To Infinity and Beyond....

I had a wonderful date with my little man last night.  Much to my chagrin, dinner turned into McDonald's but that was what Nate wanted.  The movie was awesome and Nate is hilarious - for some reason he doesn't like to eat popcorn DURING the movie - he always wants to get popcorn AFTER the movie.  So, when the movie ended, I got him some popcorn and we went home.  Today when I picked him up from daycare he said he wanted to go to the movies again.  I asked him what he wanted to see - he said "the movie with the little cheese puffs".  I said, you mean the movie we saw the sign for yesterday?  "Yes", he said.  Ah yes - Despicable Me  - I asked him. "Yep, 'Spicable Me".

Not a fan of getting his picture taken.
Well, the humidity is good for something!  Finley is still fighting a little cold and so Gigi has been bringing her outside for a couple hours each of the last mornings and I will say - the humidity has done wonders for her cold and she absolutely loves it!



Finley had two great therapy sessions today.  Her therapists continue to say how amazed they are with her progress post-surgery.  Finley works hard during her sessions and there are a few things in particular that Finley loves - practicing standing is one of them.


Finley and her physical therapist, Meg. (How great is this picture???)
Finley is a smart girl though - she knows exactly how to get herself out of therapy when she doesn't want to work or when she's done for the day.  She does this fake cry thing with alligator tears until the therapist stops and puts her in the position she wants - then the smile returns to her face.  Sometimes she will even fake falling asleep until the therapist leaves and then what do you know?  She perks right back up.  Sometimes though, she is legitimately tired, like today, after working hard with Gigi on her tummy outside.  She just didn't have enough left in the tank to finish therapy.


Perhaps the funniest part of the day was when Gigi and I were getting ready to take Finley to have a new hearing aid mold made yet again. Gigi commented that her hearing aid wasn't buzzing as much as it had been and lamented that it figured since we were getting ready to take her to the doctor.  Then it occurred to me - it was time to change her hearing aid batteries and the darn things were likely dead.  Sure enough - they were.  The reason this is so funny though is because she had just finished up with the hearing therapist and had had a great session - but her hearing aids hadn't been working the whole time!  The therapist was so impressed because Finley was babbling to her the whole time and I suppose the distraction was good because she didn't seem to notice that they weren't working at all!

And last but certainly not least - I was wrong - more people than I can count on my two hands are reading my blog!!  I need two extra fingers!!  Thanks for showing me the love guys!  I feel much better about the fact that I have more friends out there!

3 comments:

mary nunez said...

that picture of finley standing is great! love it amazing little girl. Her friend leah does that fake cry too!

Christy Stoecker Garcia said...

Finley is so adorable! I have to smile everytime I see her cute smiles!

Susie said...

I love the pictures of finley!!! The one of her standing is awesome!! Way to go girl!!!! Trace, she's precious and getting so big!!! I can't believe in a few weeks she'll be a year, boy does time fly!!!

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Finley's Medical History

Born on 8/8/2009 - Finley is taken to Children's Memorial Hospital via the transport team 12 hours after she is born.  She is having trouble breathing and is turning blue.  She is immediately admitted to the NICU.

8/9/2009 - Finley is diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect and laryngomalacia, a condition that causes her to aspirate whatever she swallows in to her lungs.

8/21/2009 - Finley has open heart surgery to place a Blalock Taussig shunt to help facilitate proper blood flow.  When she is older, she will require a full repair of her heart.

9/10/2009 - Finley is released from the NICU.  Because of her laryngomalacia and reflux, she is fed 100% through a nasal gastric tube.

9/14/2009 - Finley is re-admitted to the hospital for an infection in her surgical wound.  Finley's genetic test comes back - she is diagnosed with CHARGE Syndrome.

9/15/2009 - During a CT scan to assess the infection, the doctors notice something strange on her CT.  It appears Finley has a malrotated bowel and will require surgery.

9/23/2009 - Finley is examined by the opthalmologist and she is found to have colobomas, a condition common with CHARGE Syndrome, in both eyes.  The degree of her visual impairment is unknown.

9/30/2009 - Finley has the Ladd's Procedure to correct the malrotation and also has a g-tube placed.  

