Doctor Appointments

Monday April 21, 2008

Mike worked last night, came home, got less than 2 hours of sleep, and off to Ann Arbor we went for two doctor appointments, and he never complained once. What a good Husband/Daddy he is:

Neurosurgeon:
Yeah, I know, Cayman just saw the Neurosurgeon. This was an unscheduled trip to his office. Her head had grown a whole centimeter since Thursday (it's now 44.5 cm)and we were worried that next week would be too late to see the doctor again and since we were going there today anyways, Dr. Maher fit us into his busy schedule to see Cayman. Her scalp veins were starting to pop out from the head pressure. Crazy fluid. One week it's not enough fluid, and the next it's too much! The doctor adjusted the shunt valve setting so it is slightly draining the fluid a little bit more. It was at 2.5 and now it is at 2. I say that not because it really means anything to everyone, but more for my records since Cayman's blogs serves as our own personal document of everything.

Pediatric Surgeon:
Her stomach incision has healed beautifully. The doctor was very pleased to hear she's eating everything orally and we never use the G-tube to feed her. In fact, the last few days we have not been venting her so she can learn and adjust to burping through her mouth instead of the tube. That's been going pretty good actually. She has spit up a few times but I'm not really sure if that is because of this change. She has been having a runny nose that drains down her throat and she gags on it, then that makes her spit up. The doctor was going to put a button G-tube in. We were so excited about this. A button will sit flush to her skin instead of having this long tube extending from her body that we have to be so careful it does not get caught on anything. However, they were all out of the button tubes. So the next time we are back up there for another doctor appointment (which is next week) we are to call and see if they have any buttons in stock and if they do we can swing by the office and they'll put it in. She weighed in at 8 pounds exactly. We were so excited to hear this high of weight and then were shocked to find out the doctor said her weight was down since she weighed on April 17th. April 17th was when Cayman was at the Pediatrician's last week. Mike and I were there and saw the scales say 7 lb 10.5 oz. There's gotta be some sort of miscommunication going on.

Random thoughts:

• Cayman has now been home more days than she spent in the hospital
  
• Mike was feeding Cayman in one of the sitting/lobby areas at the hospital and a little girl walked by and asked her mom "Why is he feeding a doll?"
  
• My breast pump died today. Thank God I have a ton of extra milk in the freezer. Hopefully we get this one fixed or a new one before my milk supply diminishes.
  
• My desktop computer is about to die...I seem to not be having very good luck with my stuff lately. I would like to get a laptop to replace it before my desktop dies on me completely. So we went to Sam's Club after Cayman's appointments to look at their stock of laptops. I went by the clothes section and there was a woman working, tiding up the space. She turned around and sneezed right next to Cayman in her stroller. I didn't' say anything but I'm guessing the look of panic on my face sent this woman into a continuous rave of apologies. I am not sure if this woman was sick or not. I'm just praying no harm comes to Cayman from that. That there is the reason why we haven't taken her out but only for her doctors appointments!
  
• Now that Cayman is adjusted to being home from the hospital we have been trying to play and stimulate her more. Before, we kept things as low key as possible so she could rest, adjust, and heal. The Occupational Therapist said it would be good to put toys in her hand so she can work mostly her left thumb that always stays tucked tightly into her palm. So here's Cayman playing with some of her toys. She looks so thrilled, doesn't she? :o)
• Today has been one of those harder emotional days for me. It must be from the lack of sleep over the weekend because we haven't received any bad news lately. Every now and then I think about the genetic test that we are waiting to come back from Duke. I say a quick pray and then try to push it out of my mind because if I don't I'll just sit and cry for an hour! Yesterday I got out a new outfit for Cayman to wear that I had bought her while I was pregnant. She's finally fitting into Newborn size and that is what this outfit is. But I sadly discovered the shirt opening was not large enough to fit over her head. I cried! That's how I can tell I need sleep when I don't even deal with the smaller things very well. Everything suddenly seems like a reminder of how hard everything has been. But that's when I pick up Cayman and I just look at that beautiful baby, and even though the pain is still in my heart, a smile comes to my face and I feel so blessed to have her. I told her "It's ok your noggin is big. I love you just the way you are!"
• Tomorrow Cayman has an appointment with a Homeopathic Practitioner. He'll address Cayman's nutritional needs and cellular deficiencies.