A few follow-up appointments

We had another busy week following up with lots of doctors! First, we saw the cranial facial doctor to check up on her plagiocephaly (flat head). She was quite confident that everything was going to "shape" up to be just fine, but since her head was still a little asymmetrical she wanted to do the work up just to make sure she wasn't missing something. The work up entailed a series of x-rays to check that the sutures hadn't closed prematurely and a laser scan of her head to get precise measurements. Both of which were perfect!!! Her skull has about 2mm of asymmetry that will continue to normalize as she grows and her facial bones become more prominent. So we can check that one off the list!

Next (same day...same office) we saw Dr. Burns the plastic surgeon who is monitoring her hemangioma. He gave us a great report and is ecstatic with the progress it has made. He said really, the medicine isn't supposed to make the birthmark get smaller. It is intended to stunt the growth. He said the fact that hers continues to fade is VERY optimistic. He continues to assure us that by the time she starts kindergarten, we won't remember which cheek it was on! We are going to begin tapering the medicine in a month or so and it is a 2-3 month taper during which we will closely monitor the hemangioma for any rebounding. Another good report!

Waiting to see Dr. Burns

After a long afternoon at Medical City

Waiting to get scanned

Getting scanned

The toy was a distraction while the scanner

was going so she wouldn't move

Ready to go home!

The next day we saw Dr. Laird, the pediatric cardiologist to follow up on Ashlyn's atrial septal defect. This visit entailed an EKG and an echocardiogram. The EKG is pretty quick but the echo takes a while and requires her to lay flat and still! I was a little curious how this was going to happen! The first time we did it, she was 6 weeks old and slept through it. Different story now! She did GREAT! The technician had a movie playing over his shoulder and she just laid there and watched it the entire time (I guess they do this often ;). We met with the doctor after the procedures and she gave us an update. The hole/holes are still there (there are 2 holes, but it is really like there is just one because of the location) but they are smaller. They are so small that if they were any smaller they wouldn't be measurable. They are 2mm (the height of a penny) and if they get smaller they will be closed. She reassured us that she still believes they will close on their own. She gave us a 95% likelihood that they will be gone in a year when we follow up again. She said there are no 100%'s in medicine. And the good news is that they didn't get bigger. When the heart grows, sometimes the holes can actually get bigger because the tissue doesn't expand. This is not the case. So that is very good news. We love Dr. Laird and she again told us that we are not allowed to worry. So we can't check this one off just yet, but overall we are pleased with the report and the fact that she doesn't want to see us back for a year!

Waiting at the cardiologist

Get hooked up for the EKG

EKG

Echocardiogram

(wearing baby legs to stay warm and fashionable:)

She laid perfectly still the entire time!

Oh...and we also had a flu shot and another round of Synagis (the RSV shot)! It was a busy week. No doctor's appointments scheduled until her routine 9 month check-up!