https://www.smallbusinessbiggame.com/CA/Spray-Pal---Cloth-Diaper-Sprayer-Splatter-Shield/373599
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Spray Pal
I just wanted to give a huge shout out to Daniel Tim Tim for making this awesome video for our Round 2 video entry in the Intuit Small Business Big Game contest. If you watch, you can catch a few glimpses of our little fighter and see how big he's getting! We didn't invent the Spray Pal to make money, we created it because we saw a problem and wanted to solve it just to make our own lives easier. We started to realize that others could benefit from the idea, so we moved forward with the patent process and bringing it to market. We went slowly and carefully, and then Ryan was born. The crazy thing is, that was the time when things started to really take of with Spray Pal. Now we continue to move forward with Spray Pal for various reasons. 1) It makes using cloth diapers easier which is good for our earth. 2) The proceeds allow me to teach part time so I can spend the rest of the time home with my kids and take Ryan to doctor's appointments and therapies. 3) It helps pay for the extra medical expenses you don't really think about...prescriptions, blended diet ingredients, hearing aids, contact lenses, etc, etc, LOL. The expenses with a special needs kiddo can add up, but we are truly blessed that with Spray Pal we are managing it ok and we would definitely not have it any other way! Voting ends October 13th and we truly appreciate all of your support. If you'd like to vote, you can click on the link below and vote daily. No information input is required, just click the yellow voting box. Thanks so much!
https://www.smallbusinessbiggame.com/CA/Spray-Pal---Cloth-Diaper-Sprayer-Splatter-Shield/373599
https://www.smallbusinessbiggame.com/CA/Spray-Pal---Cloth-Diaper-Sprayer-Splatter-Shield/373599
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
EDAC Appointment
I just wanted to quickly update about Ryan's EDAC follow-up today. Basically, we bring him in to CHOC to get evaluated by a nurse, dietician, two therapists, a social worker, and finally a physician to see how his overall health and development is going after being discharged from the NICU. He had his first eval like this back in January, so it was kinda cool to have some stats to compare with and see if he's shown any improvement.
The nurse and dietician were really impressed with his relative overall health, weight gain over the last few months (thank you blenderized diet), and regularity (again, thank you blenderized diet). They asked questions about flu shot and synagis, which we have all scheduled, so that portion was pretty quick.
Then the therapists brought him down to a mat and did various assessments on his gross motor, fine motor, and cognitive development. This was the coolest part of the appointment because he performed SO much better this time than the first time. He even babbled up a storm, which is especially impressive since they confirmed what we already know that he doesn't respond to sound even with his hearing aids in. At his last appointment, his cognitive development was rated at 4 months, and this time they put him at 7 months! Last time his gross motor was that of a 1 month old, and this time it was around 4 months! And fine motor wasn't even on their rating chart last time, but this time it was also 4 months! So overall, though he is severely delayed, he is working on his own curve and it's moving in the right direction! I can only imagine how amazing his development will grow once he gets Cochlear Implants (God willing) and can hopefully hear our encouraging words and teachings!
Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers you sent his way today, it was really nice to have another appointment with GOOD news this week!
The nurse and dietician were really impressed with his relative overall health, weight gain over the last few months (thank you blenderized diet), and regularity (again, thank you blenderized diet). They asked questions about flu shot and synagis, which we have all scheduled, so that portion was pretty quick.
Then the therapists brought him down to a mat and did various assessments on his gross motor, fine motor, and cognitive development. This was the coolest part of the appointment because he performed SO much better this time than the first time. He even babbled up a storm, which is especially impressive since they confirmed what we already know that he doesn't respond to sound even with his hearing aids in. At his last appointment, his cognitive development was rated at 4 months, and this time they put him at 7 months! Last time his gross motor was that of a 1 month old, and this time it was around 4 months! And fine motor wasn't even on their rating chart last time, but this time it was also 4 months! So overall, though he is severely delayed, he is working on his own curve and it's moving in the right direction! I can only imagine how amazing his development will grow once he gets Cochlear Implants (God willing) and can hopefully hear our encouraging words and teachings!
Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers you sent his way today, it was really nice to have another appointment with GOOD news this week!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic
Yesterday morning I took Ryan to his Pulmonary Hypertension clinic appointment. We first had to have an echo done in the cardiology office across the street, then drive over to CHOC and check in for the PPHN clinic. It was also our first day without our awesome home nurse (who is moving to Washington and will be dearly missed), so needless to say it was a crazy morning! We were a few minutes late to the echo by the time I navigated rush our traffic and the parking structure. Once that was done, Ryan and I booked it over to the clinic structure, and of course even the handicapped spots were full. So, by the time we parked over there and made our way in, we checked in about 25 minutes late. Not the best start.
As we waited in the large and crowded waiting area, the sound of children coughing haphazardly into the air made me cringe. I carefully placed a blanket over Ryan's car seat so to hopefully shield him from the germs. Just more evidence that the flu season is upon us, and preemie lockdown is in full effect in our house.
