Enough Appointments Already!

Well, today all appointments for Landon and McKayla's surgeries were scheduled.  Yes, McKayla has to have surgery too.  McKayla has strabismus wherein her right eye doesn't track with the left.  As many of you may know, she has been in glasses since she was 10 months old to correct this and excessive farsightedness.  Because her eye hasn't improved with the ever increasing strength of her glasses, the doc explained this was muscular issue which requires surgery to correct.  Therefore, beginning Jan. 16, we will have 5 doctor's appointments and 3 surgeries to contend with - all within 2 weeks.  

Landon's surgery will be done in 2 parts.  First will be the eye measurement and ear tubes.  Because the hospital does not stock the implants, the cataract removal and implant placement will take the following week.  Each surgery requires a pre-op appointment with the pediatrician for medical clearance as well as follow ups the day after surgery (are you doing the math for the co-pays here?).

The bright side?  These are all relatively minor surgeries and the kids can go back to daycare the following day provided they feel okay and, after the follow-up appointment, of course.

Last week, Landon saw a pulmonologist who cleared him for surgery, however until he is seen again in February (yet another appointment), Landon has to stay on oxygen while he sleeps.  This means naps and nighttime.  The doc said that Landon's O2 sat drops could be due to the lingering effects of the RSV, but the doc said we will investigate that issue further, after we get the cataract surgery taken care of.

So, hopefully this won't put too much of a damper on the celebration of McKayla's 3rd and Landon's 1st birthday (which will include - you guessed it - their well check ups with the doctor). Yep, you read correctly - McKayla will be three in 5 weeks; Landon will be one in 7 weeks.  I can't believe it either.   

Landon's 9 Month Portraits

Okay, so I'm a month behind in posting them...it's not like I haven't been doing ANYthing...

Some Holiday Fun!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Landon finally got his ' Get Out of Jail Free' card!!

Okay, the hospital is probably much better than jail, but there are some noted similarities, especially for a contagious baby on a leash (aka oxygen tube and pulse oximeter). Landon was admitted to the hospital, as explained in a previous post for RSV which ended up turning into pneumonia. Here is Landon's cell within a cell, or the "birdcage" as I called it, that he resided in for 13 days:



Now, RSV, or RSVP as I kept wanting to call it, is VERY contagious. For that reason, everyone that came in had to wear a yellow gown and face mask so they would not get it and pass it on. The positive side to that is that we got the room to ourselves!

Rather than go into the lengthy sordid story, suffice it to say that Landon is doing just fine now.  He, by all appearances, has recovered from the RSV and pneumonia, however, he still requires oxygen while he sleeps.  So we were sent home with oxygen tanks and a portable pulse oximeter.   We are quickly becoming our own medical supply company!  You should have seen how large my eyes got when the home care nurse explained that oxygen tanks should be stored laying down because if they get knocked over, they can take off like a rocket (not likely to happen, but scary to think about nonetheless)!

Before checking out, Landon was seen by a pulmonologist who thinks that Landon may have sleep apnea.  We will need to do a sleep study in the near future to confirm and find the best treatment plan.   Sleep apnea is apparently very common in children with Down syndrome.  The interesting thing is that Landon could have had this all along.  Now, it may seem crazy to be thankful that my little dude got sick, however, had it not been for this hospitalization, we may never have known that his oxygen saturation was dropping when he slept.  Not having enough O2 in your blood is not good for you.  According to the doc, it affects IQ, memory, concentration, behavior, among many other things.  I'm glad we know now, so it can be addressed.

For now, the cataract and ear tube surgery have been postponed until Landon has "completely" recovered from the RSV.  I imagine it will take place sometime in January.  I was getting worried that we were close to Landon loosing complete use of his eye since it sometimes doesn't track with the other eye.  Fortunately, Landon's opthamologist stopped by and reassured me that we are nowhere near the threshold of complete loss, though she wants to get the surgery done as soon as possible.   

And now, I'll leave you with some pictures...

This is when Landon had all three leashes on - IV, oxygen and pulse oximeter.  It was not fun trying to hold him and not get tangled or pull and step on any of them!  Take a look at his right hand, where the IV is.  We dubbed this "the club" because they must have used a whole roll of tape and put a plastic "shield" to keep him from pulling the IV out (mind you this was his THIRD IV).  That thing hurt when you got hit with it!

And here he is saying, "Yay!  I'm finally home!"

Big sister McKayla was very glad for "Brudder" to be home, (but not enough to share her toys)...

And finally, the future Liberace...

Dear Santa,

If you would please, I would like to you to thank the elf for me that asked you to send the kind and generous gift that we received in our mailbox last week. We are eternally grateful.

Love,
The Carpenters

Little Dude is in the Hospital

Starting last Friday, Landon developed a fever, which over the course of the weekend, turned into RSV. Sunday night, though his fever had gone, Landon seemed to be struggling to breath. I did a breathing treatment and put him in a steamy bathroom, but those didn't seem to help. I called the on-call pediatrician who said to try the breathing treatment again and if I noticed no difference, then take him to the ER. Well at 11pm Sunday night we headed to the ER. Landon was tested for RSV and had a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. The chest x-ray was negative, however he was positive for RSV and because his blood oxygen level was a little low, he was admitted.

Yesterday, he seemed to be struggling even more to breathe, despite the every-three-hour breathing treatments and oxygen mask. His fever would come and go and he would sometimes be happy and playful and sometimes sleepy and lethargic. The doctor ordered another chest x-ray which, this time, showed that pneumonia had set in.

Landon is now on an antibiotic, a steroid of some sort, the breathing treatments and oxygen. Today he seemed to feel better and, though sleepy, he was happy and playful. He also seemed to struggle less with his breathing. However, he hasn't been eating as well today, and, since the never-ending snot coming out of his nose was getting thicker, an IV was put in to make sure he was well hydrated.

Right now we don't know how much longer he will be in the hospital. Essentially, he has to be off the oxygen for 4 hours and maintain his blood oxygen level in order to be released. Unfortunately, this means he will not be having surgery to remove the cataract next week.

Flower Girl Dress Shopping

McKayla has the proud honor of being the flower girl in my counsin Kristie's wedding next June.  This past weekend, we went to the bridal shop to try on different dress styles to determine which would best suit her.  It was quite amusing to watch her twirl, dance and prance in the fancy dresses!  Here are some pictures of the dresses we tried on.  (Just a note, none of these dresses are the ones she will wear, we just wanted to determine the size and style that looked best on her and the black dress ended up being our favorite.  Pictures of her actual dress will come later.)