| Later updates | Aaron update 128 |
| Subject: Aaron update 128 Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 1:29 PM From: Kevin Quick To: Aaron Update List We visited Dr. Hardy, the pulmonologist, in San Francisco yesterday. As usual, it was an all-day adventure. The technical name for Aaron’s lung condition (chronic lung disease) is bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or BPD. We needed this term for an insurance application form. Again, this condition means that we need to make sure that Aaron doesn’t catch a cold this winter because 1) the damaged parts of his lungs don’t have the cilia that normal, healthy lung tissue has, that bring foreign matter up and out of the lungs, and 2) he has limited lung capacity, which could be easily be overwhelmed by a cold, requiring hospitalization, intubation, etc. The visit went routinely; Aaron’s lungs sounded good, and Dr. Hardy seemed pleased with Aaron’s progress developmentally. However, Aaron has only gained 1/4 pound in the two months since his last visit (he’s 11.5 pounds now), and of course, the pulmonologist doesn’t think that this is enough. We showed her Kathleen’s well-worn, meticulous records of his feedings over the past two months, so we think she’s convinced now that we really are feeding Aaron all that he can possibly eat, and then some. So, the next step is some gastrointestinal tests, to find out whether something can be done to help Aaron eat more. Over the past few weeks, our local pediatrician and we had been trying to line up a visit with a GI specialist at CPMC in San Francisco, where Aaron was born, with little success. Dr. Hardy knows the GI specialist, so she’s going to pull some strings to make sure we’re able to visit the specialist and get some tests done before our insurance runs out on November 27. We asked Dr. Hardy about Aaron’s prospective medical costs for his second year, and she rattled off at least a half dozen things that are going to be expensive, including his Synergist shots, pulmonology check-ups, GI tests including an acid reflux test, a barium test, and several others that I can’t remember, and possible hospitalization for G-tube installation, etc. For help with the financial questions, she recommended that we talk with the social worker who’s associated with her medical group, which we will do. Aaron was his usual, cheerful, super-alert self throughout the trip. He’s a joy to travel with, and he’s been a joy to share with the limited number of people that we’ve come in contact with. Lately, we’ve been calling him our “Mr. Sunshine”. As of today, we’re at day 1 of week 24 for baby #2. Aaron was born on day 3 of his week 24, so, needless to say, we’re just a wee bit nervous. Last week, Kathleen had a couple of contractions that sent us to the doctor, but they didn’t progress into anything more. She’s had a few “hard belly” contractions since then, too; maybe one per day; but nothing alarming enough yet to send us back to the doctor again. Also, Kathleen has been suffering with some rather severe hip pain for the past two weeks, which the doctor believes is pregnancy-related sciatic nerve pain. Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers. Actually, we’re really looking forward to the day when we’re no longer on everybody’s prayer lists! In the meantime, let’s continue praying for some good, solid weight gain for Aaron, a big belly for Kathleen and baby #2, and manageable anxiety levels for each of us! Love, Kevin, Kathleen, Aaron and Baby #2 |
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