When we were called back, the nurse had us waiting in a crowded hallway for one of the weighing station rooms to open up. He had just been weighed and measured in the cardiology office not even an hour before that, so I asked if we could just use those stats and bypass the crowd of germs (yes, this is how my mind's eye see people now. Just germ carriers. Especially kids. And even more especially kids who are coughing like crazy in a pulmonary office. I mean, really). She consented and led us to our room where she took his blood pressure and sats (he was satting 97-98 on .5 liters).
Then, we waited. And waited. And finally the cardiologist came in. At this clinic, we typically get to see the pulmonologist and cardiologist at the same time, which is nice because I feel like we get at least 2 of his specialist on the same page. Funnily enough, it seems as though most times we meet like that, they blame the other specialty departments for his lack of real improvement. For example, last time it was, "I'm so surprised he still needs the oxygen, it must be his reflux. We'll have to talk to GI about this and change up the meds. Oh, and let's start adding pediasure to get him to gain weight."
This time, the cardiologist came in solo, but we were happy to see her (well, I was because Ryan was fast asleep on my lap by that point) because it was one of the doctors that knows Ryan well. She went over the results from the echo that morning, and GREAT news, the pressures in his heart are unreadable again! So, last time they were high enough to read at 30, which was a mild amount of pressure, and now it's so mild that it's not readable. This happened last year right around this time, and then he got sick with RSV and he had a bad sedation and we went back to square one with the PPHN. So, we are keeping him on the meds through the flu season even though his PPHN seems to be much better, just to give him a little extra protection in case he gets sick again. We will also get the synagis shot for RSV as soon as it's available, which should be early Nov.
Then she left and we waited some more for the pulmonologist. Finally, I looked at my phone and realized we had been at appointments for 2.5 hours. I told myself if he wasn't seen by 10:30, we were leaving. I know that sounds all rebellious, but honestly, I wasn't trying to be a rebel...I just couldn't take it anymore. The entire time we were in there I could still hear the sick kids coughing all around us and I didn't want him to be there anymore. I peeked out the door to let a nurse know we had to leave, and there was no one in the hallway, so then I started to think maybe we had been forgotten! So, we walked out. I stopped out front at the checkin desk to let them know I was leaving and I told them I'd make a new appointment when I got home, which I did. I made sure to make it for a date when the synagis shot would be ready for him so we wouldn't have to come back twice, and I made it for the Newport Beach satellite office because it's much smaller and typically less crowded, and it seems like there's less chance of him contracting an illness in that environment. Call me paranoid, I don't really care :)
Then today at lunch today the nurse who would've checked us out yesterday called me to let me know she had scheduled Ryan for a new PPHN appointment on December 23rd. I told her, and these were my exact words, "You can set the appointment, but I can't guarantee I'll bring him in. I was already hearing so many sick kids coughing over there yesterday, and I'll be damned if I'm going to bring him into an appointment just to have him catch something at the hospital!" She said she understood, lol. So most likely I'll just keep scheduling the appointments in NB for one month apart where we can meet with the pulmonologist and get his synagis shot within the correct 30 day time frame, and avoid the big hospital altogether.
The only problem is going to be his therapy sessions. After December 31st, our insurance will cover 20 sessions again, and we have to use those up before the regional center can cover the in home therapy that we are receiving right now. Which means...right smack dab in the middle of flu season we'll have to bring him back to CHOC 4 times a week for 5 weeks to meet with therapists who haven't seen him in a year before we can go back to having the therapists who know him and his goals so well work with him in our home. Just one more of those frustrating hoops we have to jump through unless I can figure out a way around it.
We have a new home nurse starting tomorrow, but she can only work 3 days a week, so the nursing company is going to continue the search for someone full time to replace the nurse who is leaving us, and who has been with us since April. It really is hard to lose a good nurse because she's like a member of the family, spending every day at home with us caring for our son. Tomorrow we have our EDAC appointment, which they do every 6-8 months or so to check his development after release from the NICU. Should be interesting to see how much he has grown and developed since his last appointment in January!
Please pray that he continues to grow and thrive as well as he has these last few months. Every day that goes by as we head into flu season, I say a thankful prayer that he stays healthy and avoids getting sick. He's been gaining weight well (he weighs 18 pounds 13 oz now thanks to the blenderized diet!) and that will help, but we'd love to avoid any and all illness if possible. Thank you!!
As we waited in the large and crowded waiting area, the sound of children coughing haphazardly into the air made me cringe. I carefully placed a blanket over Ryan's car seat so to hopefully shield him from the germs. Just more evidence that the flu season is upon us, and preemie lockdown is in full effect in our house.
When we were called back, the nurse had us waiting in a crowded hallway for one of the weighing station rooms to open up. He had just been weighed and measured in the cardiology office not even an hour before that, so I asked if we could just use those stats and bypass the crowd of germs (yes, this is how my mind's eye see people now. Just germ carriers. Especially kids. And even more especially kids who are coughing like crazy in a pulmonary office. I mean, really). She consented and led us to our room where she took his blood pressure and sats (he was satting 97-98 on .5 liters).
