Friday, March 26, 2010

Appointment Update

These last two weeks Dylan has been to the Pediatrician, the Cardiologist and the Opthomologist.  Here are the results:

Pediatrician:  14lbs 10oz, 26 1/4" long.  12 month immunizations.  She was very pleased with how he is doing developmentally.  She once again told me that Dylan has exceeded her expectations. :)  I asked her if I should be concerned about his weight and told her that he is taking solids 3x's/day with 2 bottles.  He has been kind of rejecting the formula(it has been a struggle just to get him to take the 2 bottles) - she said it was because his taste buds have changed now that he is eating solids and that formula is kind of nasty.  I had also tried Pediasure to see how he would take that - no such luck(when he doesn't like something he will hold it in his mouth, smile and then spit it out).  Then this morning I figured I would just try regular whole milk - HE LOVED IT!  He gulped down 6oz.  At this point I just want to make sure he is getting all of his vitamins and nutrients and if he is eating fruits, vegetables, meats and milk that sounds pretty good to me and I am going to stop worrying about it.  She felt that he is thriving and we know that he is going to be tiny and grow slowly so as long as he isn't loosing weight we should all just relax a little bit.  I thought that was good advice.  Also, Dylan is finally getting his two bottom teeth, I can see just a little bit of white popping out of his gums!

Cardiologist: Dylan had an EKG and chest x-ray - results were normal.  The doc said that the ASD has almost completely closed and everything looks and sounds great.  Doesn't want to see him back for 1 year for an echocardiogram.  Great news because he now won't need heart surgery to close up the whole.

Opthomologist:  Dylan's vision is NORMAL- WHOO HOO!!! In the beginning we weren't sure about his vision.  It was questionable to the doctors if he could even see at all.  Now he is looking all around, tracking objects, people, etc...  He will look toward you when you call his name and my favorite - when I make funny faces for him he looks at me and laughs. 
Dylan has also had clogged tear ducts since birth and finally they are going to fix this problem.  My poor baby, he constantly has goopy, runny eyes, and every morning when he wakes up his eye lids are crusted together.  I am constantly wiping and putting ointment and drops in his eyes - he hates it.  He has gotten very smart about it - when I put the ointment in he immediately wipes it away with his hand.  So the doctor and I agreed that this problem is not going to clear up on its own and he needs to have a procedure done to open the tear duct.  He will have to be sedated but it is pretty quick - they go in and insert a teeny tiny rod down into his tear duct to open it up and PRESTO - all better!  They will be calling me next week to set it up - it will most likely be in the next few weeks, early April.  I can't wait.

Dylan says "don't worry Mom, I can hold on tight."

Hailey sure loves her brother.

Dylan looks like such a big boy in this picture.

5 comments:

  1. So glad to hear about the great doctors' appointment. It is such a relief when we hear good news and you definitely heard great news this week!! Dylan is awesome. I think his weight is great. He and Riley are the same weight right now, but we could use some of his help with the height. As for the refusing formula and loving real milk, way to go! Great transition. Just a tip we used to give in OT, you can add some Carnation instant breakfast, adds calories and vitamins if he will take it.

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  2. Yea for all of the wonderful appointments. Dylan is AWESOME. I love the picture of him and Hailey they look so much alike. I always like noticing family resemblences since so often the medical world can break every facial feature of our kids down to the syndrome - or at least it seems that way. But he and Hailey definitely resemble each other. SO ADORABLE.

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  3. YAY, Glad to hear your appointments all went well. Love the photos, He looks like such a big boy

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  4. Good news! Love the pictures of the kids together! It is so nice to see how they interact together. Right after the diagnosis, you wonder what their life will be like together... And then they show you how beautiful and loving it will be. I learned by watching Nathaniel with Haley -- to not let the thoughts in my head interfere with the feelings in my heart. Things will be OK. This is how it was meant to be.

    Haley took formula (Alimentum)up until nearly 3 years of age. Our ped was afraid to take Haley off of it because that was about all she tolerated. When she began rejecting it, we started her on Pediasure which only lasted a few months until she rejected it. Then we were on to milk which was so much cheaper. We were however concerned that Haley wasn't getting enough nutrition so I would buy the ready-to-serve Carnation drink and she likes it. Our ped would still like for Haley to have a pediasure each day but Halay wants nothing to do with it. I was adding heavy cream to her night feedings but it is so messy! I have recently started using "half and half" with the milk to boost calories and try and throw in some Carnation instant breakfast once a day. Haley loves the chocolate powder but what a mess! We save that for the night feedings or mornings in the tub.

    As for the blocked tear ducts, I so empathize with you there. We had three eye surgeries to get Haley's corrected. They did the probing first. Our initial reaction... It was great! Crystal clear eyes -- no mucous or goop for two weeks. We thought we had won the battle and we had not. The nastiness came back. A few months later Haley had her eye realignment surgery. We had to have the tear duct probing first to avoid infection with this surgery.

    It was well over a year before we could convince our opthamologist that we couldn't take the goopiness and tearing anymore. It was definitely not as bad but still a problem. Haley was so tired of being "cleaned" that she bawled at the sight of wash cloth or cotton ball. This was not how we felt her quality of life should be so our opthamologist brought up placing tubes in her tear ducts to which we agreed to. Our impression was that they would be left in indefinitely but they were removed 8 or so months later. She occassionally gets some mucous with a cold but this we can live with. The best thing we have ever done! Even Haley agrees.

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  5. Great news! He is so incredibly cute-- those eyes!! I love them! May you continue to be blessed with good news every time you take him to a check-up. :-)

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