Early Intervention

When we ended our year-long road trip in 2007, we spend a lot of time exploring the town of Durango, Colorado. We knew at the beginning of our journey that we didn’t want to resettle in the Phoenix-Metro area. Back on the east coast, we had considered New Hampshire as a viable place to set down roots. However, as we moved clockwise around the U.S. and headed back to the west, the country opened up, the mountains became bigger, and we knew this was where we wanted to be. 

We did a number of things in Durango, including the contemplation of a land purchase on which to build a house. In the end, we decided to buy a resale property. It wasn’t my first choice, but I soon fell in love with it. 

Starting over in a new place includes finding jobs and often locating schools for the kids. In our case, the boys were 3 and 7 months, respectively, so schooling wasn’t a huge concern. But Zane definitely needed additional supports. While we were still traveling, I did a lot of research about Trisomy 18 on the Internet. When we decided we wanted to live in the Durango area, I began looking for resources for the boys—especially for our medically-fragile Zane. Impressed by the website of one pediatric office, I called to ask if they treated children with disabilities. 

“Of course,” I remember the receptionist saying with a kind level of amusement. 

The reason I had asked was because, while in Florida, we had taken Zane to see a pediatrician who was not so keen on treating him. The man left him undressed on the exam table while he stood on the other side of the room. It was a quick tutorial on how a great many people in the world perceive disability, which is unkindly; inhumanely. 

Soon we were set with the boys’ pediatrician. I don’t know if it was the pediatric office or me digging around on the Internet, but I soon discovered Early Intervention. Granted, I have some regrets as Zane got older about over treating him. But at his young age, it was a lifeline. He received weekly physical and speech therapy to assist with his global delays. I know the interventions helped him achieve milestones he may not have attained on his own. In addition to that, I developed new relationships with amazing people: Zane’s physical therapist and I are still in contact; I became good friends with his early intervention coordinator. We had a support system. And…living in such a small community, we had an even greater village of support from friends in the subdivision to other families who had children with diagnoses. It was the perfect place for us to live. Not only that, but my husband wound up being hired to work for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services—the organization that provided schools in the region with interventions for kiddos in need. 

I miss a lot about living in southwestern Colorado. And even though we’re no longer living there, I have extreme gratitude for the people who touched our lives and helped Zane while we were.