Then, we waited. And waited. And finally the cardiologist came in. At this clinic, we typically get to see the pulmonologist and cardiologist at the same time, which is nice because I feel like we get at least 2 of his specialist on the same page. Funnily enough, it seems as though most times we meet like that, they blame the other specialty departments for his lack of real improvement. For example, last time it was, "I'm so surprised he still needs the oxygen, it must be his reflux. We'll have to talk to GI about this and change up the meds. Oh, and let's start adding pediasure to get him to gain weight."
This time, the cardiologist came in solo, but we were happy to see her (well, I was because Ryan was fast asleep on my lap by that point) because it was one of the doctors that knows Ryan well. She went over the results from the echo that morning, and GREAT news, the pressures in his heart are unreadable again! So, last time they were high enough to read at 30, which was a mild amount of pressure, and now it's so mild that it's not readable. This happened last year right around this time, and then he got sick with RSV and he had a bad sedation and we went back to square one with the PPHN. So, we are keeping him on the meds through the flu season even though his PPHN seems to be much better, just to give him a little extra protection in case he gets sick again. We will also get the synagis shot for RSV as soon as it's available, which should be early Nov.
Then she left and we waited some more for the pulmonologist. Finally, I looked at my phone and realized we had been at appointments for 2.5 hours. I told myself if he wasn't seen by 10:30, we were leaving. I know that sounds all rebellious, but honestly, I wasn't trying to be a rebel...I just couldn't take it anymore. The entire time we were in there I could still hear the sick kids coughing all around us and I didn't want him to be there anymore. I peeked out the door to let a nurse know we had to leave, and there was no one in the hallway, so then I started to think maybe we had been forgotten! So, we walked out. I stopped out front at the checkin desk to let them know I was leaving and I told them I'd make a new appointment when I got home, which I did. I made sure to make it for a date when the synagis shot would be ready for him so we wouldn't have to come back twice, and I made it for the Newport Beach satellite office because it's much smaller and typically less crowded, and it seems like there's less chance of him contracting an illness in that environment. Call me paranoid, I don't really care :)
Then today at lunch today the nurse who would've checked us out yesterday called me to let me know she had scheduled Ryan for a new PPHN appointment on December 23rd. I told her, and these were my exact words, "You can set the appointment, but I can't guarantee I'll bring him in. I was already hearing so many sick kids coughing over there yesterday, and I'll be damned if I'm going to bring him into an appointment just to have him catch something at the hospital!" She said she understood, lol. So most likely I'll just keep scheduling the appointments in NB for one month apart where we can meet with the pulmonologist and get his synagis shot within the correct 30 day time frame, and avoid the big hospital altogether.
The only problem is going to be his therapy sessions. After December 31st, our insurance will cover 20 sessions again, and we have to use those up before the regional center can cover the in home therapy that we are receiving right now. Which means...right smack dab in the middle of flu season we'll have to bring him back to CHOC 4 times a week for 5 weeks to meet with therapists who haven't seen him in a year before we can go back to having the therapists who know him and his goals so well work with him in our home. Just one more of those frustrating hoops we have to jump through unless I can figure out a way around it.
We have a new home nurse starting tomorrow, but she can only work 3 days a week, so the nursing company is going to continue the search for someone full time to replace the nurse who is leaving us, and who has been with us since April. It really is hard to lose a good nurse because she's like a member of the family, spending every day at home with us caring for our son. Tomorrow we have our EDAC appointment, which they do every 6-8 months or so to check his development after release from the NICU. Should be interesting to see how much he has grown and developed since his last appointment in January!
Please pray that he continues to grow and thrive as well as he has these last few months. Every day that goes by as we head into flu season, I say a thankful prayer that he stays healthy and avoids getting sick. He's been gaining weight well (he weighs 18 pounds 13 oz now thanks to the blenderized diet!) and that will help, but we'd love to avoid any and all illness if possible. Thank you!!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Trying to Keep Up
I just got finished rocking Ryan to sleep, and I was feeling nostalgic thinking back to the days when he was still in the NICU and I would update his blog every single night. While I do feel guilty for not keeping up with the blog as much as I did back then, I know it's for good reason. Now that all four members of our family are home under one roof, there just isn't enough time in the day!! I was inspired by a conversation with a friend tonight to update, though. Even though I don't update frequently, I can still see through the blog stats that we get a lot of hits here each day. My friend reminded me that people who are in a similar situation want to find hope and information, and most times they turn to the internet. For moms with preemies with special needs, many of their searches lead them here. Let's face it, Ryan has a lot of searchable tag words associated with him. Preemie, pulmonary hypertension, chronic lung disease, hard of hearing/deaf, visually impaired, oxygen, gtube, blenderized diet, the list could go on. So, as much as I feel like I don't have the time, I need to be better about updating because I know there are people out there who have kids with one or more of the same issues and just want to know how Ryan is doing.
