Two whole months? Really?

That's the word from Dr Alden - we don't have to come back for two months! It's a small step but a big one in our eyes. Dr Alden thought Cameron looked good and we will continue to monitor for signs of shunt malfunction or infection. The ventricles looked good on the Ultrasound - not any bigger and not significantly smaller. If they had drastically reduced in size that often leads to a shunt malfunction. So it appears the shunt is draining just the right amount.
We are still awiting the results on the Renal ultrasound and blood work to learn if the kidney dialtion is still Grade 2. I am hopeful to get that information today.
Physical Therapy continues to go well, we need to work harder on tummy time so that is our assignment for this week.
Last weekend Cameron had two special visitors - Kate and Rachel (mom's friends from highschool). We had a great time with them. They joined us on Sunday for the "One Small Voice" 5K walk to support Hydrocephalus and Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. This foundation was started by Zak's mom who we met at Children's when Cameron had the shunt surgery. It was a wonderful event and it meant a great deal to us to have our friends there to help support such a wonderful cause.
We are headed back to the pediatrician next week for a check up, and we'll get the schedule for Cameron's monthly Synagis injections as October begins RSV season.
I can't even believe that we are almost into October...we are accepting all suggestions for Halloween costume ideas for Cameron :)
xoxo mom and dad

Piglet status is officially restored!

Cameron is back on track weight wise! We saw the pediatrician last week and he was 11lbs 9oz and 23" they were very pleased. And so are we! He got another round of shots and we reviewed my standard laundry list of questions. All in all it was a good appointment for Cameron. We have not gotten official word, but unofficially Cameron should be covered by insurance to get Synagis starting in October to ward off a serious case of RSV.
We had our first Physical Therapy session on Friday, unfortunately Cameron got tired within 20 minutes, but we got a few things accomplished. Mostly focusing on trying to get Cameron to turn to his left side more. Faye our therapist even showed me how to use my yoga ball to do tummy time - I'll have to take a picture it's pretty funny to see this cute little guy on such a big ball. We then had Speech Therapy on Tuesday, and the therapist was very pleased with how Cameron is feeding, she wants me to try and exclusively breast feed again vs. supplementing with formula. We'll see, I feel as though I am attached to him 24/7 as it is...but they weighed him and he was 12lbs, so that is good. There was talk of me renting a scale to measure his intake after each feeding - sometimes I wonder if these people think I have all the time in the world and 8 sets of hands! But I really did like the speech therapist and she checked out some of Cameron's motor skills and was pretty impressed. So it felt really good to get some positive feedback. I feel like Cameron is really starting to thrive and I have to believe the shunt has something to do with it!
Today we had our follow up with Urology - we'll have another ultrasound of the kidney done next week along with some blood work. This way they will have a baseline to compare the kidney US done at 3 weeks of life - at which point there was some dialtion - a "Grade 2" on a scale of 4, so not terrible but there is some dialation, so we need to see where things stand now.
Next Wednesday will be a full day at Children's with the Kidney US, blood work and follow up with Dr. Alden - Matt and I will also celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary that day --- what a way to do it :) Although we'd have it no other way than to be with Cameron.
So that's the report for the last two weeks - we are very encouraged by Cameron's progress lately, he is just such a sweetheart!
xoxo mom and dad

Never a dull moment...

Well I jinxed it! Just when I thought we were going to have a full week without a visit to Children’s…we had to take Cameron to the Emergency Dept on Saturday morning because he was wheezing and breathing erratically over a 24 hr period. Given his diaphragm issue we called Children’s and talked to the surgeon on call who suggested we bring him in – so they did a chest x-ray (the lovely torture device chair that Cameron enjoys so much) along with a CT scan of his head and shunt series scan to make sure there was not a problem with his shunt, as he had also been very sleepy and not eating well over the last 24 hours. So 3 hours later they diagnosed Cameron with a cold! Mom felt a little crazy, but all the Dr’s assured us that we did the right thing as it’s better to be safe given his many conditions. We felt bad for Cameron as he screamed his head off through the many tests and here we were putting him through it all for a cold. He seems much better today and we are relieved. Nana left today after a week long stay, it was so great to have her here! We are all sad she's gone!! Nana taught Cameron how to “run” (pump his legs up and down)– he’s very good at it and gets very excited.
That's it for now...