For those who read my previous post, here is an update on all 3 areas of concern...
Evie's eyes: Richard and I really have been pleased with what we have seen since Evie started wearing her glasses. She truly seems more aware of her surroundings and more observant. Mama and I went and got a manicure on Monday and switched off holding Evie. There were some fish in a couple of tanks there so I took Evie over to see if she responded. She was following them with her eyes and reaching her hands out to "touch" them. I had taken her to PetSmart and other places in the past and looked for a reaction to critters before but hadn't gotten much response. In fact, she would often just look down, rather than at the birds/fish. It was confusing bc I knew she could see, so I just thought she wasn't interested yet. Well, she's interested now! She also seems to be crossing her eyes less. Not completely without crossing, but it's less. We will see what happens in the coming weeks, but I am very encouraged.
Evie's development (motor skills): We had Evie's well-visit with her pediatrician yesterday and it really was so encouraging! Her doctor manipulated her little legs and did the check on the hips (which she had done before, but hadn't noticed anything abnormal). This time she noticed a little click in Evie's left hip. She gave us a referral to Scottish Rite Hospital, which is excellent and FREE (for a SAHM without extra spending cash lying around this calls for a hallelujah chorus right there!) We should be able to get an appointment with them in the coming weeks for X-rays and possibly a sonogram. She said they might just say she's crazy and that there was no need to send Evie to them but that she would rather be sure (Points earned for that attitude!! Yay!). If it is hip displacia or something like that then Evie would at this age need to wear a hip cast, which the doctor told us straight out would not be fun. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
She also started a referral for a developmental physician. She said she was hesitant to do that because Evie could very well (if there's nothing wrong with the hip) just be delayed but nothing particularly wrong, but that if we talk to a dev. phys. they will definitely find something wrong. She said that not as a knock against them but it's just that you or me or anyone else, upon close scrutiny, have something "funny" about the way we move. But she started the referral process anyway because it takes a good while to get in, so if nothing shows up at the Scottish Rite, we have a secondary plan of attack.
Most of all, she made me feel better because she said things like, "No, you didn't cause this by drinking too many Cokes during your pregnancy or something like that." "Yes, I've seen perfectly "normal" children who were this delayed in their motor development." "No, your daughter doesn't have something wrong with her like Cerebral Palsy" (which had concerned me bc of her extreme right dominance). I've used this word several times in this entry, but I'll use it again: It was ENCOURAGING!
My mom: Mama had her surgery today. The surgeon did a full hysterectomy and did exploratory surgery to check other organs plus he took some lymph nodes to be sure the cancer hadn't spread. He said that everything looked normal. They will still send in the lymph nodes to be sure. We won't get those results for about 4 days, but things look good. My mom was in quite a bit of pain when they brought her to her room, but even before we had to leave I could tell that it was getting under control--and she said as much. (ahhh, the wonders of morphine!)
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your prayers!! I am so thankful to you all. I felt such a peace both before and during the surgery and I know it is because of your prayers. We have such a loving Father. What a blessing to be in His hands! In fact, I'd better wrap this up so I can spend some time with Him to thank Him for this very encouraging day.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
What's Been Going On...
Life in our household has been pretty crazy this past month or so. We had been monitoring Evie's eyes because they seemed to be crossing. Our pediatrician had recommended we watch it and see if it improved, but around the time of her birthday I got sick of waiting and scheduled an appointment. We saw a nurse practitioner in the same practice and found that the crossing was severe enough for a referral to an opthamologist.
At the opthamologist appointment he ran some tests (not easy on a baby!) and thought she might have Duane's Syndrome, where the nerve to one of the eyes never forms so the other eye's nerve tries to compensate, but isn't able to help the non-nerve eye to turn out all the way. He said it could also be congenital crossing, which would require surgery. He told us to patch the stronger eye to try to get the other eye to have to work more and therefore, strengthen. So off to Target we went to buy Junior size Occlusors (basically, a band-aid style eye patch). She wore it an hour a day, daily.