Lungs/Heart: Nothing new to report here. He's still on 3/4 liter of oxygen 24/7. He's still on nebulizer treatments twice a day, aldactazide diuretics to keep fluid out of his lungs, and sildenafil for his pulmonary hypertension. We have a pulmonary hypertension clinic coming up next week where he will meet with his pulmonologist and cardiologist and have an echo to check the status of his PPHN. His sats have been a bit better than usual lately, which is excellent timing as we turn that corner into flu season. We are hoping and praying so hard that we can keep our home as germ free as possible this winter so he doesn't wind up back in the hospital. This is quite a feat with a 3 year old in preschool and two elementary school teachers surrounded by kids all day. We haven't had to go on full on lock down quite yet, so we've been getting out of the house as much as possible on the weekends while we still have the freedom to do so.
GI: He is still throwing up occasionally. Not quite daily, but probably 4-5 times a week. It's totally random and we have no idea when it will happen, but he is still on the omeprazole for that and it seems to be helping more than the prevacid was. The blenderized diet seems to help, too...at least with the weight gain part. I think the thickness of his blends does help him keep more of it down, so sometimes when he throws up it's just a tiny amount. The whole thing is so baffling to me. We all have our theories...maybe we shouldn't give him blend that is made the day before. Maybe we moved him too soon after his feed. Maybe he needs to be vented more, maybe less? Who knows. It's so random. My latest theory is that he is just finally learning how to burp, so when he burps or coughs it triggers his gag reflex and he throws up because he just doesn't realize he doesn't actually HAVE to throw up! Hopefully he will grow out of it soon, which, on the bright side, he is gaining weight. It's a slow process, but at least the weight curve is moving in the right direction compared to what it was doing when he was just on the formula.
Eyes/hearing: His vision is still one of his biggest blessings. He definitely sees things. He wears his contact lenses every day, and we still with the occasional lens popping out and panic on all fours as we try to recover it without losing our sanity. His hearing aids are not quite as successful. We had our follow up appointment last week, and we basically told her we aren't noticing a lick of difference. He had them set at a really high amplification, and he didn't react to sound any differently than he did before. Meaning, he doesn't react to sound at all, period. It's actually a blessing in disguise because if it seemed like he could hear something, it might make the choice more difficult to go ahead with the cochlear implants. Now there's no question that this is the way he is destined to hear. So, I need to call House Institute this week and see if they would consider forgoing the rest of the hearing aid trial since it's pretty evident they aren't doing anything so we can get the ball rolling even sooner on the cochlear implants. We are still working on adding new signs to our vocabulary as often as possible. Ryan hasn't seemed to pick up any of our signs yet, but he does love to hit his mouth with his fist, which I'm going to go ahead and say is him just signing "mom" in his rudimentary way :)
Development: Ryan still gets 4 hours of therapy a week. He is showing some slow improvement, but he is still very developmentally delayed. He had his latest IFSP meeting in August, and in most areas he scored at the level of a 4 month old. With him being 18 months actual, 15 months adjusted, you can see how that is a pretty significant delay. But, we've set new goals for him based on that information, and he definitely seems to get stronger and stronger every day.
General: Life has been pretty crazy since we started back up to school this month. My mom still comes to take care of Dani and help the nurse with Ryan while I'm teaching, and the nurse still comes to help with Ryan 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. We are so, so sad to be losing the amazing nurse we've had with us since April because she is moving out of state. She is going to be very difficult to replace. Other than that, we have been busy with school, Spray Pal, Dani's back to school night and many other activities, in addition to trying to keep up with all of Ryan's home exercises for his therapies, etc. I'm surviving off less sleep than I ever imagined possible (says the girl who's eyes are half closed while typing who normally needs 8 hours of sleep to function properly). Coffee has definitely become a staple around these parts. Thank God for all the blessings (like coffee, for example) that make this crazy, but wonderful, life possible! And thank you all for keeping Ryan and our family in your prayers. He's come a long way but still has a long way to go, and I know all of our prayers are being answered daily as we watch Ryan grow!
Lungs/Heart: Nothing new to report here. He's still on 3/4 liter of oxygen 24/7. He's still on nebulizer treatments twice a day, aldactazide diuretics to keep fluid out of his lungs, and sildenafil for his pulmonary hypertension. We have a pulmonary hypertension clinic coming up next week where he will meet with his pulmonologist and cardiologist and have an echo to check the status of his PPHN. His sats have been a bit better than usual lately, which is excellent timing as we turn that corner into flu season. We are hoping and praying so hard that we can keep our home as germ free as possible this winter so he doesn't wind up back in the hospital. This is quite a feat with a 3 year old in preschool and two elementary school teachers surrounded by kids all day. We haven't had to go on full on lock down quite yet, so we've been getting out of the house as much as possible on the weekends while we still have the freedom to do so.
