I wanted to post a quick Eli update. His last post had so many things going on! Well, luckily since then Eli has been very healthy.
He had a follow up cardiology appointment 2 weeks ago and everything came back normal. She gave him a clean bill of health and we can resume our yearly check ups again. That took a weight off my shoulders.
He also had his eye follow up a few weeks ago and again his doctor thought his eyes were looking good. He has a slight bit of crossing still for things that are close up, but not enough for her to want to do anything. So he has been patch and glasses free for the past 6 months and it's been great! We do have another appointment in the beginning of September to recheck everything.
He has continued with his weekly speech and occupational therapy and has made great improvments. He has started "running" and "jumping" (not well, but he is trying) and can get around anywhere he wants to go. He has also started doing somersaults and loves to wrestle and climb on things. So his gross motor is coming along and developing. His language is also greatly improved. He went into his 2 birthday with about 3 spoken words (mama, dada, and baba) and about 3 signs. He would only use those words when prompted to use them. Now he has about 50 words and is using them without prompting and is even combining them into two word phrases! It is wonderful to see such fast growth in him. His therapists are impressed too.
Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to update on Eli since he is so different from my last post! Thanks for all of the prayers.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
2 years old!
I know it's a little late (about a month) to be posting his 2 year post. However, he has had a few appointments this past month that I thought I would wait for to add to this.
Eli is doing well. He has had quite the year. My last post (9 months ago!) stated that Eli was having health concerns beyond his development. We had an EEG done to check for seizures. That came back normal, and we have actually had no other concerns in that area. I think he was getting bored when he wasn't mobile and would just space out. As soon as he started crawling and then walking I never noticed that behavior again. The other concern I had was his chronic ear infections. I took him to an ENT at Children's, did not have a good experience with the doctor he saw (He didn't want to test his hearing! What?!?!?! I'm sorry, you don't tell an Audiologist who's child has chronic ear infections that you are not going to test his hearing!!! That is NOT going to go over well). So, I ended up arguing with him until he agreed to a hearing test. Which showed that he was hearing normally in at least the better ear. I felt really uncomfortable with going ahead with surgery after that. So I decided to try taking him off dairy for a month and see what happened. Well, that worked, he has cleared right up and has not had another ear infection since! He also has not had any milk or yogurt either. We have added some cheese back in and that has seemed to not affect his ears at all (which is helpful for a picky 2 year old's diet). So those two concerns have not been much of a concern anymore which is great.
We have also continued to have his eyes checked after his eye surgery last March. Sadly after that surgery his eyes started crossing again, so we had to start patching again. Then in September he got a cute pair of little glasses!
He wore those for a few months and then Dr. Haidar decided that it was time to do another surgery to correct the crossing that had come back. In December, right after Christmas he went back to Swedish to have another eye surgery. That went well again, and his eyes have looked even better since. I notice some crossing occasionally but at his 6 week check earlier in February Dr. Haidar thought he looked great. He doesn't have to have anything special done to his eyes for now (No patching or glasses for the time being). She is going to see him again in April or May (I can't remember which for another follow up). We are so thankful that his eyes are doing better, and we don't have to suffer though patching/glasses torture for now!
His last follow up appointment was his annual cardiology appointment, that he had today. His echocardiogram showed a little different blood flow than last year and a slightly constricted vein on the left side and Dr. Vernon was a bit concerned. However, when she talked to me about it and found out that he has had a really bad cough (possibly pneumonia) this past week and has been really sick, she actually felt better about it. Especially when she listened to his lungs and found that the rasping was coming from the location of the constricted vein. She did an X-ray to verify if that's what was going on. I should hear back from her later today with the results. We also have another follow up in 3 months to make sure that everything corrects itself. I am not going to get worked up about it for now, as it may just go away. However, "abnormal" or a "change" always freaks me out a bit. And prayers are always appreciated!
Another development is that he has been so sick the past week. His temperature was 103ish all weekend. Ryan ended up taking him into the pediatrician on Sunday morning and got some antibiotics for his "possible pneumonia". Poor kid. He is getting a bit better everyday, but is still not 100% at all. He also has stopped eating. So much so that he weighed less today than his last Children's appointment in the summer and it freaked Dr. Vernon out that she called his pediatrician and it freaked him out too. So now we have to watch his weight. He has dropped almost a Kilo since Sunday!!! So prayers that he will get a huge appetite back and can make up some ground. The tiny peanut cannot afford to loose any weight at all!!!
