Good news...not so good news

Well we have had some good news and not so good news. We went to the Ophthamologist on Monday for an exam. He said Carter's eyes look good. He does not have the shifty eyes that are common in children with down syndrome, he doesn't have cataracts and he doesn't need glasses - so that is all good. The only thing they are going to watch are his tear ducts. They are small because his nasal bridge isn't as big so his eyes are often watery and he gets goobers in his eyes in the mornings. Dr. Larson thinks that by the time he is one it will have corrected itself...if not they can fix it. Otherwise he will see us in a year for another check up.

We went to the speech therapist on Thursday and boy was she surprised!! She was proud of his accomplishments at getting the NG tube removed and being able to eat everything by mouth. We are supposed to work on eating more solid baby foods and more volume of milk. She will see him again in February because he is doing so well!

We had his second round of synagis for RSV today and he did well....he didn't like the shot but he wasn't mad for long. They did weigh him and before they did I mentioned that he had been sick. Good thing I did because he was at 17 pounds and now he is only 15 pounds 12 ounces. She mentioned this to the pediatrician because it was such a significant weight loss that it needed to be addressed. The pediatrician said it was probably all due to the illness (croup and the upset stomach) but we have got to work on getting him back up in weight. I will have to start fortifying his milk again to make him get more calories.

And for the bad news...today was supposed to be surgery day....but it was canceled. They called yesterday and we did all the medical history got the time for the surgery and everything was all set. Then they called back and said they had talked to the anesthesiologist and because Carter received steroids when he had the croup three weeks ago he said the surgery was a no go. We have to wait four weeks before he can go under anesthesia. By the time I found this out last night I couldn't call the urology department so I called early this morning. December was full for surgeries because of the holidays but I begged to please have it done this year so it would fall under this insurance. Carter would have been number 8 on the wait list for cancellations of surgeries which is basically not good. I asked if there was any possibility to get him in before December 31 and she said she did have one opening on December 30 with a different doctor but it was absolutely the only surgery time they had left for the entire month. I said we would take it and we got in. Now we just have to keep Carter well for 18 days so we don't get canceled again. So pray that we will make it through the holiday season without any sicknesses - I don't want to have this canceled again.

The only other bad news is that the helmet people called and said that our insurance will not cover the cost of the helmet. They consider it to be cosmetic and not medically necessary. So now we get to pay for it ourselves....would anyone like to guess how much that is? I wish it was about the cost of a regular football helmet but it is much, much more. Merry Christmas Alan, Kristi and Carter. Maybe when Carter is done using the helmet we can hang it on the wall and watch TV on it because we could have bought a couple of very nice big screen TV's for the price....

Well that is about all for this week...it's been busy but then again every week is busy. Maybe one day life will slow down....