GI: He is still throwing up occasionally. Not quite daily, but probably 4-5 times a week. It's totally random and we have no idea when it will happen, but he is still on the omeprazole for that and it seems to be helping more than the prevacid was. The blenderized diet seems to help, too...at least with the weight gain part. I think the thickness of his blends does help him keep more of it down, so sometimes when he throws up it's just a tiny amount. The whole thing is so baffling to me. We all have our theories...maybe we shouldn't give him blend that is made the day before. Maybe we moved him too soon after his feed. Maybe he needs to be vented more, maybe less? Who knows. It's so random. My latest theory is that he is just finally learning how to burp, so when he burps or coughs it triggers his gag reflex and he throws up because he just doesn't realize he doesn't actually HAVE to throw up! Hopefully he will grow out of it soon, which, on the bright side, he is gaining weight. It's a slow process, but at least the weight curve is moving in the right direction compared to what it was doing when he was just on the formula.
Eyes/hearing: His vision is still one of his biggest blessings. He definitely sees things. He wears his contact lenses every day, and we still with the occasional lens popping out and panic on all fours as we try to recover it without losing our sanity. His hearing aids are not quite as successful. We had our follow up appointment last week, and we basically told her we aren't noticing a lick of difference. He had them set at a really high amplification, and he didn't react to sound any differently than he did before. Meaning, he doesn't react to sound at all, period. It's actually a blessing in disguise because if it seemed like he could hear something, it might make the choice more difficult to go ahead with the cochlear implants. Now there's no question that this is the way he is destined to hear. So, I need to call House Institute this week and see if they would consider forgoing the rest of the hearing aid trial since it's pretty evident they aren't doing anything so we can get the ball rolling even sooner on the cochlear implants. We are still working on adding new signs to our vocabulary as often as possible. Ryan hasn't seemed to pick up any of our signs yet, but he does love to hit his mouth with his fist, which I'm going to go ahead and say is him just signing "mom" in his rudimentary way :)
Development: Ryan still gets 4 hours of therapy a week. He is showing some slow improvement, but he is still very developmentally delayed. He had his latest IFSP meeting in August, and in most areas he scored at the level of a 4 month old. With him being 18 months actual, 15 months adjusted, you can see how that is a pretty significant delay. But, we've set new goals for him based on that information, and he definitely seems to get stronger and stronger every day.
General: Life has been pretty crazy since we started back up to school this month. My mom still comes to take care of Dani and help the nurse with Ryan while I'm teaching, and the nurse still comes to help with Ryan 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. We are so, so sad to be losing the amazing nurse we've had with us since April because she is moving out of state. She is going to be very difficult to replace. Other than that, we have been busy with school, Spray Pal, Dani's back to school night and many other activities, in addition to trying to keep up with all of Ryan's home exercises for his therapies, etc. I'm surviving off less sleep than I ever imagined possible (says the girl who's eyes are half closed while typing who normally needs 8 hours of sleep to function properly). Coffee has definitely become a staple around these parts. Thank God for all the blessings (like coffee, for example) that make this crazy, but wonderful, life possible! And thank you all for keeping Ryan and our family in your prayers. He's come a long way but still has a long way to go, and I know all of our prayers are being answered daily as we watch Ryan grow!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Hearing Aids
So, Ryan has been wearing his hearing aids for almost a week now, and I figure it's time to update since I'm sure you all are wondering if we are seeing any improvements. Well, there's good news and bad news. Bad news first: they don't really seem to be doing anything. But, I got that out of the way first because the GOOD news is that it really isn't shocking and it actually makes the choice to move forward with Cochlear Implants even easier! The audiologist warned us that he probably wouldn't hear anything with them, even though they are turned up to the highest setting. It means that his ears just don't have the ability to process sound. So the next question is, will his brain have the ability to process sound? The Cochlear Implants will basically bypass the ear and bring sound straight to the brain. This was the whole reason I wanted to see a neurologist before we went down this road, and the fact that she was super optimistic about all of his behaviors while lacking the sense of sound is very encouraging. I told the audiologist how hopeful the neurologist was about the CIs, and she said that's great news. Of course we won't know for sure what will happen until we actually try them out, but we are very encouraged that he will be a candidate since the hearing aids don't work and his ear anatomy is normal.
I have been reading up a lot of Deaf culture and the Deaf community, and I am very aware that there is a bit of a stigma associated with having a Cochlear Implant. Some people may question our choice to have Ryan get them, but this is our reasoning. 1) He is a perfect candidate. If there was anyone telling me that we could go through with this and it might not even help at all, I'd definitely reconsider. But in doing our research and talking to as many medical professionals as possible, everyone seems to agree that he has a very good chance of hearing with the implants. 2) He is starting out young. The best success rates for hearing and oral language seem to be with either post lingual adults who lose their hearing later in life after they have already acquired language and children who never had hearing or language and get the implants early on. Ryan fits into the latter, and that is a huge advantage for him. So, as long as his overall health permits it, we'll move forward the sooner the better. But we're definitely keeping his lungs and heart at the forefront of our priorities, so if the doctors don't think he can handle that major of a surgery, we'll wait until he can.
