Pulmonary visit

Braden had a pulmonary visit today. He is doing great off his O's and we are now going to wean him off nites. :-) We are also getting rid of some equipment. No more apnea monitor and no more humidifier. He's been off the humidifier for a good while.. I was just afraid to let go of it. Braden does great having his nose on 24/7and those are much easier to use. Our next appt. is 8 weeks from now. We will be meeting less frequently now that Braden is doing so well.

The other day I found a 2.5 oz jar of Nature's goodness baby food that has 120 calories. It is called chicken and gravy. I was so excited because it's hard to find high calorie foods that aren't straight meat or fruits. I mix one oz of veges with a half jar of the chicken and gravy add a teaspoon of grape seed oil and bam we have a 115-130 calorie meal. :-) Plus a few extra calories of juice. Which by the way he did excellent with at lunch. He is loving drinking from a cup. Braden is particular about meal time. Most of the time he won't eat unless Baby Einstein's Sign language video is playing. I kid you not this is a great feeding tool. In fact one of Braden's therapist said she has another kid just like Braden who must watch the same video during meal time. I have to wonder if the segment about eating and drinking has anything to do with it.

Braden's eye exam

Braden had a decent eye exam. We have been noticing for a while now that Braden has a droppy left eye lid. His left eye is also lighter than the right. He has had right side sweating on his head but not on his left. Well today we found out why. He has Horners' syndrome. Don't worry it's not going to cause him any harm. You can look it up on line and scare yourself. However, Braden's Horners' was caused by his broviac surgery. They accidentally cut the nerve which regulates pupil dialation, eye color, and causes the lack of sweating on one side of his head. Craziness always seems to follow Braden. But at least this isn't anything to worry about. Also, I am so glad to know why he has these strange things happening. Even more pleased this will not harm him. We have another appt. 9 mths from now. They said as Braden matures he will most likely need glasses for near sightedness. Also, not a huge concern.

On a more exciting note. Braden drank from an actual cup today. Yippee... His therapist was extremely pleased. He needed help only to stop him from spilling it. lol He loves Apple juice. So we may be on our way to doing something new. I have also been working with Braden on sitting. I don't think it'll take him long to have that mastered again. He is just so happy to sit up it's unreal. I'll have to get some pics for y'all. The splint is somewhat of an obstacle for him but I think he will learn how to get around it. He is already testing his limits and what he can do.

Cast off

Well the cast is finally off. :-) We are so excited for Braden. When he got his cast on he looked like a baby. Now he just instantly looks like a toddler. It's so crazy but wonderful. The Doctor said Braden will have to wear a splint for a while but we have no idea how long. Braden's next visit is in 6 weeks. The removal of the cast was pretty traumatic for Braden. The saw is really loud and the vibration on his body terrified him. Poor little guy... but the team doing the work was extremely quick and it was over in no time. Braden calmed down fairly quickly. They provided some cool toys as a great distraction. As of right now Braden will not be allowed to put weight on his legs. Therapy will be allowed to do stretching and flexing only. I guess Braden will tell us when he's ready to do more. Then we'll ask if we have to stop him. We are happy despite the restrictions. Braden was visibly excited after getting the cast removed. He feels much better and is already kicking his legs. We will keep you all posted on further progress.

18 month check up

Braden's actual age is 18 months. So we went for his 18 month check up at the Pediatricians office this afternoon. He was scheduled for a Hep A shot but we had to reschedule. Everything is good right now. We were mostly just there to catch up Dr. Williams on all of Braden's Vandy visits. We are scheduled for the Hep A shot on Sept. 9th and will get an accurate weight and height check up. I'm sure once Braden's cast is off Vandy will give us a current height. We are confident Braden has maintained his 22 lbs weight. He hasn't lost or gained since getting his cast. The picture is just to show you all how much Braden has grown. The last professional pics were right before Braden got his cast. We think Braden has really grown in length. It'll be so exciting to see how much.

GI visit

Well we didn't get any answers today from GI because testing is needed. They have decided to do an upper GI scope and an additional test. The additional test is a small tube run down Braden's nose (kinda like they do an NG tube) Which will be hooked up to a machine for something like 24 hours or so. It will tell them what's going on with Braden and if his Nissen is still working. Braden will have to go off his reflux meds for a week prior to the test and scoping. Fun fun... not. He'll as usual have to be put out briefly and will be home same day. The Dr. warned it should be a sleepless nite during the test. The Dr. also wanted to wait at least 2-3weeks after Braden's cast comes off. So at least he'll have some relief and a break before going into something else that involves poking and discomfort. I am so glad Braden is such a trooper and manages to continue to keep a smile on his face. I'm thinking that once the cast comes off he will be so glad to be free he won't care so much about this additional stuff.:-) The past few weeks Braden had not been himself and last Thursday he passed a kidney stone. Poor baby... GI also feels that could have caused some of his vomiting. Between the cast and the kidney stone we may see less vomiting over the next few weeks. Wouldn't that be sooo nice if that was the majority of his problem. We will just have to wait and see. Urology has the kidney stone for testing. Should be several weeks before results come back. On a good note Braden has continued to eat his purees like a champ. Even when he vomits.. just give him some juice and he'll keep on eating. :-)

Braden and his friend Tigger

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