Medical Stuff Galore

No pics this time ... sorry. I just wanted to update and also get some feedback if possible. The last two weeks have been a flurry of medical appointments, dental exams, and lab procedures. No small task when finding babysitters and rearranging schedules. In the midst of all that we have also kept steady with piano lessons and swimming lessons at the YMCA. Busy, busy, busy ...

We had another hearing evaluation for Max and Ivanna to recheck their hearing and see if there has been anymore improvement from them both having had fluid and lower hearing levels earlier this year. Well ... no improvement. In fact, there was so much fluid this time that the exam yielded no results on hearing level. So - to the ENT we go. Our suspicion is that both kids will benefit from tubes. If this helps their hearing - it could also eventually help with their speech. If you can't hear - you can't properly hear sounds enough to imitate.

We also went to the dentist. We LOVE our dentist - and if you are local and need a suggestion for pediatric dentistry, or special needs dentistry - let me know. She is fantastic! As far as Max and Ivanna are concerned: they did great. Max got a bit flustered - but considering he had never experienced that kind of exam, I was quite happy with the results. Both kiddos had NO cavities. I was especially concerned with Ivanna's grinding her teeth (she has done it so LONG and so FERVENTLY - that her little teeth look like stumps to me). The dentist took a peek and was able to explain a few technical things to me regarding grinding, and the conclusion: not to worry about it right now. Ivanna seems to be doing better with it since being home. Perhaps it is the other stimulation she has - she may not feel the need to constantly grind. Now she primarily does it when she drinks water, brushes teeth, or is extremely tired.

The last little thing we have done these past two weeks was to follow through with neck x-rays to check with AAI. This is a fairly common health check for little ones with Ds. It is recommended that it be done by the time the child is three. It is a condition that is quite common and involves the neck muscles being weak, therefore instable around the vertebrae. This is a concern because any hard jarring, or fall on the head could compress the spinal cord - resulting in an injury that could impact their ability to move at all. I was surprised to learn that both children's xrays came back with possible positive results of being instable. (It was hard to read xrays, and so hence: possible) We will perform xrays again for better reading and to see just how instable the area seems.
From my understanding treatment isn't typically done (surgery) unless the child is sympotmatic. Symptoms would include neurological ones from having strain or slight compression on the spinal cord. I'm curious if this is why Ivanna seems a little clumsy, holds her head tilted alot, etc. OR ... could this all be behaviors that are just normal for little Ivanna???? This is where I welcome feedback from those who may have experienced having a little one with AAI.

The next few weeks we will be visiting the eye doctor, and a few more specialists.

Never a dull moment in the Browning home ....