We've also been asked if we are going to teach Ryan sign language, and the answer is yes. Some institutes that provide therapies for CI recipients I've read will discourage their patients from learning ASL because they want them to focus on the oral speaking. We are not of this mindset. We taught Dani baby sign language from early on even though she is hearing because it's just another way to communicate your wants and needs. We want to encourage Ryan to communicate in any way possible, and I don't think that learning ASL will prevent him from speaking orally. Of course, there is still a ton of research to be done on our parts, but for now the plan is to finish up the 6 months hearing aid trial, start the road to CIs, and continue to teach and learn ASL along the way.
Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts as we continue along this journey!
I have been reading up a lot of Deaf culture and the Deaf community, and I am very aware that there is a bit of a stigma associated with having a Cochlear Implant. Some people may question our choice to have Ryan get them, but this is our reasoning. 1) He is a perfect candidate. If there was anyone telling me that we could go through with this and it might not even help at all, I'd definitely reconsider. But in doing our research and talking to as many medical professionals as possible, everyone seems to agree that he has a very good chance of hearing with the implants. 2) He is starting out young. The best success rates for hearing and oral language seem to be with either post lingual adults who lose their hearing later in life after they have already acquired language and children who never had hearing or language and get the implants early on. Ryan fits into the latter, and that is a huge advantage for him. So, as long as his overall health permits it, we'll move forward the sooner the better. But we're definitely keeping his lungs and heart at the forefront of our priorities, so if the doctors don't think he can handle that major of a surgery, we'll wait until he can.
We've also been asked if we are going to teach Ryan sign language, and the answer is yes. Some institutes that provide therapies for CI recipients I've read will discourage their patients from learning ASL because they want them to focus on the oral speaking. We are not of this mindset. We taught Dani baby sign language from early on even though she is hearing because it's just another way to communicate your wants and needs. We want to encourage Ryan to communicate in any way possible, and I don't think that learning ASL will prevent him from speaking orally. Of course, there is still a ton of research to be done on our parts, but for now the plan is to finish up the 6 months hearing aid trial, start the road to CIs, and continue to teach and learn ASL along the way.
Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts as we continue along this journey!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Overdue update!
It's been a while since I've updated, and I love that people are so kind they actually ask questions like "How is the blenderized diet going?" when they ask about Ryan. You guys are so awesome for still following along over here! Big thanks to Michelle for inspiring this long overdue update tonight. ;)
GI/dietician: We had our first meeting with the dietician around 2 weeks ago. You may recall that this was about a month after we had already switched Ryan over to a blenderized diet, so we weren't sure how the appointment would go. We were so pleased to find that she was completely on board with him getting real food through his tube, and she was impressed with all the research I had done to get him started. Huge thanks to www.foodfortubies.com and the Blenderized Food for Tubies Facebook page for all the helpful information!
She went over all the foods I typically put in his blends, and we discovered that I was giving him a bit more protein than he needed in a day. Well, really, I was giving him WAY too much protein, which probably explained why his stools were a bit on the hard side (sorry, TMI). He has been completely regular since the day we switched, but he definitely has those days were he's really pushing to get things going. So, she gave us some suggestions for adjustments to make to cut back on some of the protein and add some extra fiber to make his stools softer. We're still playing around with his recipes, but for the most part I think we have it down to what is going to work. The main thing is, we want him to gain weight. Dave suggested adding sugar (because, well, duh...who doesn't gain weight when eating lots of sugar) and she recommended using maple syrup! In the two weeks since we met with her, he's already up over a pound! We weighed him tonight and he's 18lbs 8oz, so he's finally back on an upward slope for his weight gain :)
Something else I found interesting was the number of calories they want him getting each day. When he was on formula, he was getting just under 900 calories a day, and then when she added up the calories of these blends, they were between 1500-1800 and he still wasn't gaining weight, just maintaining. She wanted to keep his blends in that calorie range, and just swap out some of the protein for carbs, sugars, and fiber. So my one year old is eating the same number of calories as many adults! The reason we came up with is because it's so much work for his body just to breathe, he's actually burning a lot more calories than most babies just working those lungs. Plus he has all his therapy sessions and he's getting more active rolling around on the floor, so he needs a lot of extra calories just to keep the weight on. I'm so glad we switched because giving him this many calories a day from just formula or pediasure would've been pretty crazy!
In other news, Ryan is getting so social and funny :) He loves to be held and he has the cutest belly laugh when he really gets giggling about something. We have our hearing aid fitting on Friday, so it will be exciting to see how he reacts to those. He is still desatting to the low 90s/high 80s if his prongs come out, so no new news as far as getting the oxygen off any time soon, but the weight gain should hopefully help a lot!
