! She is now getting into four point crawl position without collapsing from weakness. Sometimes in this position she will rock back and forth. The other night she actually shuffled her knees and then walked her hands forward two steps! Go Ava go! I was so excited I yelled out and rather than falling she just sat up from four point and looked at me like, what do you want mom? She is now also starting to garble and in her garbles we hear more words emerging. Although she used to say up! quite clearly we don't hear that very often. I do hear mom (to both me and Craig) Craig heard her say chair when she was looking at the couch and the other week she reached toward our dog Princess and said a garbled doggy. She is bum shuffling around the room at times and experimenting with those movements. Also her hands which are the weakest part of her is getting some positive development. She can hold her bottle but if it drops she may try to get it but can't. We have been giving her cheesies by putting them in her hand and she will bring it to her mouth and eat them. Lately I've been holding them in front of her and she will look at it and grunt (wanting it) but won't reach for it. I tap the back of her hand with the cheesie and hold it up again and quick as lightning she will grab it and stuff it in her mouth. She even figured out how to get the small piece stuck in her fist into her mouth. She is very happy most of the day and only gets upset when she is tired or hungry or mad. Very appropriate emotionally. I am so proud of her and all her accomplishments. She herself is working very hard to get to the next level. She isn't giving up and we aren't either.

Ignorant people

We went in to Halifax for the second time in 7 days to bring Ava in for her special opthamology appointment. I had booked in 7 months ago and had specifically requested we see the senior opthamologist so that he could say one way or another whether Ava's lack of tears was neurological. Her neurologists are not looking into that as a symptom until the opthamologists say it is. So I had no problem making the extra 2.5 hour drive each way with two young children because it was important.
When we got there we were seen not by the senior opthamologist nor by the student but by a feaken optician or optics or whatever she was. I was so angry. I asked her what her education level was and if she was able to spot alacrima or closed tear ducts or anything. She said no. I asked what the difference was between going to the mall down our street vs the drive to Halifax. I stated how important it was that Ava was checked why she was not crying tears and if I wasn't mad already her response made me grit my teeth.
"Why do you care," she asked.
I care because it is an avenue that we have not explored in finding a cause of her seizures and delay.
"It's not like it's going to change anything," she said.
It will give us the best options for treatment, I gritted out.
"Who cares if your child has developmental delay, so they don't walk or crawl for a couple extra months, but if her vision is damaged it could be damaged for life."
Many responses came to me including a whole lot of profanity and name calling but I realized that this ignorant woman has no clue that many if not most children with this extent of delay never catch up. We wouldn't be worrying like crazy if it was only a temporary delay. And Ava is not a couple months behind but at least a year to 16 months behind. My breath would have been wasted on this stupid woman.
I don't mind when people say ignorant things who are willing to learn and know about Ava's issues. I needed to learn once too. But for a health professional at the IWK children's hospital? Really? She pissed me off. I still don't know what to do about this. Do I complain to the director? Do I leave it on the comment sheet? What do you do when you get substandard care for your child? What can you do?