Springtime for Miles

Spring is here. With the turn of the season, the sun is coming out and the air is thick with moisture as it's wicked away from the saturated moss blanketing Bainbridge Island. Miles' appointments are spreading out; doctors are starting to let down their guards. To the surprise and delight of all, our little miracle boy is meeting his milestones. We are just about done fine tuning our medical team and are settling into a rhythm with a wonderful team of nurses and doctors. 

Over the last couple weeks we had a handful of really big appointments. We had another EEG, met with a neurologist, visited our pediatric neurodevelopmentalist, had an MRI done, and met with a new cardiologist for an echo and EKG. 

This was our first time not doing an overnight EEG. Since it's only a couple hours, they don't have to glue on the probes, but that means you have to keep your little guy still and on his back the whole time. I had to lay on top of Miles while keeping his head between my hands just so he could be still enough to get the probes on. After he was wrapped up I thought he'd be able to play, but not so, he had to lay on his back the whole time. He was so miserable he fell asleep (which was a blessing) but then SEVEN minutes later they made me wake him up because the technician had to go to lunch. It's tough desperately wanting to play the part of mama bear when you know you're going to be receiving care regularly from these people for the rest of your child's life. But ser.i.ous.ly.

Fortunately, it was all worth it - his EEG came back normal this time! Not even any brain wave slowing or whatever the heck they had me all worked up about last time. I am now jaded enough to know that next time we'll get terrible news all over again because that's how they roll, but for now, huzzah!

MRI's are not fun and particularly stink when they require sedation which means fasting. But they are made more fun when grandma comes along and makes everything better. 

Laughing gas while getting the IV. (I wish they would do that every time a kid needs a poke.)

He fought the anesthesia hard, but finally succumbed and was wheeled away for the MRI. No results yet.

Our echo was at 7:30am at Children's which meant a 5:30 wakeup call for Miles but he was such a trooper. Want to hear a funny joke? Put twenty cords and stickers on your 10 month-old's tummy and say don't touch and keep still. HAHAHAHAHA. 

Ha.

(PS this is what an EKG looks like.)

I kept bracing myself for the bad news but at every appointment the doctors marveled at Miles' progress and commented on how engaged he seemed to be - it was truly good news all around. The neurodevelopmentalist was shocked this was the same kid he saw only three months before and both he and the cardiologist said they thought this would be their best appointment all day. I hate having to put him through all of this but if enduring early mornings and some rough appointments is all I have to complain about, I have A LOT to be grateful for. Bring on the sunshine.