Ryan is starting to wake from his nap, so I am not sure how far I will get with this post, but I'll try my best to get in an update. This has been a busy week. Tuesday I took Ryan for his two year check-up. He is doing great, but we had to have routine bloodwork to check his thyroid and for Celiac Disease. Go to www.celiac.org if you want more information about this condition that approximately 15% of the people with Down Syndrome have. Well, the blood draw didn't go very well. Ryan actually did great, but his blood didn't want to flow and the technician told us she wasn't sure she was able to get enough blood to run the test. She said she'd call if the lab wanted another sample. The good news is the doctor is pleased with Ryan's weight gain and height. He has gained a couple of pounds since his 15 month check-up and gotten 1.5 inches taller. We should hear about the blood tests by the end of the week.
Wednesday I went to Ryan's classroom and help with a Halloween Party. We did a craftwith the kids, had snack and then I stayed around for music class. They have started getting ready for their Christmas program. Ryan's class will do "Up on the Roof-top." at the program. That should be cute.
Today, we went for a hearing test. He has fluid in his middle ear and the audiologist is 99% certain the hearing loss he is experiencing is from the fluid. He has to repeat the test in December. That was disappointing because last year he passed with flying colors! I spoke with his doctor this afternoon and he is going to give him a medication that should clear up the fluid. He also speculates that the fluid is a result of the croup. We do have some good news. Ryan doesn't have Celiac Disease and his thyroid is only slightly elevated, so we are going to continue to monitor that. We do have to have his blood drawn in a couple of weeks to check his counts again. I believe the doctor said his platelets and white blood cells were low, BUT remember when I told you the tech had trouble getting the blood...Dr. Mina feels that the blood was probably starting to clot and that will make the counts inaccurate. We'll just repeat them and pray for the best. Let's see. What else? We are also applying to Shriner's Hospital to have Ryan's feet evaluated. His physical therapist at the Meyer Center is concerned that his feet are pronating and he may need to be braced. So, I talked to Dr. Mina and he decided to send us for an evaluation by a specialist and let him decide. I think that's the best idea. I guess that's about it.
I talked to our adoption coordiantor earlier this week. She has heard that the Ministry of Education is planning on meeting at the end of the month to discuss agency accreditation. She said they have already delayed the meeting once, so we shouldn't get our hopes up too high that the meeting will take place, but we can still keep our fingers crossed. Rourk and I had hoped to be getting ready to travel by now, but that's not going to happen until the accreditation issues are resolved. We're hanging in there and still talking about switching countries if things don't resolve soon. Don't really know what "soon" means, but I believe we will know when we have reached our limit. The waiting really hasn't been that bad. Ryan keeps us busy and to tell you the truth...this is probably a blessing because it would have been hard to travel with everything that has been going on with Rourk's practice. We will be in much better shape next year to be out to the country for several weeks at a time.
I am going to go. Need to get Ryan a snack. I have an in-service to teach tonight and need to do a few last minute preparations. Have a great weekend.
1 comment:
You're right where we're at.
Callum just did all his blood work, thyroid was great but he does have the antibodies for Celiac. He's currently asymptomatic so no changes to his diet or biopsies just yet.
The blood tests are a pain in the bum, we've found 1 lab that always seems to be able to find a vein and get the blood but everyone else is useless.
Callum had hearing loss from a fluid buildup since birth and had tubes put in when he was 23 months old. They fell out within 4 months but the fluid is all gone and he finally passed a hearing test. His speech has come on tremendously since the tubes and now I wish we'd had them done sooner.
Callum's PT also thought he need braces because of pronating, but we'd been warned by another PT that this PT was particularly "brace happy". We took him to see a paediatric orthopedic doctor who said that yes he pronates but that braces weren't really going to help and that he'd got stronger once he walked. The PT still insisted we needed braces and was getting very annoying, so we took him to see another PT who basically echoed what the doctor said and also said that she'd have him walking in 6 weeks. We switched PT's, Callum started walking and his ankles are now so much stronger. He still pronates to a certain degree but we can see it improving.
I'll be back to visit again :-)
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