At our most recent appointment the doctor felt that it was not Duane's, but congenital crossing. He prescribed glasses as a last resort before surgery. In some cases, glasses fix the crossing (I think the idea is that if a child is far-sighted, then as they have to focus close-up, the eyes go crossed, so with glasses to correct the farsightedness, they no longer cross their eyes). Hopefully this will fix things, but I think the doctor really feels that Evie will have to have one, perhaps 2 surgeries to correct her eyes. :o( We go back in about a month.
Believe it or not, we didn't take any pictures of Evie in her patch, so we will have to take a picture and post it later. Richard likes to say, "Aargg, Matey!" when she puts it on. Boys!! :oP We will also post a picture of her in her cute little glasses. It might be my imagination, but she seems more observant and to make eye contact more, so perhaps she is farsighted after all?? Time will tell, I suppose.
We are also a bit concerned because she is still not crawling (or walking or pulling up on her own). I feel a little less concerned about it lately because she is at least trying to crawl, whereas before (even a few weeks ago) she didn't even want to be on her belly. We see her pediatrician for a well visit tomorrow so I hope to get some definitive answers and we are considering calling in Early Childhood Intervention services (a government program where they come in and evaluate for free when kids seem to have motor or speech delays).
On another note, my mom was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer and will be having surgery (a hysterectomy) on Wednesday. It is stage 1, so that is very good. The oncologist will also check other organs and lymph nodes during the surgery to be sure it hasn't spread. Friends have been so sweet during this time. I am so thankful for their kind words and prayers. What a blessing!! Mama will be staying with Richard and I for at least the first few weeks because the recovery from surgery is supposed to be pretty tough and my dad won't be able to take a lot of time off from work to take care of her. It will be neat to have the opportunity to help my sweet mom who is always so willing to help us out with Evie or sewing curtains for the living room, etc.!!
I think the stress of all this has left me on an emotional roller coaster so I haven't been great about keeping up with the blog. The Lord is definitely teaching me and shaping me, so for that I am very thankful. I am learning to lean on Him moment to moment. Emphasis on learning...I have definitely not arrived in this area. I am still very much the worrywart, trying to think through various scenarios and figure out how I will prepare myself if thusinsuch happens. Sigh. It gets pretty wearisome sometimes, so I hope I will learn to lay my burdens and cares on the Lord as He has commanded me to do.
Thanks for reading my long monologue! :o)
At the opthamologist appointment he ran some tests (not easy on a baby!) and thought she might have Duane's Syndrome, where the nerve to one of the eyes never forms so the other eye's nerve tries to compensate, but isn't able to help the non-nerve eye to turn out all the way. He said it could also be congenital crossing, which would require surgery. He told us to patch the stronger eye to try to get the other eye to have to work more and therefore, strengthen. So off to Target we went to buy Junior size Occlusors (basically, a band-aid style eye patch). She wore it an hour a day, daily.
At our most recent appointment the doctor felt that it was not Duane's, but congenital crossing. He prescribed glasses as a last resort before surgery. In some cases, glasses fix the crossing (I think the idea is that if a child is far-sighted, then as they have to focus close-up, the eyes go crossed, so with glasses to correct the farsightedness, they no longer cross their eyes). Hopefully this will fix things, but I think the doctor really feels that Evie will have to have one, perhaps 2 surgeries to correct her eyes. :o( We go back in about a month.
Believe it or not, we didn't take any pictures of Evie in her patch, so we will have to take a picture and post it later. Richard likes to say, "Aargg, Matey!" when she puts it on. Boys!! :oP We will also post a picture of her in her cute little glasses. It might be my imagination, but she seems more observant and to make eye contact more, so perhaps she is farsighted after all?? Time will tell, I suppose.
We are also a bit concerned because she is still not crawling (or walking or pulling up on her own). I feel a little less concerned about it lately because she is at least trying to crawl, whereas before (even a few weeks ago) she didn't even want to be on her belly. We see her pediatrician for a well visit tomorrow so I hope to get some definitive answers and we are considering calling in Early Childhood Intervention services (a government program where they come in and evaluate for free when kids seem to have motor or speech delays).
