Therapies

Peyton is doing really well this week. She had a visit from her physical therapist and vision teacher at the daycare yesterday. She also had a visit from her occupational therapist at home last night. A busy day for Peyton to be sure!

Both her physical and occupational therapists are very pleased with how well Peyton is coming along. They are working with her trying to position her so that she is doing things that are a little bit weight-bearing. Her overall muscle tone is low. So they work position her so she has to use her arms a bit or her legs a bit. We work with her as well to try to help her to sit upright, supported, to help strengthen the muscles of her trunk so she will become strong enough to do other things.

At nearly 10 1/2 months, she cannot sit on her own, when laying down on her back does not lift her head up off the surface she's laying on very easily, and does not crawl or make attempts at it. This is all expected for her developmental progress. We know she's probably at least a few months behind. We'll have a better idea of what age level she's at when we visit the neurologist in a few weeks. At her 6 month visit, she was anywhere between 1 and 4 months development depending on what you were looking at. She continues to make progress, which is just wonderful. I'm quite sure her neurologist will be pleased. Well, at least that's what I'm hoping!!

Every little achievement that Peyton makes is just so exciting for us. It could be the smallest thing but it is huge for us. Since her future developmental progression is unknown, everything means so much. I'm learning to try to not compare her progress to anyone else's. Even if she didn't have issues, you couldn't compare her with another child because everyone is different. She is on "Peyton Time" and that is good enough for us!!

Her vision teacher was also very pleased with how well Peyton is doing. She works with Peyton for about 15 minutes or so a week at the daycare. If you were to observe, it really looks more like playtime! She brings all sorts of toys with her and also uses some toys that the daycare has. She also uses some positioning techniques to help her along. She's had the benefit of being there at the same time as the physical therapist, so she's gotten help from her on how to help Peyton in terms of positioning. She works with her on tracking objects. That was Peyton's first goal set back when we started with the vision teacher months ago. She tracks well side to side and all around now. Her current goal is to learn how to activate toys - like being able to push a button on a toy that makes something pop up or push a button that makes lights come on. The goal is to connect that pushing on one thing causes a reaction. It will be a while before that one is mastered, but we have time!

Speaking of progress, I cannot leave out that Moira is making excellent strides in her potty training. I want to say she's almost there! Night time potty training - well, that's a whole other story. But daytime - she's doing really, really well. She has been doing very well at the daycare for a long time, but when she was home that was a different story. She'd go - if you reminded her and asked repeatedly. However, if she was distracted by a toy, the cats, the tv, or whatever, she would forget to go to the potty and have accidents. While my Mom was down a couple weeks ago, we FINALLY got her to pay more attention. We've been telling her all along that she needs to go so she doesn't have any accidents. Her cue to us that she had to go was her saying "No accidents!". That meant drop everything you're doing and get her there NOW. In just a couple of weeks, she has just been saying to us that she has to go to the potty and we take her. Last night, she was playing in her room and I heard her saying that, but by the time I put Peyton down and got to Moira, she was already doing it on her own. In fact, I think she was just stating a fact while she already had herself situated in the bathroom. So, good for you, Moira!! It's been at least a week since she had an accident at home - maybe a bit longer.

That's about all for now. I'll keep you updated on everyone's progress!

Rolling

I am just so excited, I couldn't wait til all of Peyton's appointments were done for the day to share the news. I took Peyton to the ophthalmologist this morning for her weekly check up. We finally heard the news we've long been waiting to hear. Peyton's eyes are the best they've been and are about as good as we can get right now!!! She still has some of that swelling inside her eye, but it's gone down a lot from last week. We are to cut back on her eye drops from every hour to every two. In addition, we were scheduled with the glaucoma specialist for an eye exam to be done at the hospital under general anesthetic on Monday. The doctor today said that she doesn't see the need for him to do the exam. So, Ron is calling the specialist to let him know what this doctor said. Hopefully Monday's exam will be off the schedule shortly. The doctor today also said that she really doesn't need to see Peyton for a while. She said everything is looking really good and she really only needs to follow up for contact lens check ups and replacement of the lenses. Her new contacts (same Rx, but new/fresh pair) will be mailed to the house, so we don't have to go back for 6 weeks to see the doctor. This will be the longest we've EVER gone without seeing her. I think the longest so far has only been a few weeks. Ron and I are just so excited about the report from this doctor visit we can hardly contain ourselves!

Peyton goes to the pediatrician's office for a weight check this afternoon. She's been improving on her feeding. We've added a bit of formula to some of her bottles to boost the calories. She's been consistently getting 22-27 oz a day, so I will talk to the doctor about starting her on cereal. This will also help with her calories.

