Today was a busy day with two appointments at Children's Mercy. We went to the Hearing and Speech Clinic in the morning. They took impressions of Chase's ears for hearing aids and talked to us about how they work. They come in so many different colors and designs, it's kinda fun. Chris chose blue with a clear mold. The blue part goes behind Chase's ear and the clear mold fits into his hear. Chase has a difficult time hearing higher pitched soft sounds, so the hearing aid will amplify these sounds. He'll get fitted for the hearing aids in 4 weeks, and they'll do periodic testing to make sure his hearing doesn't get any worse. They haven't identified the cause of the hearing loss, and as far as we know it's not associated with Chondrodysplasia Punctata, so they don't know if it will progressively get worse or if it will stay the same. Hopefully it doesn't get worse!! But they said it isn't something that will get better. We're thankful we identified the hearing loss so early so his learning and development shouldn't be effected.
Then we had an appt with Dr. Gratny this afternoon. Grammy came with Chase and I since Chris had an interview. Chase received a good report. His blood pressure was better, and he weiged in at 9lbs 5oz and is 21.5 inches long. He's right on track. They increased his feedings to 90mls every 6 hours for three weeks, then we'll increase it some more to 95mls every 4 hours. We decided to change his trach to a longer flexible trach, which he had early on. His head tends to always turn to the right side. He also tends to tilt his head back and arch his back because his current trach gets in the way of his little short neck and double chin :) So this new flexible trach will hopefully help that. They drew some blood and had to stick him five times to get enough blood. Poor Chase's heel and ankles are all bruised :( Grammy had to hold back the tears seeing him so upset! But he's okay now, just swinging in his swing sucking on his fist. I talked to the doctor about our concern that Chase isn't progressing with his bottle feeding. She suggested maybe trying to give him a little oxygen during his feedings to see if that gives him a little extra umpf and stamina. Every now and again he'll finish an entire bottle, but he seems to tucker out after only about 30 mls or so. We'll give it a try. Occupational therapy comes tomorrow and they are going to work with him twice monthly to improve his bottle feeding. I'm not sure how we'll transition once we move to KS, but we'll figure that out.
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life...
~ 2 Peter 1:3, NLT
5 comments:
Oh my goodness! He's getting so big and it's only been a week since I've seen him. I'm glad your appointments went well. See you soon! Amy
It's good to see Chase is growing and coming right along. Maybe the oxygen would help with the bottle feeding. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I think of you often and how lucky he is to have you two. I love reading your blog to find the latest up dates. Keep growing Chase!
Miss you. Glad to hear you caught the hearing loss early. I hope Chris's interview went well. Chase looks happy. He's getting big!
Loved the grin posted Sept. 8!
So happy that things are going well
and congrats on the job Chris.
Hello Chris & Katie, Hope this comes through to you. It is an amazing job what you both are doing. You should be proud. All things somehow work out with time. Love, Aunt Midge
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