Pacey had a six-month follow up appointment with his pulmonologist today. He's been followed ever since he was a baby, and the one we see here is the best yet.
From the time he came home until about one year ago, we had to administer two nebulizer treatments to Pacey every single day. We were able to wean off of his inhaled steroids and, with the exception of a couple of days here or there when he's had a cold, he hasn't needed any treatments for almost a year now. It seems almost unbelievable really. I heard so many times that the thing that would help Pacey the most was time to grow. As his current doctor puts it - it's a plumbing issue and the bigger his airways get, the more easily he can fight off invaders and clear stuff before he gets too bogged down. It was so frustrating to hear that when he was small and we were in and out of the hospital, feeling pretty helpless to keep him healthy.
And now, he's grown. His pants are hovering just above his shoes, necessitating an entire wardrobe update. He's sturdy and surprisingly strong and made it through this flu season relatively unscathed. It's not a guarantee that it will be smooth sailing from here on out...I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Children's Hospital. But I do think we made it through the worst few years for him and that feels really good.
For my own records, and because it makes me so happy to see that he's growing, today he measured:
37 pounds
39.5 inches
It's been forever since I plotted him on a growth chart for typically developing children but he seems to be pretty firmly in the middle for a boy with Down syndrome. Not at all bad for a kid who weighed three pounds at birth and bears the nickname Peanut to this day.
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