November 6, 2008

Good afternoon! Laurie and I are enjoying a quiet day at home! I wanted to update everyone on her appointments from earlier this week. We saw Dr. Fiest, the ophthalmologist, Monday morning and the blood vessels in her right eye are growing normally. However, the left eye is not doing as well, so he did do another injection of Avastin in that eye. We will see him again on November 14, 2008. We left straight from that appointment and went to Children's Hospital for her BPD appointment. After having chest x-rays, lab work, and meeting with a nutritionist, respiratory therapists, and several nurses we finally saw Dr. Lorenzo, the pulmonologist (this is a different doctor than we were expecting, but we really liked him). He talked with us at length about Laurie's medications, oxygen support, feedings, and development and then made several changes. He increased her oxygen level to .25 liters (rather than .1) in hopes of keeping her oxygen saturation 93% or greater. If you remember we had been keeping her sats 85%-95%, but Dr. Lorenzo stated that at this point we could be doing damage to her heart with keeping her sats in the 80's. His office is also scheduling an appointment for us with cardiology just as a precaution. The Children's cardiologist group sends doctors to Dothan monthly, so hopefully we will be able to see the cardiologist there (we saw a cardiologist in Dothan several times with Cole when he was a baby with Kawasaki disease). He kept all Laurie's medicines the same, except for discontinuing the sodium. We will see Dr. Brown on Monday and do blood work to check her electrolytes again. Dr. Lorenzo also wants to increase to 2 packets of human milk fortifier (HMF) per feeding in order to increase her calorie intake and hopefully start putting on more weight. The faster she grows, the faster her lungs will begin healing (and get her off the oxygen)! They also are making a referral for Early Intervention, so we should be hearing from that soon. This will be another resource for helping us stay on top of Laurie's overall development.

On Tuesday, Laurie had her second Synagis shot and then we saw Dr. Gannon, the ENT, to check Laurie's hearing. Laurie did not pass the hearing screening in either ear again, but Dr. Gannon believes this could be due to her very small ear canals. He will see her again in four months and then refer us to Birmingham for an ABR if she does not pass at that time. We are continuing to learn the virtue of patience! Dr. Lorenzo reminded us that we must treat this process as a marathon, rather than a sprint! We continue to ask for your prayers for Laurie's overall development and health. We are also so grateful for how far God has brought her and for your continued support!

Love to all!
Todd, Leah, Cole, and Laurie