I'm sure I'm missing a lot, he amazes and impresses me every day with all he is doing. Oh, we had his IFSP last week (for all you teachers out there, that's like an IEP for a child who is too young to be in school yet), and the Regional Center is going to continue providing all of his current therapy services at 4 hours per week. We were hoping for an increase to 5 to have an extra hour with OT to work on oral motor skills, but they felt that we could just play with his schedule and use his Speech Therapist for fewer hours and switch her hours with extra OT hours. The problem is, we love his ST because she is fluent in ASL and she does a lot of great work with him. So, we'll probably just stick with what we have now.
Thanks for the constant love and support you send our way. Even when the blog is quiet for a stretch, we are still constantly feeling blessed by all of you for thinking of our little man.
GI/dietician: We had our first meeting with the dietician around 2 weeks ago. You may recall that this was about a month after we had already switched Ryan over to a blenderized diet, so we weren't sure how the appointment would go. We were so pleased to find that she was completely on board with him getting real food through his tube, and she was impressed with all the research I had done to get him started. Huge thanks to www.foodfortubies.com and the Blenderized Food for Tubies Facebook page for all the helpful information!
She went over all the foods I typically put in his blends, and we discovered that I was giving him a bit more protein than he needed in a day. Well, really, I was giving him WAY too much protein, which probably explained why his stools were a bit on the hard side (sorry, TMI). He has been completely regular since the day we switched, but he definitely has those days were he's really pushing to get things going. So, she gave us some suggestions for adjustments to make to cut back on some of the protein and add some extra fiber to make his stools softer. We're still playing around with his recipes, but for the most part I think we have it down to what is going to work. The main thing is, we want him to gain weight. Dave suggested adding sugar (because, well, duh...who doesn't gain weight when eating lots of sugar) and she recommended using maple syrup! In the two weeks since we met with her, he's already up over a pound! We weighed him tonight and he's 18lbs 8oz, so he's finally back on an upward slope for his weight gain :)
Something else I found interesting was the number of calories they want him getting each day. When he was on formula, he was getting just under 900 calories a day, and then when she added up the calories of these blends, they were between 1500-1800 and he still wasn't gaining weight, just maintaining. She wanted to keep his blends in that calorie range, and just swap out some of the protein for carbs, sugars, and fiber. So my one year old is eating the same number of calories as many adults! The reason we came up with is because it's so much work for his body just to breathe, he's actually burning a lot more calories than most babies just working those lungs. Plus he has all his therapy sessions and he's getting more active rolling around on the floor, so he needs a lot of extra calories just to keep the weight on. I'm so glad we switched because giving him this many calories a day from just formula or pediasure would've been pretty crazy!
In other news, Ryan is getting so social and funny :) He loves to be held and he has the cutest belly laugh when he really gets giggling about something. We have our hearing aid fitting on Friday, so it will be exciting to see how he reacts to those. He is still desatting to the low 90s/high 80s if his prongs come out, so no new news as far as getting the oxygen off any time soon, but the weight gain should hopefully help a lot!
I'm sure I'm missing a lot, he amazes and impresses me every day with all he is doing. Oh, we had his IFSP last week (for all you teachers out there, that's like an IEP for a child who is too young to be in school yet), and the Regional Center is going to continue providing all of his current therapy services at 4 hours per week. We were hoping for an increase to 5 to have an extra hour with OT to work on oral motor skills, but they felt that we could just play with his schedule and use his Speech Therapist for fewer hours and switch her hours with extra OT hours. The problem is, we love his ST because she is fluent in ASL and she does a lot of great work with him. So, we'll probably just stick with what we have now.
Thanks for the constant love and support you send our way. Even when the blog is quiet for a stretch, we are still constantly feeling blessed by all of you for thinking of our little man.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
A Minor Procedure
Some of you who are friends with me on Facebook or follow Spray Pal on Instagram may have noticed that I posted a few pictures from a little procedure Ryan had to have yesterday. I didn't talk too much about it because it wasn't anything crazy, and I didn't want to make a big deal. Basically, he had a tiny abscess which first appeared around 2 months ago after he first had his constipation troubles. He had an ultrasound to confirm that it was an abscess, then we saw our peds surgeon, Dr. Lam. I may have updated about this back then, but he told us to take antibiotics, see if it resolves, and then call him to schedule this procedure to close it up if it comes back. Well, it did resolve, and then he got constipated again, and then it came back. :( So he had to go back on antibiotics, wait for it to heal, and then we'd schedule the procedure. Well, it was back and forth like this for some time before he finally decided to just take care of it without any more antibiotics. What happened was a little track formed while he was pushing and straining, and the bacteria from the bowels gets trapped in the track and causes it to have a little pocket of hard infected stuff like pus that won't quite heal on its own. Some get large enough that they make their way to the surface and resolve on their own, but his never did. So Dr. Lam went in and cauterized the lining of the track so that the walls could close up and heal back together and keep out the bacteria. It literally took 2 minutes, and they didn't even need to put an IV in him, which I was thrilled about. They did put him under anesthesia, but just the gas, so he woke up fine and you really couldn't even tell he'd been through anything! I honestly can't even see the hole where he must have gone in from, he just looks completely healed.
