We have been home now since last Thursday and it is SO NICE! Colten is great – eats, sleeps, poops. And does it all again. And again. And again. Besides the constant stream of stuff into diapers (we are often putting one on as he soils it), the 1-3 medical appointments each week, and the […]
The past week was pretty difficult for Richard and I. While we were excited to go home from our NICU stay after Colten’s myelomeningocele repair, we left feeling like our boy wasn’t doing so well and that the boy we brought to Mott Children’s Hospital wasn’t really the same boy we were taking home. The […]
Before I get into today’s main event, the brothers gave their third musketeer a loving send-off this morning… Surgery to place the shunt went very well! The same neurosurgery team that did Colten’s spinal surgery did the shunt placement (Dr. Maher and Dr. Stetler). The anchor or insertion point (I’m sure this is not what […]
Colten had another cranial ultrasound Monday. It showed an increase in the ventricles of the brain, which means an increase in cerebral spinal fluid. His head also measured an increase, at 39cm (and this morning it measured 39.5cm). He was born at 36cm and normal rate of increase is no more than about 1cm per […]
Colten had two more tests before being discharged, a VCUG and an MRI. The VCUG came back showing that Colten has urinary reflux back into his kidneys. So he needs to stay on antibiotics indefinitely. Urology will follow up with us in 3-4 months; surgery will be required to correct this issue – it is […]
We are getting discharged! Colten has a few more tests tonight – a VCUG (please don’t ask me what it stands for – go look it up if you want to know) which will test reflux into the kidneys (schedule for 3pm), and an MRI (scheduled for 4pm) that will go “tip to tail”. The […]
This afternoon was the best afternoon we’ve had in a while… My sister brought Parker and Max up to meet Colten and allow them to spend some quality time with Richard and me. It’s been a few days since we’ve seen the boys and today was the first time they met Colten! It was truly […]
It’s actually been kind of boring the past couple days. In a NICU-boring sense. We are just in repair and maintain mode here – making sure Colten’s wound is healing from surgery and that he’s progressing in other areas like weight gain. Colten should get his stitches and drain port removed today by plastic surgery. […]
This morning Colten had his first physical therapy appointment with Dan Santioni. We already have a great feeling about this man and are excited to work more with him. He started with some basic muscle response testing, sensory responses, visual and auditory preliminary testing and some stretching. Clinically we should clarify that most of the […]
I’ve mentioned before that this adventure redefines normal for us and sure enough, yesterday that concept smacked me across the face. Quite a lot happened in the past day since yesterday afternoon’s post so I’ll try to catch you all up… Yesterday afternoon (Saturday), things were going pretty well. I had actually started to nurse […]
The Adventures of Colten Robert 