Home again

We are home! We had such a nice time in New York visiting my in-laws. Oh, and there was the appointment with Dr. Jordan, the podiatrist. The reason for the trip. : )

We drove over to Long Island from my in-laws last Thursday. Traffic wasn't bad, which was wonderful. Nick's parents dropped us off and went for coffee while they waited for us. We were the only ones in the office as they only schedule 1 appointment at a time. It's a 3 person office- the office manager, the podiatrist and the man that makes the orthotics. It was a great visit- the doctor played with Lila and examined her, all the while explaining his history of working with kids that have Down Syndrome. Turns out he was instrumental in pushing for the Early Intervention programs in New York. He did studies, documented data and helped prove that Early Intervention was/is very important when working with kids that have DS. Therapies and programs previously started at the age of 8 in New York. He was a very humble man, and it seemed that he had good reason to be anything but humble. The walls were covered with letters of appreciation and plaques. He had autographed pictures of pro football players, a picture with Pope John Paul II and a plague acknowledging his commitment to people with Down Syndrome, crediting him with his participation in the start-up of the Early Intervention programs in New York. Oh, and then there was the presidential pin he wore on his lapel from President Clinton. Nick asked him how he had gotten the pin and he told us the story of how he had reviewed Hilary Clinton's health care plan. But if you didn't ask, he didn't say. There was a map of the world in the waiting room filled with push pins. All over. Mike, the guy that makes the orthotics, told us that those push pins represent patients of Dr. Jordan. It seems that our little trip from Virginia wasn't much of a trip at all. People come from all over the world to see this guy. He was phenomenal. I wish that we would have been carrying a tape recorder. He was so full of information. He is technically a podiatrist but he studies the whole body. He checked out her arms, her fingers, her hips, her back, her knees, her toes. He started talking about her sensory issues and asked if she was getting therapy/treatment for those issues. ( I was impressed that he even recognized that she had sensory issues as 3 other doctors had poo-pooed the idea when she was identified with Sensory Processing Disorder. He recommended that Lila wear orthotics to help straighten out the way she walks. He went out to confer with Mike and they both came back into the room and talked to us for a while about Lila's feet and legs. Then we took Lila into the back of the office where the Mike made molds of both of Lila's feet- oh how she hated that. She screamed and screamed, cried real tears and even kicked him a couple of times. She was shaking so badly, poor little thing. All was forgiven when it was over- she liked the molds of her feet and she loved her Dora sticker! Her orthotics will be mailed directly to our PT and she will make sure that they fit correctly and don't need any adjustments.

All of this to say, we are so glad we made the trip to New York for this visit. Many people have asked why we would travel to New York to see a specialist when we have plenty of them around the DC area. I guess the reason is that we trust our PT and she recommended that we see Dr. Jordan. Nick was hesitant and wondered if it was really necessary but after the appointment he said that he was glad that we had spent the time and money.

Sorry for the boring post!

Hugs~

Linda