We've had quite a week here in the Waddell household.
Monday was the trip to St. Louis for the GI follow-up/ upper-GI/ hopeful diagnosis of the belly issues.
Tuesday was my father-in-law's third surgery since his work accident in September. This one involved his shoulder. Tuesday was also Evelyn's last mini camp at our Forest Preserve, Jack's Physical Therapy session, and Evelyn and Jack's appointments at the pediatrician. Evelyn's appointment was wonderful. Just a well-child. She's 3'3. Jack's appointment went ok. His pediatrician put him on a probiotic. So he's now taking the antibiotic Flagyl and a probiotic, all to help his belly, which is better than it was. Still lots of pressure, but nowhere near as much. His pediatrician was a little concerned about Jack's head circumference, comparing it to past measurements. We'll be getting it measured again in 6 weeks, by the same nurse. The concern is the risk factor of getting hydrocephalus/water on the brain/too much fluid. We're just under observation. I'm not too worried. I'm more concerned about Jack's belly. Oh, and Physical Therapy was TERRIBLE! Jack hasn't wanted to sit up for almost 4 weeks now. Pretty much right in line with when his belly started to bother him.
Wednesday was a nice break. We had some family time.
Thursday involved Evelyn's gymnastics class and Jack was the focus in the afternoon. Jack had Occupational Therapy and his 6-month review for his Early Intervention Services. Occupational Therapy was TERRIBLE. Same as before. No sitting up. Not wanting to work. No interest. Just screaming. However, when we had what I call our 'party' (physical therapist, occupational therapist, Division of Specialized Care for Children coordinator, and Child and Family Connections Coordinator, minus the developmental therapist), all in our living room at one time, talking about Jack and his evaluation scores, Jack was fine and dandy! He was even playing with his toys and talking a little, of course while lying on the floor. How were his scores: much improved, if we don't look at the numbers, from the past 6 months. He reached all of his goals for occupational therapy. His skills in this area are poor for his adjusted age of 16 months (because he was 6 wks premature). We are very please that he met all of the goals that were set 6 months ago. Regarding Physical Therapy, Jack made descent progress. He is sitting. That was our goal. His gross motor skills are delayed, but we knew they would be. His overall age equivalent for physical therapy is 9 months. However, we know that Jack will do things when he wants to. We can't compare him to other children. Our next goal is weight bearing. I'll show you pics later on in this post. For Developmental Therapy, Jack is doing very well! There are a number of developmental tasks Jack is performing at a great level! With that adjusted age of 16 months, Jack is performing several areas between 12-14 months. There are some that fall to 6 months (gross) and 10 months (cognitive), but I'm not worrying about that. Jack is a doll!
And the there's Friday. Friday was the big day. Jack got his AFO's (Ankle Foot Orthotics).

Notice the coffee mug, pen, and paper, in relation to the orthotic! It's so teeny tiny! And, yup. That's Spider Man! He tolerated the orthotics very well for the 1 hour today. Tomorrow we move to 2 hours.

I won't go into the probiotics flying across the room via syringe.