One Doctor Down

Yes, it's true. Mason has 1 less doctor after today. We returned to the Orthopedist today to do a check up on Mason's hips and his left elbow (you may or may not remember these were an issue many many months ago). After yet another xray (I swear this child is going to glow in the dark sometime soon), the doctor came into the exam room and said something that we loved hearing - Mason's hips look great! Everything is where it should be, no risk of dislocating, no risk of long term problems! He was also pleased with the progress that Mason's elbow has made. While he still cannot straighten it completely, he has achieved "functional" range of motion and should continue to improve over time. He doesn't feel we need to come back to see him unless we have some problems in the future. Yipee! One doctor down!

In other areas, we've actually had another tough couple of weeks. Mason's oxygen need went up quite a bit after our last lung doctor visit and his feeding got worse after it got better. The 2 seem to be linked at least a little, but more than that, we think Mason had a cold. You may ask, how do you not know if he has a cold? Well, in Mason's case it's hard to tell. We once again changed a lot of things all at once, any one of which could have increased his oxygen need. He also has that cold, dry air blowing in his nose constantly so the snot factor is less. He has the symptoms of a cold (some congestion and needing his nose suctioned a little more), but those things have happened in the absence of a cold, too. The good news is that the symptoms seem to have subsided for now, and we are hopeful that it was a cold and he has just about kicked it. If it was a cold, we can expect his oxygen need to go down again and we can start weaning the steroids again. If it wasn't a cold, we'll have to work with our doctor to establish a new baseline and he might need to stay on the steroids for longer. Only time will tell.