Following up after the follow-ups...

Sorry there aren't any pictures.  Grandma and Grandpa graciously took Brenner (and Darius, of course) to his follow-up appointments at The Children's Hospital in Colorado so I could go to work today and continue to make an income to support this crazy little family.  So I don't have any pictures.  In fact, Grandma, Grandpa and BrennIus are still on their way home from Colorado.  I just spoke to my mom on the phone earlier today and got the update and so I am passing it on to all of you.

First, the ophthalmologist-  Brenner still has blood in his eyes.  That is the less than happy news.  The good news is that there are no longer big clots or large pools of blood.  So it would seem that the situation is resolving itself, even though it is taking a lot longer than they typically see in kids with this situation.  Surgery poses risks, some of which could effect the vision, so the plan is to continue to wait and see.  I am getting really sick of hearing that.  But I am determined to take the good out of that and go with it.

Next, neurosurgery- The expectation after shunts are placed is that the head circumference measurement will level out, stop jump up.  Brenner's fell back down into the curve it had previously been on.  So the results were better than expected.  However, the faster than normal evacuation of fluid from his head has caused the bones of his skull to somewhat collapse together and overlap.  There are situations in which this also can cause problems.  Thankfully, Brenner's surgeon doesn't seem to think that Brenner will have any of those problems.  He also thinks that the rapid brain growth in babies this age may help to push the bones back into place and reshape his head.  But he thinks that Brenner's head will always be at least a little misshapen.

We just continue on day after day, always realizing that the good things are amazing blessings. 

April 2

So... I'm a little behind.  Can you blame me?  Grandma and Grandpa graciously took Brenner back to The Children's Hospital in Colorado for me on April 2nd to have his eyes checked again.  Dr. Braverman felt like the clots in his eyes remaining from the hemorrhaging were getting smaller.  She didn't want to refer us for surgery, so we wait.  Brenner has to see his neurosurgeon on April 23rd, so we tried to get an appointment for our opthamology recheck then.  They were less than helpful in arranging that, but after some pressure, I finally got it worked out.  So our next check ups will be the end of this month- hoping for more good news.