17 Apr Clinic Update
First of all, I’d like to apologize for an error in my last post. This whole once-a-month-clinic thing has me all mixed up, and I thought that we were going to the hospital last week. So in my last post, I lead everyone to believe I would have posted last week, but I was wrong. We went to clinic again today for the first time in a month. It was so nice to see all of Keegan’s “girlfriends” there. 😉 He got dressed in his finest to impress them, of course, and my, my, my, if he didn’t look dapper! I’m not biased at all, am I? We remembered to use the numbing cream on his arms. That helped a tad with the sting of the needle, but unfortunately, he finds the rubber turniquet just as uncomfortable. Not much I can do about that. The other downside of the numbing cream is that it tends to constrict his already tiny veins. It took a bit of proding, but they were able to get his blood draw without going into complete hysteria. I apologize for all times in the future to all the phlebotomists who have to listen to my off-tune versions of his favorite songs as he’s being poked and stabbed. His labs looked pretty good. Of course, his prograf levels were low since he has been growing. That is the antirejection drug that is supposed to be between 10-15; his was 7.9 today. Again, the good thing about that is he is not going into rejection despite being at a lower level, but we increased his dosage anyway to get a little closer to the desired range. We will get to see the outpatient lab at CMC Legacy here by the house next week for another blood test (finger prick) to make sure his prograf levels are closer to where the team wants them.
Chest xray looked great. He missed one of his favorite radiology techs today; congratulations to her on having her first son, Dane! Of course, all his other friends came by to see him though. We also had the opportunity to meet a teenage boy who was waiting for his xray. He had a heart transplant at 8 years old and is doing great. It is always reassuring to meet older boys that are doing well after an early transplant. It can be so easy to fall into the cycle of thinking that we may never reach that stage, but meeting kids like this boy help kickstart the positives. His EKG looked the same as always, good to hear. No echo today. We’ll only have them every 2 months from now on, so his next one will be in the middle of May. Dr. Fixler seemed very happy with Keegan’s progress. He gave his official blessing for Keeg to hit the pool, so now we’re just waiting on some warm weather and for Big Daddy to fire up the pool heater!
He weighed in at 15.4 pounds today, which is one pound more than last month. Keegan had decided recently that he was too much of a big boy for his bottle and that he’d much rather have his solids. That didn’t fly with the pediatrician or the dietician, so we’ve had to cut back on his solid foods and rearrange his schedule. Evidently, solids are just supposed to be a fun learning opportunity for babies until one year of age. They are supposed to continue getting almost all of his nutrition from their milk. He’s back up to taking the minimum amount required each day. We’re hoping as he adjusts to the new schedule he’ll go back to taking a sufficient amount of formula. We certainly don’t want to short him on any growing opportunities!!
In other news, Keeg and I went to the Dallas Arboretum with Chum and Mamie on Monday. We had a nice time until a birdy pooped on Keegan’s hand & shoe! Just when I put him down on a bench to take a picture, wham! I’ve been told that’s considered lucky, but tell that to his poor shoe. Thanks so much to Chum for coming out with us and for the fun souvenirs for Keeg. We have posted a few pics (taken before the battery died about 20min into our visit) from Monday and a few from clinic today.
Thanks so much for checking in on us and continuing to pray for Keegan. It may seem like he’s out of the woods, but there is still so much he is going through. We hope you are all doing well. Take care.