2 Down, 1 to Go

Yesterday Ben had his ENT appointment, and today Caroline had her appointment with the funny-shaped-head therapist.

Ben's appointment was good news; there is no indication that he needs tubes, his adenoids removed, or anything else. His ear still has a little bit of fluid in it, but the doctor thought that it will drain by itself, with a little help from a steroidal nasal spray which he has to squirt up his nose before he goes to bed to help shrink the inflammation in the eustacian (sp?) tube and dry up the fluid. He has a follow-up appointment in a month, but the doctor said if he's still fine by then I can cancel it if I want.

Caroline had her appointment with an OT who specializes in infant head/ neck issues. Caroline was calm and happy and obligingly allowed her head to examined and measured from all different angles. She has some each of brachiocephaly and plagiocephaly (dunno if I spelled those right), which translates into the back of her head is flat and one side of her head is flat too ;) She will be going to therapy once a week, and she will be fitted for a helmet next week, which she will start wearing 2 weeks after that. The helmet + therapy will be another large chunk of change to add to the household budget for Way Too Much Money Spent On Medical Bills, to be filed under the Why Did We Sign up for the Stupid 80/20 Plan column... which column is already filled with large bills related to Joel's 2 day ICU stay in February. ANYWAY, the good news (?) is, that she might not have to wear the helmet for all that long. Because the helmet-wearing is dictated by head growth, and when I informed the therapist that she is 18 pounds at 4 months and is following in her brother's footsteps ie will probably be close to 22 pounds at 6 months like he was, she said maybe it will only be 5 or 6 weeks before she outgrows the helmet. Hopefully that would be enough time to correct her misshapen head and she would not need another one after that! We also got a lot of neck stretching exercises to do at home, and instructions to stop using the Nap Nanny (so long Nap Nanny, you were a good friend...)

Our last doctor appointment of the week is Rebecca's trip to the pediatric urologist tomorrow.