In case you didn't know, having one's computer desperately need help, then having issues with one's camera tends to lead to going a while without writing a blog post. That and getting online and getting off again before remembering to write it. Which is why I haven't posted anything since Dylan's surgery. Not even a quick happy birthday to Emma shortly after Dylan's surgery, which I do feel a little bad about. Although I'm thinking I will probably skip the annual happy birthday posts from now on.
Last week Alyssa fell off the top of her bunk bed and broke her arm. I took her to an urgent care center where they took x-rays and sent us home after a doctor looked at them. Two days later they called back and said it really is broken. She has a bright yellow cast now. Never have I seen someone so happy to get a cast. She did a dance she was so happy. And even chatted with the nurse, which she doesn't usually do. The pain had gone down quite a bit between the day she broke it and the next day, but she did say having the splint and cast on have actually helped it feel better too. The urgent care center put a splint on her arm and another two days later she had the cast put on. The good news is that with it being such a tiny break, she only has to have the cast on for 4 weeks. I wonder if she will be sad to get it off.
Yesterday Dylan had an echo. I received a reminder card in the mail to schedule his appointment sooner than I was expecting. I thought his doctor had said to come back in a year. It hasn't been a year. I'm thinking that since he had been going about every 9-10 months that it somehow got put in the computer system wrong. When I called to schedule the appointment, they said he was due back to be seen in February. But February was pretty well booked, so he got seen yesterday instead.
His echo went well. Dylan held very still for the procedure. Helps that they have a tv with a dvd player in the room so he could watch a movie. He was ready to go home after the echo and didn't want to wait and meet with the doctor though. The nurse gave him a toy car and he happily played with that while we waited.
Dr. Menon came in and said that everything looks pretty good on the echo. He still has the leaky valve (that won't change until he gets the valve replaced), but his heart function is good. With having a leaky valve, it makes the right ventricle have to work a little harder than the left. The right ventricle is starting to become a little enlarged because of that, so next time he wants Dylan to have an MRI instead of an echo so he can get a better look at the right ventricle. He also said that he hopes to get Dylan to 8 or 9 before he will need to have his valve replaced. It was mentioned that by the time he's around 16, he will be able to have the valve replaced via catheter instead of open heart surgery. But not every time he will need to have it replaced after that.
We were told to bring him back in a year. I kind of expect to get a reminder card in the mail early again. Wonder if I will argue with them this time.
