PTSD

You may or may not know but Grace has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to....
http://graceadelyn.blogspot.com/2009/07/4th-of-july-2009.html

She has always had a fear of loud noises (for the last 12 months)...much more than the "average" kid but the 4th of July incident took her over the edge and has severely effect our daily lives and has turned my greatly adventurous, out door girl into a fearful child who is petrified to step out the front door or do anything outside. Going to the car, the grocery store, the park are huge stresses. She is terrified to be outside and every noise has the potential to send her into a panic attack. It's the most heart breaking experience.

Today she even locked herself in a closet again as a plane flew by our house and caught her off guard.

This is even effecting her behavior as she is just so stressed most of the day that she's acting out more (which is greatly understandable).
She's not sleeping as well-is having tons of nightmares every night and takes longer too fall asleep as she fears hearing a plane or loud car drive by.
And, she's not eating much (not sure if it's due to the heat but it started after the 4th as well).

We thought she was getting a bit better but since my dad has been here visiting things have actually gotten worse. We have done many many things outside, forcing her to be afraid most of the day which has not helped.

We took her to the Dr. a week ago and after talking to a Dr. and the Dr. relaying our information to a child physiologist they determined that Grace has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was quite disappointed leaving the apt. as they did not check her ears at all. We will be going back to the Dr. tomorrow (free of charge-Praise God) to have them actually look at her ears and to go over a few more things with the dr. as we think a few other issues may be taking place as well, but are not sure-like a sensory disorder along with the PTSD. We are also going to most likely start her in some kind of therapy to help her get over these massive fears in her life. It's so easy for someone who is not afraid of these things to not be as sensitive to her needs but I/we have to remind ourselves that we have no idea what she is feeling, thinking, hearing or really going through and need to be respectful-it's just so hard at times especially since we can't go out and do normal things any more with out an unhappy child in tow. We need your prayers!

Prayer Requests
1. That we get placed with the right child physiologist for Grace
2. That our insurance covers most if not all of it
3. That Grace's fears subside and she can get back to being a "normal" 3 year old who loves being outside
4. That Loren and I know what to say and how to act when around Grace-that we remain sensitive to her needs vs. our wants


Thank you for your prayers.
I will keep you updated after our apt. tomorrow.