TMI WARNING: So, speaking of his constipation issues...seriously happy to report that since we have started with 100% blended food diet, he has not missed a day! This kid is so regular now, he's actually pooping MORE than we ever imagined would be possible! Our job after this procedure was to just make sure we kept his bum clean and give him a quick back or water rinse after any bowel movements. They actually gave me this turkey baster tool (mental note: remove from kitchen when finished using) to use to squirt water on his bottom after he poops. Well, since we've been home, we must have used that thing at least 10 times. It was getting to the point yesterday where every diaper change had poop in it! We are so excited that his new diet is really helping out in that department.
Overall, we are completely pleased that we took the plunge and switched over to the blenderized diet. His sats are still doing relatively well, as I mentioned above, he is well beyond regular now, and his reflux definitely seems to be improving. He still throws up, so we aren't completely out of the woods, but most of the times he does throw up it seems like it's just due to his gag reflex. Like tonight I decided to let him try a few tiny bites of some softened cheese, and he didn't quite chew it enough before he let it go down his throat, so he started coughing and gagging and then he threw up and out came the chunk of cheese with the tail end of his last meal. We can pretty well say that it wasn't reflux related, but rather reflex related. Hopefully he'll start to get the hang of the whole chew, swallow, don't throw up routine soon so we can get him those calories orally and get him off the gtube, but it's definitely going to be a long road.
Hearing: We had an appointment this week with Providence Hearing Center so we could purchase Ryan's hearing aids and get started on the 6 month trial. Basically, she told us that based on his hearing tests, it's pretty unlikely that the hearing aids will work for him. There's a chance he could pick up some really loud noises with them, but it wouldn't likely be enough to help him hear or speak normally. I know it seems strange to even bother with them with that being the case, but it's part of the process before you get a CI (Cochlear Implant). The reasoning is that the CI procedure it permanent, so it destroys any chance you'd have of hearing naturally. So, if the testing happened to be wrong (which is pretty rare) or by some miracle he can actually hear ok with the hearing aids, it's better to find out sooner rather than later. If he doesn't show a big enough improvement with the hearing aids, then we can move forward with CIs at that time. Ryan got fitted for his cool new zebra print hearing aid, and we will pick them up and get them started on August 23rd. :)
Thanks for continuing to check in on our little guy. Here's hoping we have even more encouraging things to update in the coming weeks. Prayers for strength, good eating, good weight gain, and good hearing are greatly appreciated!
TMI WARNING: So, speaking of his constipation issues...seriously happy to report that since we have started with 100% blended food diet, he has not missed a day! This kid is so regular now, he's actually pooping MORE than we ever imagined would be possible! Our job after this procedure was to just make sure we kept his bum clean and give him a quick back or water rinse after any bowel movements. They actually gave me this turkey baster tool (mental note: remove from kitchen when finished using) to use to squirt water on his bottom after he poops. Well, since we've been home, we must have used that thing at least 10 times. It was getting to the point yesterday where every diaper change had poop in it! We are so excited that his new diet is really helping out in that department.
Overall, we are completely pleased that we took the plunge and switched over to the blenderized diet. His sats are still doing relatively well, as I mentioned above, he is well beyond regular now, and his reflux definitely seems to be improving. He still throws up, so we aren't completely out of the woods, but most of the times he does throw up it seems like it's just due to his gag reflex. Like tonight I decided to let him try a few tiny bites of some softened cheese, and he didn't quite chew it enough before he let it go down his throat, so he started coughing and gagging and then he threw up and out came the chunk of cheese with the tail end of his last meal. We can pretty well say that it wasn't reflux related, but rather reflex related. Hopefully he'll start to get the hang of the whole chew, swallow, don't throw up routine soon so we can get him those calories orally and get him off the gtube, but it's definitely going to be a long road.
Hearing: We had an appointment this week with Providence Hearing Center so we could purchase Ryan's hearing aids and get started on the 6 month trial. Basically, she told us that based on his hearing tests, it's pretty unlikely that the hearing aids will work for him. There's a chance he could pick up some really loud noises with them, but it wouldn't likely be enough to help him hear or speak normally. I know it seems strange to even bother with them with that being the case, but it's part of the process before you get a CI (Cochlear Implant). The reasoning is that the CI procedure it permanent, so it destroys any chance you'd have of hearing naturally. So, if the testing happened to be wrong (which is pretty rare) or by some miracle he can actually hear ok with the hearing aids, it's better to find out sooner rather than later. If he doesn't show a big enough improvement with the hearing aids, then we can move forward with CIs at that time. Ryan got fitted for his cool new zebra print hearing aid, and we will pick them up and get them started on August 23rd. :)
Thanks for continuing to check in on our little guy. Here's hoping we have even more encouraging things to update in the coming weeks. Prayers for strength, good eating, good weight gain, and good hearing are greatly appreciated!
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