I need to start off this entry by saying how important it is to share this journey with everyone I know.  You never know what can happen when you are comfortable and open enough to talk about Tetrasomy 8p and Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC).

I had the most amazing time with my family this past weekend.  Yes, it was great seeing and spending time with family we don’t get to see often.

But the best part came after everyone left.

My cousin, Micah, and his wife, Jackie, are interpreters for the deaf.  I don’t even know how we got on the subject, but we quickly started talking about verbal processing, auditory processing and visual processing and specifically how the brain plays a part in each.

We have been struggling with how to get Josephine to communicate because every time she seems to get something, she loses it when it’s not practiced for some time.  I believe this is a result of the ACC.   I shared my thoughts with Micah and he agreed.

Apparently, the part of the brain that processes the verbal aspect is in a different location from the part that processes the auditory and visual aspects.  Because Josephine is missing that connection between the right and left brain, the verbal process takes much longer to communicate with the other two processes.  However, the auditory area and the visual area are on the same side of the brain, which allows the communication to happen faster.

This is important to understand because it made me realize how vital sign language is to Josephine.

When Jackie was playing and signing with Josephine, Josephine’s face lit up and she was very attentive.  When Jackie stopped signing and playing, Josephine looked her in the eye and signed “more”.  No prompting.  Josephine knew what to do and how to get what she wanted.

I have now submerged myself in sign language.  I even have an app on my phone that I can turn to if I need a sign I can’t remember.  And it has already come in handy.

Since we have started to use sign language regularly, I notice more peace in Josephine.  Seriously.  It’s like she’s soaking it all in and getting it.  Getting it in pieces, but getting it.

We are also implementing pictures of familiar items.  We are signing the word, showing the picture and saying the word verbally.  Again, Josephine is starting to identify things more and more.

Sometimes it all gets a bit tedious.  Sometimes I just want to sit and cry or sit and fume or sit and sit.

But I quickly realize it is worth all this work right now.  To be able to give the world to my daughter.  A little extra work for such a big reward is worth every tear I want to cry or every swear word I want to shout or every silent moment I want to steal.

Just looking at my little girl…I know it’s worth it.