Aqua Therapy

Today I took the boys to the pediatrician because Zak has just not been acting himself. He has been waking up multiple times throughout the night the past few nights and this morning he was very cranky and just wanted to be held. I had some friends on Face Book suggest getting him checked out for an ear infection so I made an appointment. I then decided to make an appointment for Ryder as well. About 2-3 weeks ago we noticed a hard lump behind Ryder's left ear. It got pretty big, but the morning I was going to call the doctor it seemed to almost go away so we waited. It is back to being pretty big again so I went ahead and had it checked out also. Zak has no ear infections, but has a virus. The pediatrician said just to let it runs its course just as always. She did say it looks like he might have a 2-year-old molar trying to come in which might be playing a part in his mood and sleep problems. She said that Ryder has a swollen lymph node which is not too uncommon with kids. Usually this happens when they have an illness or even a scratch near the lymph node. We couldn't find any scratches and he has not been ill recently. So she said to watch it for another week and if it doesn't go away we need to go see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist because it might need to be drained to prevent infection. I am hoping it will magically disappear!

This afternoon I received a call from a therapist who does aqua therapy. I learned about the aqua therapy from another parent at the playgroup we go to which is held by the Infants & Toddlers program (who provides Ryder's therapies). She has been taking her son for over a year and it has helped tremendously for his low muscle tone which Ryder also has. Many of Ryder's therapists feel his low muscle tone is the reason for many of his delays. So I put a call into this therapist a few days ago and was very happy to hear back from her today! She provides the aqua therapy at a local swim center called Aqua Culture and she accepts private health insurance. She said that she does accept our insurance, but will call to make sure our particular plan will cover this therapy since not all will. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she finds out it is covered for us. Right now we have Ryder's initial evaluation and first session scheduled for Wednesday February 3 at 11:30am. My plan is to see if Zak can go to daycare Wednesday next week since he will not be going on Monday (will be with Rich since Ryder has his testing at Hopkins all day). After this initial session I hope to schedule his other sessions on Mondays while Zak is already at daycare. I know, I am probably not that lucky but I can hope!