Peyton has also made big strides in the past couple of weeks with rolling over. She was able to get onto her tummy with a bit of effort but then she really struggled with getting back onto her back. She figured it out but it was so challenging for her. Last night she was rolling over onto her tummy and then immediately onto her back. Now, she was unhappy at the effort she was having to exert, but she was really doing remarkably well. It seemed effortless when you were watching her roll. She's still not able to sit or crawl or anything like that, but she can ROLL!! I'm sure her neurologist will be quite happy when we see him in a few weeks.

As always, I will keep you posted on Peyton's progress!

A "Sarah" Update

Just a quick update on my own health...I recently had a follow up visit with my hematologist regarding the pulmonary embolism I had at the end of May. He is baffled as to the cause - especially one so massive and for the second time in my life. He feels that it is very likely somehow pregnancy related, but isn't about to let me off the blood thinners just yet. He said it would be at least 1 year of blood thinners at the least. He ran some more blood work and all of that came back normal. He was testing for various clotting factors, different from what he tested for before. All of that has been normal. He also ordered an ultrasound on my right leg to make sure that the clots that were present there were gone. They are. He had said that if there was the slightest sign of a clot being present, he would probably have me stay on blood thinners for the rest of my life. However, since everything so far has come back normal, he is just going to order more tests. I have to follow up with him again in June. He is ordering a CT and Angio to be sure that the mass of clots in my lungs is gone. At the time of the pulmonary embolism, the doctor in the ER reported that I had right ventricular failure in my heart due to the clots. I assume that this had gotten better before I left the hospital. I'm still here, which makes me think it did!! The tests will also check to make sure that that is no longer a problem. If all of that checks out ok, then maybe the doctor will let me off the blood thinners. He did say if could be another 6 months beyond June. He said there's no magic cut-off date for letting me off, but that it would be one year or a year and a half from the episode. We'll see how all of this turns out.

The girls are doing well. Moira is adjusting well to being in the three year old class. Peyton is doing well. She has a few appointments tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find that she is catching up on her weight. I'll keep you posted on how all of that turns out.

Sickness and a Birthday

The past couple of weeks have been strangely calm, yet insane at the same time. As far as Peyton's ongoing medical issues go, it was calm. She's still a little down on her weight, but we're working on getting it back up. Working against this is the fact that she's got her top 4 teeth coming in all at once. She was also under the weather from last Friday til Tuesday. Her eyes are continuing to hold their own. She still has a bit of swelling inside her left eye, so she is continuing with her steroid drops. She has not had too many doctor appointments in the past couple weeks, so that has been kind of nice for a change.

I was sick, myself, with a bad flu bug coupled with a pretty nasty throat infection. I'm not 100% better just yet, but feel many times better than I did last week. I missed an entire week of work because of illness.

I managed to get well enough to have Moira's 3rd birthday party. She had her party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was just a small family get together, along with a friend and his daughter who is 8 months older than Moira. The party was fun. The best part was no mess in my house!! Moira was excited with her party and all of her gifts.

For the past week or so, the daycare has been working on transitioning Moira to the 3 year old class. She has been doing pretty well. She's adjusting to their schedule which is a little different from the 2's. Effective this coming Monday, she will officially move into the 3's. Way to go Moira!! In the middle of this, she came home with a case of pink eye and is on eye drops now for that. Never a dull moment in our house!!

We are enjoying a visit with Mom and will be sad to see her leave on Sunday. She's been a huge help to us, especially with 3 out of 4 of us being sick while she's been down. She'll be leaving us to go back home. In a couple weeks, she and Dad will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. We're so excited for them and wish them all the best!

A Quick Update

I took Peyton to the ophthalmologist this morning. I am very pleased to report that for the first time in many, many weeks, we have NO bad news to report! Whatever swelling that was inside her left eye is now small and just on the periphery. We're to keep giving her the steroid drops in that eye every hour. The doctor also got very good red reflexes from both eyes for the first time in ages. She seemed very pleased. We'll follow up again in a week.

After losing a pound in the first week Peyton was off the feeding tube, she has gained back a few ounces. A pound was too much to lose, so we're pleased she's coming up again. She's doing better taking her bottles as well. She's getting about 20 oz a day now. She needs to be taking in at least 25 oz. I feel confident that we will get there soon.

Peyton is rather fussy this week as she has her 4 top teeth coming in all at once. Aside from that she seems to be doing well. Last Sunday, I took Moira to the ER after her temp went up to about 105.5. It came down after a cold bath, but was still over 102 when I took her in. Turns out she had a bad ear infection. She is getting better but is still a little cranky at times.

Not too much else to report for this week. I'm not sure what to do with myself today with so little going on with Peyton! It's a good thing though. These times seem few and far between, so we're due for this! Will keep you posted on how she's doing.