Doctor's Visits

Wesley had several doctor's appointments over the last 2 weeks. On Wednesday 07/22 we went to Children's Medical Center for a visit with endocrinology and cranio-facial. The endocrinologist said that everything looked fine. Just had to do a check up on his thyroid since he is on medication for an under active thyroid. We are supposed to follow up in the next 3 to 4 months. The visit with cranio-facial was to check the shape of Wesley's head. He has really good head shape for a micro-premie, but it's still not perfectly round. They did a scan of his head and some measurements. As of right now, we are awaiting response to see if insurance will cover the cost of the helmet or if we will have to pay out of pocket. We also had to have x-rays done of his skull to make sure that nothing is fused together. Once we hear back from both insurance and x-rays we will be able to move forward. So that is still pending. On Friday 07/24 we had a visit with cardiology. His EKG and echo were both normal. The cardiologist said that if he had not already known Wesley's history, he would have thought he was a completely normal baby. It's always good to hear positive. So, no problems with Wesley's heart. We had vent clinic at Baylor on Tuesday 07/28. Welsey's blood work looked good, his blood oxygen level was great. The plan for this month is to start weaning of the Lasix, and then reduce the respiratory breaths on the ventilator. We are moving the Lasix to every other day, and on 08/11 we will reduce the respiratory rate on the ventilator from 12 breaths per minute to 10. The following week, will reduce the rate to 8. We will be going back to vent clinic the beginning of September to see how Wesley has done with the changes, and hopefully make a few more changes. According to the ventilator, Wesley already takes 40+ breaths per minute on his own, so I feel confident that he will be able to adjust to the new respiratory rate. His feedings were also reduced from 28 calorie to 27 calorie. Not much to a change, but we don't want him to have too much additional weight making it hard for him to breathe. The last doctor's visit was on Wednesday 07/29 at the ENT clinic. They attempted to check his hearing since he failed the previous 2 given in the NICU. Because of the noise form the ventilator, the doctor was unable to perform a hearing screening. To perform an accurate hearing screening, we will have to put Wesley under anesthesia. They did perform another test that would indicate the level of movement from his ear drums. The test did indicate that he had fluid in his ears which will need to be drained before an accurate hearing test can be performed. The doctor said he may need to put tubes in his ears, it just depends on the actual amount of fluid, and they will not be able to determine that until he had him under anesthesia. When they perform those tests, they will also check his trachea and voical cords to make sure there is no damage from the trach. This doctor normally books months in advance, so it will be late fall before we are able to get these tests done. Overall, we had a productive week. I should be hearing back from the cranio-facial clinic this week about getting Wesley a helmet to help correct his head shape. My understanding is that if he does get the helmet, it's about a 4 month program to correct the shape of his head. I should also hear back from the ENT clinic about scheduling the hearing screening and other procedures to be done. Back at home, Welsey is doing good. He can easily roll over now, but he is still a little restricted with the vent tubing. We are working on him sitting up on his own. He has great head control, just working on strengthening his back and stomach so that he can hold himself up on his own. He does well in his jumper/exerciser and does well when he has something to hold onto (like someone's hands or his boppy). We still have to schedule an appointment with urology and will have follow ups with cranio-facial. Aside from possibly having those this month, we should be through with doctor's visits until September. He will have his 1 year check up with his pediatrician and another vent clinic next month. He did really well on his outings, but he made it very clear that he does not like the heat. He was so good during the ride, just did not like having to be out in the heat. We are getting really close to 1 year old..... I can't believe that!!!! It's almost time to start planning a birthday party!!!!!