From The Mouths of Kids

This evening we were eating at a local buffet restaurant. As my wife was carrying her filled plate to our table, an elderly lady seated nearby said, "If I filled my plate like you did, maybe I would have an awesome figure, too."

As we were discussing this at our table, Randall pondered a few moments and said, "Mom, you don't have an awesome figure!" Upon being questioned on whether or not he knew what an "awesome figure" was, he admitted he didn't. But then he said, "If I ever saw one, I would know it."

Don't you just love little people??

Puppies

For those of you following our ongoing pet saga, I'm sorry to tell you that Sam & Gus are DRT.

We decided we needed some dogs that wouldn't get very big. Sam & Gus had Christopher afraid to step out of the house and we didn't feel comfortable taking Wade out in the stroller either.

So. . . we are now the proud owners of two little beagle puppies (yet to be named). The boys think they are really neat.

Brothers

Bumbo

The occupational therapist (April) has started coming every week now, but we won’t see the other therapists again until Wade needs them. They seem to think that if we keep doing things the way we have been, he will do fine without them for the time being.

April brought out a Bumbo seat for Wade to practice sitting in order to strengthen his abs. It certainly helps him to sit upright.

More Doctor Visits

Last week Wade had two doctors’ appointments. The first was his regular six-month check-up with his pediatrician. He got his shots and had blood drawn for the leukemia and thyroid tests. Both tests turned out fine. He ended up getting stuck with needles five times that day. He was very patient with all the proddings. As always, it’s probably harder on Mommy than it is on Baby.

The second appointment was with the eye doctor for a six-month eye exam. The eye doctor had something that looked about like a flashlight with blinking red and green lights that he shined into Wade’s eyes. From his evaluation, Wade has perfectly normal vision for someone his age.

Therapy

Karen, Liz, April & Cree

Wade getting some vibrating sensory input

The middle of March Wade met with 3 therapists at once. That was a great day in his book. Everywhere he looked there was a face and they were all cooing over him.

The speech/language pathologist came out to evaluate Wade again now that he is eating solid food, and the physical therapist came to do an initial evaluation. The occupational therapist was here also at the same time.

They all were pleased and amazed at Wade’s abilities and progress. The physical and speech therapists showed me a few more activities I can do with him to wake up and strengthen his muscles.

Wade’s reflexes are normal for a baby his age, but he is lagging 3 months behind in his fine and gross motor skills.

His progress in eating solid foods is going very well. In fact, it has seemed very funny to me that while I was all braced for a difficult time teaching him to eat with a spoon, astonishingly enough, he has learned much faster and better than either of the other two boys did!! So I guess sometimes there are some amusing surprises that God has in store for us.

-- The Lady --

Busy Month

Christopher & Wade

Randall & Wade

March is a busy month for Wade. We have to keep our little black book handy to stay on track with all his appointments.

Last week we took Wade to Dr. Flannery, doctor of genetics, for what we thought was our last meeting with him. Dr. Flannery had said that he wanted to see Wade once more after the sedated hearing test was completed. Of course, because this is the Medical College, there are always students in training who come in and look at Wade also. Wade kicked his little toes and smiled at all who peered at him. Everyone always laughs at how chubby he is and how his hair always seems to stand up no matter what we do with it. Before Dr. Flannery left the room, he patted Wade’s hair and said, “You need some hair gel!”

Dr. Flannery had initially seen us in order to get all of the gears meshing so Wade would receive all the therapy/medical attention he needed in timely fashion. Now, however, he told us there is really no reason for him to be seeing Wade any more, but he’d like to see him again in 3 months. We have no idea why. Who knows, maybe MCG is short on genetic abnormalities to study! It is very interesting for us to hear their observations about Wade’s progression. They are always extremely pleased with how well he is doing. Dr. Flannery did order another thyroid test and another CBC to check for childhood leukemia. Down’s children have a greater risk of having thyroid trouble, so Wade will be checked throughout life for that—once a year from now on if this test is normal. He had the childhood leukemia test done as a newborn and will have it repeated several times until he is three years old. I think the risk of this type of leukemia in Down’s children is 1%. For someone to have it after three years of age is extremely rare.

Wade also had a check-up with Dr. Vickery, the ENT last week. His ears with the tubes in look fine. Wade has very tiny ear canals (common in Down’s babies), making it extremely difficult for someone without proper equipment to check his ears. Dr. Flannery had tried to look in Wade’s ears, but couldn’t even see the whole ear drum. He wondered how Dr. Vickery was ever able to get tubes into such tiny ears. When we told Dr. Vickery what Dr. Flannery had said, Dr. Vickery laughed and said that he was “sweating bullets” until he finally got the tubes inserted. We hope that Wade’s little ear canals and Eustachian tubes will grow as he does, thus reducing his risk of ear infections and fluid. For now though, Dr. Vickery will see him again in three months. The tubes should stay in for a year.
Next week we have appointments with Dr. Jones the pediatrician (for a regular six-month check-up, shots, and the bloodwork ordered by Dr. Flannery) and Dr. Brooks the ophthalmologist (for a six-month eye exam).

Wade's Big Day

Today was a big day for Wade. We had to have him into day surgery by 6:00 a.m. for his scheduled ABR to determine how well he is hearing. Taking advantage of the sedation, the ENT also performed several other procedures. The Speech Therapist had mentioned that Wade had a restricted frenulum (tongue-tie). She felt that he was compensating well for it, but thought that since he was going to be sedated anyway, we might as well get it clipped in order to have all his speaking tools in top-notch condition. Wade probably gained another centimeter of mobility by clipping it.

The ENT also performed a laryngoscopy because of Wade’s history of squeaking during and after eating. (Since Wade has been on acid-reflux medicine though, the squeaking has almost completely stopped.) The laryngoscopy revealed a perfectly normal voice box and no noticeable erosion at this point from the acid reflux.

Wade’s ears were very full of fluid again though, so before the brain stem response test could be done, he had to have tubes put in both ears.

Then the audiologist took over with the ABR which took about 45 minutes. And we just can’t stop smiling because the test revealed that Wade has 100% normal hearing in both ears. Thank God many times over!

I know there were people praying for us today.

Wade did so well with the whole procedure. The only crying he did was for the first 25 minutes after they brought him back to his room. He was very hungry and would eat a little and then sob, eat and sob. Then he slept for an hour until we woke him up by dressing him to go home. We were home here by soon after 11:00 which was much sooner than I ever dreamed it would be. Wade has been very sleepy since then, but happy and smiling during the moments when he’s awake.

Now the only other health test he has to pass will be another vision test when he is 6 months old.

-- The Lady --

Two Father's Perspectives

I received the first issue in my new subscription to Newsweek magazine today. The first thing I looked at was the last page inside the back cover. It was a column written by George Will, a Pulitzer Prize-winning, conservative American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. Mr. Will has written quite frequently about his son, Jon, who has Down Syndrome. You can read his latest column here.

I also read another column several days ago that I enjoyed. This one was written by man from the UK, Times chief sports writer Simon Barnes. He also has a son with Downs. His column is entitled, I'm not a saint, just a parent.

Four Month Checkup

Wade - 4 Months

We took Wade to see his pediatrician on Monday for his four month checkup. They use a different set of growth charts for Downs children. Wade is doing very well on the Downs charts. In fact, Dr. Jones said he is even doing fairly well on the regular charts. We can tell he is a little smaller than our other two were and a little weaker, but he is doing really well. We are so pleased with his progress. He also got 3 shots again this visit. Karen says he didn't seem to mind them as much as the other two boys did.