Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Several updates

Well, I guess it's been awhile.  I've had people tell me lately that they are wondering how T is doing, how I'm doing in the dissertation process...and so this is just a catch-all.

On July 31, I turned in my first full draft of my dissertation.  It felt good, though I was really tired and just...done.  About 2 weeks later (almost 2 weeks ago), I sat down with my advisor who had a lot of good ideas, and since I had set it down for a bit (to finish grading final papers for the three classes I taught this summer) I felt rejuvenated and excited to address issues and fix several things I knew I could make better.  After a doodle poll with my committee, we found a date that actually worked for everyone.  If you're familiar with academic schedules, especially when dealing with people from 3 different universities, you understand just what a miracle that is.  Because of paperwork requirements and the number of people who have to approve it, our October 4, 2-4pm, defense date translated to a due date of a refined, mostly polished draft getting to my committee before September 12 and, if you give them enough time to read and approve by Sept. 12, you're talking Sept. 1.

Yes, that's this Saturday.  For the last 2 weeks, I've been working on 1) re-doing analysis and re-writing a little over half a chapter on discourse 2) deepening the analysis of interviews (in another chapter) with clearer introductions 3) filling out the conclusion a bit more and 4) adding a handful of figures/tables that easily summarize participant and thematic data.

And, with a bit more APA work, it will be ready (I think.  I hope.) 264 pages as it stands, and I think it's pretty decent.  I'll feel better after more of my committee sees it and gives feedback.  I am happy, though, that at least 2 of my 4 lifespan interview participants have gotten back to me on their chapters, given feedback and seem happy with the stories and even the analysis. One of my committee members (beside my advisor) has also given some really good feedback on the discussion chapter.  Another really helped me get the discourse chapter in better shape (the chapter I've worked on the longest and still, I feel, is the weakest because of the complexity it requires).  I really appreciate walking into this stage feeling like I already have a good idea of how the committee might ask me to make changes if more are necessary. So...that's that.  A couple of forms, some revisions and hopefully October 4, after 4 pm, I'll officially be declared "Dr. Hager."


The adventures with T have been harder, honestly.  We started seeing a nutritionalist in mid-July and he's been able to tell us that he believes the reflux didn't disappear when the spit-up stopped.  That means that the last 2 years his esophagus has continued to burn.  No wonder he's avoiding meat and veggies--he still can't process them.  At all.  He's now on calcium supplements and I know what you're thinking: he's REALLY tall for his age, and drinks a ton of milk.  He's simply not processing it into his bloodstream.  We are certain now that he's allergic to milk/milk products and it really hurts his stomach (though he craves it because it's soothing going down, but BURNS afterward and inflames his intestines, poor kid), and has been doing really well with almond milk and coconut milk.  We've also gone gluten free with him, which also seems to help a lot.  It's hard to find milk-free, gluten free bread though.  Thank goodness for trader joe's and UDI bread. It's pretty course, but works well for his peanut butter sandwiches.  GF pretzels and shortbread cookies also make him really happy :D  We tried "chocolate chip" GF cookies, but discovered hidden milk in a lot of processed foods.

Things are going well with this and T's vocabulary and attention span is getting much better, as long as we don't have slip ups.  He begged for a donut on sunday at church and we paid for it, tenfold, as he went screaming and yelling up and down the tables.  Yesterday, I babysat another little boy and T snuck some nutragrain bar off of his highchair tray.  Today, he's jumped on me, smacked me in the head several times, refused to listen and diaper changes have turned into wrestling matches.  It's now like having two very different children--one who's really badly behaved and who elicits all kinds of rude comments from well-meaning friends, relatives and strangers.  The other?  calmer, cuddly, helpful with household chores (and even helped me a lot yesterday with the little boy I watched, patting his head when he cried, and sharing toys with him) and loves to tell stories.  The second little boy, I love to death.  The first I love as well but makes life more challenging and really tests my patience.  It's also really frustrating to have a kid who's sensitive to: food dyes, soy, milk & milk products and probably gluten and have others offer him "treats" (like the occasional lollipop) that I then have to tell them, no, he can't have them and look like the mean mom.  Trust me, I'm saving me and us from crazy outbursts and him from a whole lot of tummy/gut pain.

So things are looking good, we're even seeing improvements in OT.  Oh!  We also went through with those tests--his hearing is fine (which we guessed) and he qualified for special school district services because he simply refused to take the DIAL 3/evaluation and would not co-operate without me in the room.  We weren't that surprised.  It's not that he's incapable, but he doesn't do well in unknown spaces (yep.  sensory processing disorder with sensitivity to large spaces, multiple inputs and temperature were already known challenges), so having to go with a stranger, away from mom, in a strange place almost guaranteed he wouldn't co-operate from the get-go.  We have to wait to hear back from them and it may take another 3 weeks, but we think he'll be going to the AWESOME early childhood center in our district and getting (for "free" through the district) additional help for speech and behavior.  I'm hopeful and I think he'll have fun.  He's freaked out the last 2 times we've been (for testing) when I said he couldn't play on their playground (which was gated in and locked)--and if he goes there, he'll be able to play there!

It's been a busy (but good) couple of months and both T and I are making great progress.  The dissertation is nearly finished, set to defend, and Tristan is starting to feel a bit better with food and learning new words and responsibilities every day.  His new thing?  He's interested in learning how to peddle his bike!  We may have a bike rider on our hands before we know it. July and August (and of course, God) have been very good to us.