On another note, my mom was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer and will be having surgery (a hysterectomy) on Wednesday. It is stage 1, so that is very good. The oncologist will also check other organs and lymph nodes during the surgery to be sure it hasn't spread. Friends have been so sweet during this time. I am so thankful for their kind words and prayers. What a blessing!! Mama will be staying with Richard and I for at least the first few weeks because the recovery from surgery is supposed to be pretty tough and my dad won't be able to take a lot of time off from work to take care of her. It will be neat to have the opportunity to help my sweet mom who is always so willing to help us out with Evie or sewing curtains for the living room, etc.!!
I think the stress of all this has left me on an emotional roller coaster so I haven't been great about keeping up with the blog. The Lord is definitely teaching me and shaping me, so for that I am very thankful. I am learning to lean on Him moment to moment. Emphasis on learning...I have definitely not arrived in this area. I am still very much the worrywart, trying to think through various scenarios and figure out how I will prepare myself if thusinsuch happens. Sigh. It gets pretty wearisome sometimes, so I hope I will learn to lay my burdens and cares on the Lord as He has commanded me to do.
Thanks for reading my long monologue! :o)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
I love my stocking!!
I will include more Christmas fun later (since I am SO behind on the blog), but I couldn't resist including this one. What a look of sheer delight! And she doesn't even know about stockings yet! Of course, she's looking at her daddy, so that might be the actual reason for her sheer delight (and who could blame her?) :o)
Fun Date
I could have sworn I had already blogged this, but I don't see it and it was such a fun date that I hate to not have it posted. Richard asked me on a date back in December and we pretended it was a first date, so he got ready at Paul & Laura's while I got ready at our place, then he picked me up. This was really fun and I found myself actually getting a little of that nervous excitement as I waited for him to arrive.
First, he took me to our favorite pizza place.
Then he drove to a neighborhood known for great Christmas lights. (While at Paul & Laura's, he had fixed up his famous hot chocolate and had brought it in a thermos for us to enjoy while looking at the lights--Isn't he thoughtful!?). It seemed as though every house had a Christmas display (and there were even a couple of Hannukah displays as well!). There was one particular house that had a major light show that was synchronized to music. You put your radio on a certain station and could hear the music to go with the display (Search for "Frisco Christmas Lights" on Youtube to see a similar house). It was a nice night, chilly, but not too cold, so we parked the car and went for a walk. If you look at the gazebo picture you can see the house I mentioned in the background. How would you like to live across the street from them at Christmas time??
After the lights, Richard drove home and set up an episode of The Office for us to watch on our VCR in the car (Did I mention we have a VCR in our new minivan? Ah, how we love that vehicle!) ;o)
It was really such a fabulous night! Thank you, my sweet husband!!
First, he took me to our favorite pizza place.
Then he drove to a neighborhood known for great Christmas lights. (While at Paul & Laura's, he had fixed up his famous hot chocolate and had brought it in a thermos for us to enjoy while looking at the lights--Isn't he thoughtful!?). It seemed as though every house had a Christmas display (and there were even a couple of Hannukah displays as well!). There was one particular house that had a major light show that was synchronized to music. You put your radio on a certain station and could hear the music to go with the display (Search for "Frisco Christmas Lights" on Youtube to see a similar house). It was a nice night, chilly, but not too cold, so we parked the car and went for a walk. If you look at the gazebo picture you can see the house I mentioned in the background. How would you like to live across the street from them at Christmas time??
After the lights, Richard drove home and set up an episode of The Office for us to watch on our VCR in the car (Did I mention we have a VCR in our new minivan? Ah, how we love that vehicle!) ;o)
It was really such a fabulous night! Thank you, my sweet husband!!
Evie at 12 Months
Here is our sweetie at 12 months. I meant to put her birthday hat on her, but I forgot.
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