October 22, 2010

Yesterday was an extremely long day and we're glad it's over. Our first appointment with Neurology (the one I was dreading the most) went as well as it could have gone. We saw two neurologists and they actually thought the spasticity (rigidness) in Benjamin's legs wasn't as bad! They decided to cut back on his Clonazepam (Klonopin) because although it relaxes the muscles in his legs, it's not helping the hypotonia or low tone throughout the rest of his body. It also sedates him so hopefully now he'll have more alert time. The attending neurologist also stressed the importance of Benjamin taking the bottle and not relying on the g-tube. He said this is the age where babies lose the suck reflex and it's crucial that he maintain it. He will be sending his report with a CP diagnosis to Early Intervention so Benjamin will be guaranteed the three years of service which is good, but a reality check for us.

After Neurology, we were off to the Pulmonary Clinic where Benjamin's pulmonologist put the fear of God into us. We're waiting for our insurance company to give the okay and schedule delivery of Benjamin's Synagis vaccine (to prevent RSV) to his pediatrician. Dr. R asked us if Benjamin has had his first dose yet and we said no. He said the minute it gets to the pediatrican's office, Benjamin has to have it. He also wrote a prescription for Benjamin to have an aerochamber spacer. Basically a fancy sounding name for an inhaler with a mask. We'll use it if Benjamin should get a cold. We also have to keep a log of his daily respiratory rate.

The last stop of the day was the CAIR clinic (Center for Advance Intestinal Rehabilitation). I was most anxious to go to this appointment because I wanted to talk to a GI specialist to get Bejamin's reflux under control. It's getting worse and he's starting to develop an aversion to the bottle. They decided to stop his Erythromycin and told us to try additives that are vanilla flavored. They're allowing us to refrain from using the pump during the day and only give him the bottle as long as we add the calories to the milk. They want us to continually feed him overnight through the pump which I'm not thrilled about, but they think it'll help with the reflux.

I think he's starting to associate the bottle with painful reflux. It's taking longer and longer to get the milk into him and he screams almost the entire time and then usually chokes. I'm the only one he'll take even the smallest amount from and it breaks my heart to force him to eat, but I'm persistent. It's so sad... the minute I sit down with him and he feels the bottle touch his lip, he goes crazy. It took me an hour and a half tonight to feed him an ounce. What should be an enjoyable experience for him has turned into torture. His pediatrician almost tripled his Zantac dose today and I'm praying that makes a difference. If not, we'll try to switch him from Prilosec to Prevacid.

Thankfully our appointments at Children's will not be as frequent anymore (we'll be there once or twice a month), but Benjamin and I are going to be busy, busy, busy! EI will come and assess him next week and hopfully they'll start therapy a week or two after that. Also starting in November, Benjamin's teacher from the Perkins school will be coming out and we'll be making trips to South Shore to meet with a Feeding Specialist and get additional PT and OT. Benjamin's pediatrician and I agree that this time in Benjamin's life is so important and we need to hit the ground running!