Since I’ve already nicknamed one of Elijah’s doctors, I’ve decided to nickname Elijah’s pediatrician as well. Why not? J Elijah’s doctor has always been really nice, kind, and positive. He is responsible and tells us what he sees instead of predicting possible negative outcomes (when no one really knows what the future might bring). We’ve been told he’s a really good doctor and after all we’ve been through, he’s the only one we really trust. Early Intervention always raves about him and tells us we’re lucky to have him as Elijah’s doc. For all of those reasons, I’m going to call him Dr. Positive.
At Elijah’s appointment, we told Dr. Positive how well Elijah is doing (rolling over, giggling). He seemed to think that our little man is doing well. Elijah was squirming and jumping in my lap and was checking out the picture on the wall behind the doc. Elijah also looked at the doc with that little furrowed brow of his. Dr. Positive seemed so pleased that Elijah was looking at him and that Elijah was interested in the picture on the wall.
Elijah’s head is extremely small for his age, but this isn’t new news. We told the doc that we are focusing on Elijah’s development, which seems to be right on track. Dr. Positive seemed to agree that the important thing is his development. The good news is that Elijah’s head is definitely growing; it’s just growing at a slower rate than most kids his age. When you consider what he’s been through, it’s amazing that he’s doing all that he is doing. We remind ourselves that Elijah had a massive injury and he still needs time to recover. We believe his head size will catch up with God’s help.
Without any prompting from us, Dr. Positive mentioned that Elijah’s head does seem to have filled in some since the last time he saw Elijah. We think it is too, but we see him every day so it’s hard to tell the small differences. The doc hasn’t seen him for about seven weeks, so he would be able to determine a difference better than we could.
Curious how much Elijah weighs now? He is 16 lbs. 10 oz. That was a bit confusing to us since he weighed 17.3 lbs. when he was weighed at his neurosurgery appointment a few weeks ago. We mentioned this to Dr. Positive and he wasn’t concerned. Scales can easily be a pound or so off, so the important thing is to be consistent with scales. Elijah is obviously growing, so from now on I’ll ignore any scales other than the pediatrician’s for consistency’s sake.
Elijah is now 26 inches long. For both his length and weight, he’s in about the 80th percentile (for those of you interested in that sort of thing). In terms of his head circumference, he’s in less than the 5th percentile. The important thing to us is that his head and body are growing. We try not to get hung up on percentiles.
The only negative thing Dr. Positive said is that Elijah’s tone is “a little on the tight side.” He emphasized the word little. This confirms what Dr. Gloom said and since I trust Dr. Positive, I have to believe that it is unfortunately true. Dr. Positive didn’t make a huge deal about it; he just said it was a little tight. He didn’t seem too concerned at this point. If it’s just a bit tighter than normal, it probably isn’t that big of a deal. We just hope and pray that it won’t get any tighter.
Overall, it was a good appointment. Dr. Positive seriously said “Congratulations” to us three or four times. That obviously means he thinks that Elijah is doing really well. Personally, I think that means Elijah is doing better than he expected (perhaps a negative report from Dr. Gloom made him think Elijah wasn’t going to be doing so well). Anyway, the news is basically the same as before: We have an incredible miracle on our hands, who just so happens to have a small head and tone that’s a little tight. We remain optimistic that he’s going to make a complete recovery, despite everything that’s working against him. After all, he has God working for him.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed the special blue (especially long) 100th journal entry. We thank you all for keeping up with our difficult and joyous journey and for the hundreds of prayers you’ve sent up for him. He can still use the prayers and we thank you in advance for the hundreds more we know he’ll receive. Love, The Wagners
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