3.24.2010

Dallas Day Trip

Ben and I made it to and from Dallas yesterday without a hitch! I was so nervous about making it through security by myself, but it ended up going smoothly. Ben enjoyed his first plane ride- even though he slept most of the time.

We left our house at 5:40 a.m., which I thought would be awful, but it worked out just fine. We made it to Dallas at 8 a.m. and back home by 4 p.m. We rented a car and I drove us all over Dallas. I am learning my way around Dallas quite well!

His helmet appointment was much shorter this week, thank goodness. His ear opening was cut to be a little bit bigger, and they moved the pads inside his helmet. The helmet technician had me feel Ben's head where to pads were and I could feel on his skull little indentions. These will all even out, it just goes to show how fast his head is growing; last week the pads were barely touching his hair, and five days later they caused indentions. We don't go back for two weeks, so I am sure we will be ready for an adjustment.

After his helmet appointment we had an appointment with Dr. Genecov. We were able to get in and out of his office in less than 30 minutes- pretty impressive! Dr. Genecov said that Ben's incisions look great, and that everything is going as planned. He wants to see us back every time we have a helmet appointment so he can make sure the shape is being corrected properly. This is a bit of a scheduling hassle, but we want to make sure we are getting the best results out of helmet therapy.

There are several syndromes that go along with Craniosynostosis. Ben does not have any other symptoms of any of the syndromes, but we wanted to have him tested just to be on top of things. During Ben's surgery, a blood sample was taken and sent for genetic testing. We received the report yesterday from Dr. Genecov and Ben has 3 abnormalities. Dr. Genecov is not qualified to interpret the report so we are setting up an appointment with a geneticist to discuss the abnormalities. We are not too concerned at the moment, based on what little we could decipher from the report. It is just one more thing to worry about and wait on an answer. Hopefully we can get answers soon!

We will be going back every two weeks, which is much better than every week! Flying down, renting a car and flying back really wasn't too bad. I can handle it every other week.

Ben is now wearing his helmet 23 hours per day! He has done so well adjusting! He has not had any problems sleeping in it or anything. I am certain that it bothers me much more than it bothers him. I miss being able to kiss his head and play with his beautiful hair! I will just have to take full advantage of the hour-a-day I get without his helmet. Yesterday was also my first time with him in public in his helmet. Only one person asked me why he had a helmet, and I didn't catch any stares like I was anticipating. The only thing I noticed was that I didn't get a single red-head comment, which is a real rarity (his hair looks much darker in the helmet because it gets all sweaty).

That is my weekly update! Ben is doing great, and we couldn't be happier! Thank you again for all of the love, prayers and support. We are so blessed!

1 comment:

  1. God Bless you and your son and all of your family.

    ReplyDelete