Big Boy

Oscar had his two year “well baby” check-up this morning.  Yes, we’re a bit behind the curve there.  With all of the previous doctors’ visits he had earlier this year we thought it was best to defer his official visit until the end of the year.  I’m kind of glad we did, since he’s made such amazing progress.

He’s gone from not being on the growth charts at all, to hovering around the 10th percentile to being in the 38th percentile for weight and (get this) from the 25th to the 75th percentile for height.  Our ped re-measured him herself just to make sure and then just sat there shocked for a minute.  Then she ran a series of tests on his thyroid and requested a consult with an endocrinologist just in case.  I knew he went through a massive growth spurt, but I had just been thinking that I was mis-measuring him at home and that perhaps we should use cold water when we wash his clothes to keep them from shrinking.  Nanny Norma just beamed with pride when I told her, which is completely appropriate.  She’s proof that it is possible to get a finicky toddler to eat on a consistent basis.  I need to follow her lead on this.

Our ped also ordered a whole new slew of consults for us, a new speech pathologist, a new pediatric optho (an expert who consulted with us previously but she’d like him to become our primary optho), a new neurologist and yet another developmental assessment.  Bonus, we’re having his MRI results looked at by another series of neurologists, although I seriously question where she’s going to find more neurologists who haven’t seen his file.  Um, why, you ask?  Well, seems that embedded in the results of his MRI were two references to abnormalities (in addition to his corpus callosum) that apparently concern our doctor, who was on maternity leave when the report came in.  Since the doctor who ordered the MRI was most concerned with Oscar’s vision and not his overall development, she thinks the focus was placed on the issue that was most likely vision-related and explained how it could be influencing his speech delays (which, when he had his MRI done, people were still saying he might grow out of).  You can imagine my elation at hearing this.  Too early to tell what these issues are, but she did think that whatever we glean from additional review will lead us to the same place.  Something has happened in his brain and there’s no easy fix.  He’s going to need a lot of therapy.  For a long time.

So, all in all, it was a mixed bag.  Great on the physical development front, social areas (Oscar was incredibly sweet to her when he wasn’t screaming, and he didn’t scream all that much while she was there – she said she didn’t recognize him when he wasn’t crying.  nice) and even his vision (she agrees that his nystagmus has visibly improved), but not so great news on the other stuff.  You know, The Brain Thing.  I’m off to call a whole bunch of doctors.

December 2, 2009 - Posted by Oscar and Etta's mom | Doctor, Oscar