The other on going issue with Eli is his development. He is still delayed and still getting OT (occupational therapy) weekly and now SLP (Speech pathology) services twice a month. He has made really good gross motor gains since Katie (OT) started coming out every week. He started crawling and walking last summer. He now gets around just fine all over the house with Caleb, and the two are thick as thieves! He can go up and down the stairs as he needs and has learned how to be safe with that. We have now switched our focus more to speech. He has a few words and a few signs, but doesn't tend to use them unless prompted. But he is gaining ground slowly but surely. I think having Katie (SLP) coming now will give me some extra help on how to focus on his language growth. I know quite a bit, but I am no SLP, so I think it will help.
Other than that Eli is doing great! He is such a funny little dude with a very strong personality and opinions. Which I think God blessed him with because he needed it!!! We love him so much and are so proud of the gains he has made through all of the challenges that he has faced in his short 2 years!
Eli is doing well. He has had quite the year. My last post (9 months ago!) stated that Eli was having health concerns beyond his development. We had an EEG done to check for seizures. That came back normal, and we have actually had no other concerns in that area. I think he was getting bored when he wasn't mobile and would just space out. As soon as he started crawling and then walking I never noticed that behavior again. The other concern I had was his chronic ear infections. I took him to an ENT at Children's, did not have a good experience with the doctor he saw (He didn't want to test his hearing! What?!?!?! I'm sorry, you don't tell an Audiologist who's child has chronic ear infections that you are not going to test his hearing!!! That is NOT going to go over well). So, I ended up arguing with him until he agreed to a hearing test. Which showed that he was hearing normally in at least the better ear. I felt really uncomfortable with going ahead with surgery after that. So I decided to try taking him off dairy for a month and see what happened. Well, that worked, he has cleared right up and has not had another ear infection since! He also has not had any milk or yogurt either. We have added some cheese back in and that has seemed to not affect his ears at all (which is helpful for a picky 2 year old's diet). So those two concerns have not been much of a concern anymore which is great.
We have also continued to have his eyes checked after his eye surgery last March. Sadly after that surgery his eyes started crossing again, so we had to start patching again. Then in September he got a cute pair of little glasses!
He wore those for a few months and then Dr. Haidar decided that it was time to do another surgery to correct the crossing that had come back. In December, right after Christmas he went back to Swedish to have another eye surgery. That went well again, and his eyes have looked even better since. I notice some crossing occasionally but at his 6 week check earlier in February Dr. Haidar thought he looked great. He doesn't have to have anything special done to his eyes for now (No patching or glasses for the time being). She is going to see him again in April or May (I can't remember which for another follow up). We are so thankful that his eyes are doing better, and we don't have to suffer though patching/glasses torture for now!
His last follow up appointment was his annual cardiology appointment, that he had today. His echocardiogram showed a little different blood flow than last year and a slightly constricted vein on the left side and Dr. Vernon was a bit concerned. However, when she talked to me about it and found out that he has had a really bad cough (possibly pneumonia) this past week and has been really sick, she actually felt better about it. Especially when she listened to his lungs and found that the rasping was coming from the location of the constricted vein. She did an X-ray to verify if that's what was going on. I should hear back from her later today with the results. We also have another follow up in 3 months to make sure that everything corrects itself. I am not going to get worked up about it for now, as it may just go away. However, "abnormal" or a "change" always freaks me out a bit. And prayers are always appreciated!
Another development is that he has been so sick the past week. His temperature was 103ish all weekend. Ryan ended up taking him into the pediatrician on Sunday morning and got some antibiotics for his "possible pneumonia". Poor kid. He is getting a bit better everyday, but is still not 100% at all. He also has stopped eating. So much so that he weighed less today than his last Children's appointment in the summer and it freaked Dr. Vernon out that she called his pediatrician and it freaked him out too. So now we have to watch his weight. He has dropped almost a Kilo since Sunday!!! So prayers that he will get a huge appetite back and can make up some ground. The tiny peanut cannot afford to loose any weight at all!!!
The other on going issue with Eli is his development. He is still delayed and still getting OT (occupational therapy) weekly and now SLP (Speech pathology) services twice a month. He has made really good gross motor gains since Katie (OT) started coming out every week. He started crawling and walking last summer. He now gets around just fine all over the house with Caleb, and the two are thick as thieves! He can go up and down the stairs as he needs and has learned how to be safe with that. We have now switched our focus more to speech. He has a few words and a few signs, but doesn't tend to use them unless prompted. But he is gaining ground slowly but surely. I think having Katie (SLP) coming now will give me some extra help on how to focus on his language growth. I know quite a bit, but I am no SLP, so I think it will help.
Other than that Eli is doing great! He is such a funny little dude with a very strong personality and opinions. Which I think God blessed him with because he needed it!!! We love him so much and are so proud of the gains he has made through all of the challenges that he has faced in his short 2 years!
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