10/7/2009 - Finley has a sedated ABR to check her hearing.  She has a mild hearing loss in her right ear and a moderate to severe loss in her left.  Her loss can be at least partially corrected with hearing aids.

10/8/2009 - Finley is supposed to be released from the hospital today but she has been having low blood sugars.  The endocrinology is called in to evaluate her.

10/29/2009 - Finley is finally released from the hospital with a unconfirmed diagnosis of hyperinsulinism.  Actual diagnosis requires fasting blood tests - because of her heart condition, it is not safe for her to fast.  She needs to have her blood sugar tested every three hours and we are taught how to administer an emergency glucagon injection in case her blood sugar gets to low.

11/1/2009 - Finley requires emergency injection because she cannot sustain her blood sugar.  She is taken to the local ER and transported via the transport team to Childrens Memorial.

11/10/2009 - Finley is discharged from the hospital on a 24 hour continuous feed.  We add polycose to her milk to help her keep her blood sugar at an acceptable level.

11/22/2009 - Finley is taken to the local emergency room with a bad cold - she is having trouble breathing and her oxygen saturations are low.   She is transported via the transport team up to Children's Memorial.

11/25/2009 - Finley is released from the hospital - just in time for Thanksgiving.

12/8/2009 - Finley is taken to the local emergency room for observation - she has a bad cold.

12/21/2009 - Nate is chasing the dog and the dog runs in to Finley's IV pole, knocks it down and pulls out her g-tube.  She is taken to the ER at Childrens to have it put back in.

2/10/2010 - Finley is admitted through the ER at Childrens - she has a bad cold again.  Oxygen saturations are low and breathing is labored.

2/13/2010 - Finley is released from the hospital.

4/17/2010 - Finley is taken to the ER at Childrens - she has pus draining from her belly button.  They suspect a urachal cyst - they send us home with orders to return on  Tuesday (during our scheduled visit) for an abdominal ultrasound.

4/20/2010 - Finley is admitted to Childrens for an overnight stay.  She will have a swallow study and abdominal ultrasound on Tuesday and a CT and sedated echocardiogram on Wednesday which will require anesthesia.

4/21/2010 - The anesthesiologists have trouble intubating Finley, so they call in her ENT to have a look at her.  He observes that her airway is 75% closed off - partially due to scar tissue from previous intubation and partially due to an infection.  The diagnosis is subglottic stenosis and may require her to have surgery on her airway.  She is immediately admitted to the PICU and put on a 24/7 breathing treatment and antibiotics and steroids to help reduce the inflammation.

4/26/2010 - Finley is well enough to be taken off of all oxygen.  Immunology and Infectious Disease are called in to examine Finley because the culture of her throat are growing staph and strep.  Infectious Disease is trying to figure out what could have caused her infection.  Immunology labs will be drawn to determine if Finley has an immune problem which sometime occurs with children with CHARGE.  This is the second significant infection she has had since she was born.

4/27/2010 - The lab calls to say that they mis-read Finley's airway culture.  It's not growing staph - its only growing strep.

4/28/2010 - Immunology labs are back and don't show anything significant.  Finley's lymphocyte counts are low but that isn't unusual for a child who is fighting an infection.  The doctor wants to re-examine her before her first birthday.  In the meantime she cannot have any live vaccines.

4/29/2010 - Finley is discharged from the hospital.  The ENT will do a bronchoscopy before her heart repair surgery to determine next steps on her airway issue.

5/11/2010 - Finley has open heart surgery to repair her heart.

5/17/2010 - Finley begins to show signs of infection which is later identified as a urinary tract infection.

5/25/2010 - Finley is discharged from the hospital.

5/30/2010 - Finley goes to the ER at Childrens because of fussiness, sweating, heavy breathing.  And echo later identifies that the pressure gradient around Finley's pulmonary valve is an astounding 90%.

6/1/2010 - Finley is admitted to Childrens to try a medication called Propranolol to help ease the pressure in her heart.

6/2/2010 - The Propranolol brings the pressure in Finley's heart down from 90% to 50%.  Finley has a positive test for C. difficile which will require antibiotic treatment.

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