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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A better day...

Today was a much better day. Thanks to all of you that have checked on me today, I guess I sounded really over the edge by the number of phone calls and texts I got!

We had a great day at Vanderbilt today. Cohen ended up having 3 appointments. First we went to the BPD (Pulmonary/lung) clinic. They basically just went through Cohen's medical history and then evaluated his lung functions today. They thought he looked and sounded great. We did discuss his risk factors as far as asthma and RSV, flu, etc. The doctor said he has a 50% chance of having asthma. She also said he would be at a 50-75% increase of being hospitalized if he catches a cold, RSV or flu in the next year or so. They recommended us still avoiding him in crowds for the time being. I asked her specifically about church and she said she would give him a little longer. =( I was really hoping to take him soon! I guess we will give him a few more weeks and decide then.

Our next appointment was the NICU follow-up clinic. This is the clinic that follows NICU babies progress at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. We were supposed to have this appt. on July 1st, but they called yesterday and asked if we could do it today. I have been eagerly anticipating this appointment, since I knew they would give us the developmental information I have been concerned about. SO-they asked us about 300 questions, observed him for about 10 minutes, read him a book, and scored him on 3 standardized tests. Now, I am usually not a huge supporter of this type of testing, but in this situation, the results simply give me more information, which is what I want. I want to learn everything I possibly can in this situation.

The scored him 2 ways. His actual age and his corrected age. So, 6 months and 3 months. He was above average for a 3 month old in every category. He was a little below average for a 6 month old in the physical categories, but in the cognitive areas he scored above a 6 month old! We thought this was great news! The follow-up coordinator was really encouraged and thought he was doing great. She gave us some things we can work on, and we are already getting started tonight! I can't wait until the 12 month appointment to see more progress...this is right up my alley!

The last appointment was the dreaded orthopaedic appointment. We got there 10 minutes early and the nurse called us back immediately. Then we waited 2 hours in the room to see the doctor. They put a cast on his left leg. It took 5 minutes. We will go back in 2 weeks to have it removed. The doc thinks 3 or 4 cast will be enough to fix it. The other option is a minor surgery where they clip his heel cord. Hopefully the series of cast will correct it and surgery won't be necessary.

While we were at Vandy, we stopped by the NICU and were able to see a few of Cohen's nurses, Susan and Heather, and our favorite social worker Lauren. It was so fun to see them, and they could not believe how much Cohen has grown. Cohen smiled and was a big ham for them!

It was a great day of positive news, and we are grateful. No matter how rocky things have been, I look at Cohen and thank god for his life and the progress he has made.

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