Everett's getting glasses

We went to Arkansas Children's today for Everett's eye appointment with the surgeon, and we got good news!!! We were dreading today's appointment thinking that if E was referred to a surgeon that it meant he was going to have surgery, but we're in the clear for now. Dr. L said that the measurement of his strabismus is 12-14. He said that below 12 surgery isn't neccessary and over 14 it is, so Everett is right in the middle. For now, we'll continue patching and Everett will get glasses. We'll try this for 3 months and re-evaluate to see where we're at. We are so glad that he doesn't have to have surgery right now, hopefully the glasses and patching will work and he will never need surgery. After we left Children's we went to UAMS to the optical to have him fitted for glasses. We found a really cute nicer pair and a play pair. He's SUPER cute in them!! They'll be here in 2 weeks. I'll make sure I post pictures when the glasses come it.

Eye Strabismus

On May 5th Everett had an opthamology appointment at Arkansas Children's Hospital because his pediatrician referred him after she noticed he has an eye strabismus. The ophthamologist dilated Everett's eyes and did a full exam. He told us to patch Everett's strong eye (the left one) 3 times a week and wants us to meet with an eye surgeon. It wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear. We were prepared to patch his eye, but were hoping that surgery would not be neccesary. We were told it would take about a month to get in to see the surgeon, so I guess we'll know more after that. I hate for him to have another surgery. He has already been through so much. Otherwise, he's doing great. He loves going to the park when it's nice outside which hasn't happened much lately.

It's hard to look cute wearing an eye patch, but he does it!

Family Fun Fest

Friday night after Chance got home the three of us went to Family Fun Fest. Everett was too small to ride most of the rides, but he did pet a pony (he was too scared to ride it), and ride the carousel with Daddy.

Sunday marked the end of his low fat diet and we are very excited about that. We hope that he will gain weight now.

At the park

Yesterday made 6 weeks since surgery so today was our first trip back to the park. We had a lot of fun!Our first stop-the swings.

Then we played a giant tic-tac-toe game. He won!

Getting ready to slide.

When the playground equipment becaume boring we played in the grass.

On Tuesday E had his 18-month well visit at the pediatrician. It was a month late because he was just now released to get immunizations after being on heart and lung bypass. He's tiny. He weighs 20 lbs 6 oz which is lower than the 5th percentile. Height was around 31" which is between around the 10-25% and his head is nice and round at the 50%. He's reaching all of his milestones on time and just had to have 2 shots.

Easter, etc

We went to Honey Grove for Easter and really enjoyed spending time with our families. We tried to get Everett's picture made with the Easter bunny, but he was terrified so he rode a helicopter at the mall instead. On the 14th we went to Dallas for his Cardiology follow-up with Dr. Punjwani, and he received a wonderful report. His oxygen level was around 93% the whole time they monitored him which is fantastic. His x-rays and EKG looked good, and we didn't have to have an echocardiogram this time. Dr. Guleserian, the surgeon, came in to see him and was impressed with how good he looks. Tomorrow will mark 6 weeks since surgery and we will be able to go to the playground and pick him up under his arms again-woohoo!!

Being home as a family is great, and Everett is beginning to adjust to life here. A couple of nights ago he slept through the night in his own room, and last night he slept part of the night in his own room. It's a process because he still get scared at night from being in the hospital, but we will get him back to where he was.

Everett loves to play peek-a-boo in this cabinet.

At Home

Life at home is great. Everett is eating better, and it's amazing for us all to be together again. We took this picture tonight when E was fresh out of the bath.

Going Home!

To Arkansas!! I took Everett to Dallas today for an appointment and the doctor said that his x-ray was pristine. She also said that his labs were good except that his sodium was low which makes sense because he is on a low sodium diet and diuretics. She took him off of diuril, one of the two diuretics he is on, and said we can ease up on the low sodium diet a little. I'm so glad because it is REALLY hard to find foods that have 2.5 mg of fat or less AND 140 mg of sodium or less. They said we can go home to Arkansas! We will leave tomorrow morning, and we are SO excited! We have to come back for a cardiology appointment on the 14th. Updates and pictures of life at home are to come.