Finally, A Medical Update

For all you nurses and doctors out there (and those who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express), here is your latest medical update on the boys.

Elias is doing very well. Yesterday he was diagnosed with an Atrial Septal Defect of the heart. While not something you want to hear, it is something that is correctable and should not pose a huge problem for him. From what we were told, it basically means he has a hole between the upper two chambers of his heart. This allows blood from one chamber to go into the other and vice versa. It may make him work a little bit harder but cardiologists didn't seem overly concerned. He will monitored by the Children's Mercy Cardiologist team for quite sometime and may require heart surgery in a couple of years to patch the hole if it doesn't close on its own. As for HI, THIS IS ISAAC, DAD SET THE COMPUTER DOWN FOR A SECOND, SO I DON'T HAVE LONG TO TALK, MAN, THIS PLACE IS HUGE, THERE ARE SO MANY, CRAP, HERE HE COMES, TALK TO YOU ALL LATER!

Okay, I suppose I can leave that message. Turn your back for just a minute...Anyway, Elias is gaining weight like a champ. He is up to 1557 grams (get your conversion calculators out people). Okay, I will just tell you, that means he is about 3 lbs, 7 ounces. He is now above birth weight!! He is breathing completely on his own, no nasal cannula, no nothin. He is also off his lipids (fats) and learning to eat. Way to go Eli! His general concerns are to continue to learn to eat, gain weight, and regulate his own body temperature (since he is so small). Overall, he is doing very, very well considering his size. And, as you will see in some posts in the next few days, he SMILES all the time. Anyway, those pics will be here tomorrow most likely. And now for Isaac.

Isaac still has some hurdles. Let's start with the good news. He is gaining weight (he is almost exactly 5 pounds) and is doing well learning to eat. They have lowered the nasal cannula settings to 1L of flow and will hopefully continue to wean him off the cannula over the next couple of days.

The bad news...there really isn't any right now! What we are learning about Isaac is that he will have quite a few things to track as he begins to grow. Those will be hurdles we will have to overcome when they arise, but for now, we are just extremely grateful for the progress he has made. Things we do know: he has a club foot (right foot), which means his foot is turned almost completely inward. He receives physical therapy everyday for this and we hope that surgery (farther down the road) will help alleviate this problem. He still has hypoplasia of the lungs (underdevelopment). This will most likely be a concern for quite sometime. However, at this point, he seems to be learning to deal with it by taking shorter breaths more frequently. It is certainly something they will have to monitor. And, of course, his spine. Orthopedic spine specialists were by today and were not able to give us much information yet.

Isaac had a MRI of his spine yesterday (Friday) and the radiologists and orthopedists were to analyze it today and tomorrow and we will most likely hear something on Monday. Isaac definitely has a twisted spinal cord and his rib cage is short. What this means, we are not entirely sure. Because he has movement in his legs, they will proceed cautiously. Rumors are he will undergo spinal surgery (scary scary term by the way), but will not have that surgery until the age of 2-3 years old. They are definitely concerned about his overall movement capabilities but for now, are satisfied with his progress. We have successfully navigated 8 days here at Children's. We most likely will get to know this place real, real well over the next few years.

HEY, DAD SAID I COULD FINISH MY THOUGHT FROM EARLIER. WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY WAS THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD DOCTORS AND NURSES HERE THAT YOU ALL SHOULDN'T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT ME. I AM STRONG (YOU SHOULD SEE MY BICEPS!) AND I WILL BE JUST FINE. NOW, IF ONLY I COULD GET A DVD PLAYER IN HERE AND WATCH SHREK! SEE YA PEOPLE!

Hope all is well on the outside (that is what I am calling anywhere but the hospital) and we look forward to seeing you all soon.