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Cooper update April 13, 2007
Cooper weighed in last week at 7 lbs. -- yippee!! Last week Cooper had his tour of doctors' office visits. We had appointments with the cardiologist, the geneticist and the pediatrician. Here are his reports:
Cardiologist:
Cooper is doing well and has seen a great weight gain. Dr. Joshi was impressed by his weight gain and saw an improvment in his breathing. He was greatly encouraged that he was nursing some. Since he continues to do well, surgery will probably be in either June or July and hopefully Cooper will weigh between 9 and 10 pounds. |
Our next visit is next Wednesday and the doctor will do an ECHO at that appointment. The last ECHO (performed about a month ago) revealed no tissue growth and that a fair amount of blood was passing through the hole. I'm anxious to learn the results of the next ECHO.
We have read of a procedure done at LeBonheur that is similar to a heart cath that can be done to correct VSD's (the heart defect Cooper has). This procedure does not require open-heart surgery and we will inquire as to whether Cooper is a candidate or not at our next visit.
Geneticist:
We did not learn a ton of new information from our visit with the geneticist. Her first comment was that Cooper has a good head shape so he will not have the flat head that is so common in individuals with Down syndrome. She also thought he was very cute and assured us that she wasn't just saying that because she doesn't tell all parents that and she said she could see the family resemblance in him despite the typical Down's characteristics.
She did tell us that we are in an increased risk group of having another child with a chromosomal abnormality (1 in 100). However, when we asked her whether she had ever seen a family that had had more than one child with Down syndrome she said no.
She was very encouraging about the abilities that individuals with Down's tend to have and that socially they do very well. We will just have to wait and learn what his cognitive abilities will be.
Pediatrician:
Cooper had to have his 2 month vaccinations last week -- two shots in each leg and an oral vaccine. He was not happy and our sweet nurse was so sad she had to give such a little one so many shots. I think he slept the rest of the day and night after that.
Dr. Senter was also fairly impressed with Cooper's progress and told us that unless we had some "normal pediatric" issue come up we did not need to return until his 4 month check-up. I am grateful to have one less appointment to keep every other week.
Next week we will see the surgeon who will remove Cooper's current feeding tube and replace it with a "Mic-key" button. This means no more long tube hanging out of his stomach and no more dressing to change. He will finally be able to have his first real bath!! He will keep this until approximately 3 weeks to one month after his heart surgery as a back-up. We have great hopes that after heart surgery there will be no more feeding issues as he should have the stamina to take all of his feedings by mouth.
The first week in May, we will begin our early intervention program where Cooper will receive his PT, OT and Speech therapy. Andy and I will also learn things that we can be doing with him at home, I am anxious to begin this and to give him all the opportunities available.
Other than all his medical and therapy needs, he is doing well. He is just on the edge of being able to smile at us. Sometimes he will smile spontaneously in his sleep and is it so cute so as you can imagine, we are excited to see that smile directed at someone or something when he has open eyes. Drew still loves him but doesn't like Cooper receiving too much attention that Drew does not get to be a part of (ex. if I am taking a picture of Cooper, Drew wants his picture taken also or wants to be in the picture with Cooper). Cooper loves his big brother and has come very close to smiling at him. I think they will be good pals as they get older.
Again we thank you all for your prayers and support, we continue to be thankful for the people God has placed in our lives and their love and care of us.
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