Hello everyone! Aren't you proud of me...I'm updating again! Lol! Well, like I said on the last post, Atticus has had quite the round of check-ups this past month. We visited our Orthopaedic doc, Dr Locke, who gave us a new prescription for leg braces. He and Atticus' PT want to change them up a little (and he's outgrown his old pair) so that the right leg has a hinged joint at the ankle to make walking easier, and just a support for his left foot to keep him from rolling it inward.
We also had a visit with our Opthamologist, Dr Cheeseman, who also finally prescribed Atticus a pair of glasses. (Poor guy!!) Atticus is ever so slightly near-sighted and has a very slight astigmatism. Dr Cheeseman said that normally, he probably wouldn't even recommend glasses, but since we had noticed that Atticus was having a little trouble with some of his fine motor skills (ie he would be just off of the hole when trying to thread bead on a string), he went ahead and gave him a prescription. We've gotten them ordered, but it'll still be another week or so until they come in. I'll post pictures when I can!!
We also had an appointment with the Pulmonologist, Dr Brown, where we got some great news!! Dr Brown said that Atticus' lungs continue to sound great. He even decided to begin weaning Atticus down off his dosage of Sildenafil! Atticus had been on the same dosage levels since he came home from the hospital, so Dr Brown decided that Atticus is big enough where the dose probably isn't doing much for his size now. He told us that we could slowly wean down from 3x a day to 2x a day. If that goes well, after a month, we can wean down to only once a day! Then after another month, down to nothing!! Hooray!! I'm really excited that I only have to give it twice a day right now, because the 3rd dose had been the 1AM medicine. That means that I can actually go to bed at a decent hour now!! YAAAAAAAAY!! The extra sleep has been SO nice! :)
And of course, the big appointment of the month was our visit with Atticus' cardiologist, Dr Williams. Dr Williams was very happy with the sound of Atticus' heart and all of his stats. Atticus is up to 26.3lbs and 34 inches long. (He's my big boy!) Dr Williams has decided to go ahead and get the ball rolling towards Atticus' Fontan surgery. We actually just got the phone call from the hospital today to set up the next step, which is a Cath procedure to test the pressures in Atticus' heart and lungs. They have to do this pre-surgery cath to make sure that Atticus is a candidate for the Fontan. If the pressures are too high/too low, they wouldn't be able to do the Fontan. (Which would really stink!!) So basically, how soon Atticus will have the Fontan surgery will depend on what the docs/surgeons see when they do the Cath. Right now, we're scheduled to go to the hospital for the Cath on Jan 11, 2012. So as always, keep on prayin'! Please pray for good news and good health in the meantime! I'll continue to keep everyone updated while we wait! :)
