Update on Andrew
Update on Andrew
June 96
I entered Andrew in his first baby pageant. It was a small competition with 15 girls and 15 boys ages 6 months to 18 months. Andrew won 1st place and most photogenic and $50 dollars. See photo of him with his trophies and a big smile.
July 96
Andrew was baptized this month at almost 9 months old. He slept through most of it, but was great the whole time. Thank goodness he wasn't the oldest child there.............
Andrew was seen in ORL to check how his vocal cords were doing since his decompression surgery. At the time of this surgery he had both sides paralyzed but today only the left side is. The doctor said that the right side was doing a great job for the left side.
Andrew also had a audiological hearing test, this test couldn't rule out an hearing lost, so another hearing test will be done in Sept.
Andrew had a Ultra Sound and he still has a moderate Hydronephrosis in the left kidney, slightly worse then last time 1-96. So we had to up his dose of Ditropan to 3 x's a day.
Aug 96
Andrew had a minor surgery to correct his undescended testicle (not related to SB). The doctor also found the start of a small hernia. He came home the same day of surgery. Glad that's over........
Sept 96
Andrew had his hearing test called Auditory Brain Stem Response (ABR) . We did not sedate him, I gave him a bottle and he took a nap. Couldn't test both ears due to fluid in his right ear. But, he passed the ABR hearing test.
A week after the hearing test Andrew's stridor started to come back, took him in to see ORL again. They checked his ears the fluid was gone, and checked his throat, the doctor didn't think it was anything to worry about. The next few days Andrew seemed to have a stuffy nose, so we think that was what made the stridor come back. It went away as soon as the cold did. This was his first cold and I didn't have to worry it just a simple cold.Oct 96
Andrew had urodynamics it was better then last time. He still has reflux but the bladder pressure was lower. Dr Bauer told us that the Ditropan was working great. He was not leaking and the bladder was growing at a normal rate. He also has feeling in the sphincter muscle, which he did not have back in Dec 95 before the decompression, Dr Bauer said Andrew had gained more feeling in his legs too from what the Nero could tell, we all are VERY happy with this!
DMSA was also done this month. They injected Andrew with the radioactive dye, then got 4 sets of x-rays of his kidneys. It did show the reflux but little to no scaring of the kidney. Re-testing again next year.
At 11.5 months Andrew started to pull himself to stand in his crib!!! Wow, we didn't expect him to start this just yet. We see Ortho in two weeks, to be fitted for his first set of braces called AFO's.
The 30th of Oct, Andrew had his first birthday. We had a big family party to mark this day. See photo's of him eating his cake.Nov 96
Andrew can pull up to stand on almost anything, his crib, the couch, the coffee table and on his walker toy. Has walked around the inside of his crib. Also took some steps while holding on to the walker toy.
Andrew got his first pair of AFO's. We have not discussed him using anything other then the braces to learn to walk other then the toy walker. We will start him wearing the AFO's slowly to get him use to them. Andrew can now stand at the coffee table for longer periods. Doesn't seem to mind the braces. He has had no problem pulling to stand with them on. I can't have anything on the coffee table or he thinks it's his to tear apart. :)
Andrew also has finally learned to really crawl, he has been combat crawling for months but just didn't crawl on hands and knee's. He can even crawl with the AFO's on.
Dec 96
Andrew started to cruise around the coffee table on Christmas eve in the afternoon. I was drinking tea and sitting at my sofa. He loves to sip from my mug (my mother started him on this, thanks ma). He cried because I kept moving the mug farther and farther away from him. By the time I knew it, he had walked from one side of the coffee table to the other. YES, I let him have some tea and he did what I thought he would, he put his hand right in the mug and started sucking on his fingers, lucky for me (and him) the tea was cold by that time and I didn't want any more of it. I let him play with it as his reward for walking to get the mug :)
Also on Christmas eve, my husband had Andrew on his lap at the computer and Pat said "say bye-bye" and well, he did, Andrew said "bye-bye" and had a grin on his face. I just had to laugh No this wasn't his first word, his real first word was "no". Probably because I always say "no, no, no" to him when he is doing something I don't want him to do. His favorite thing to do now is to stand at the TV stand and change the station on me, so no is a word I use a lot.
He can now sit on his own, I don't mean only stay sitting, he can sit from crawling and from crawling to sitting. We have worked on this with his Physical therapist. You should see how fast he'll sit up if he hears the music to Barney.
Wow, he's come along way, hasn't he?
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all about Andrew