We saw Elijah’s eye doc this morning. We showed her the picture of him going slightly cross-eyed and she seemed a bit concerned. We told her that it was a really rare occurrence and then she didn’t seem as concerned about it. We’re supposed to keep an eye on him to make sure he isn’t crossing his eyes more often. She said if he crosses his eyes for ten percent of the day or is doing it more often, then we should come in to see her about getting him fitted for eye glasses. Otherwise, we’ll see her in two months to check up on things again.
After the eye doc appointment, we drove over to the neurologist’s office. Since his office is literally next door to the Children’s Hospital where Elijah spent his early weeks in the NICU - and since we had some time to kill, we thought we’d pay his nurses a visit. Unfortunately, Elijah’s primary nurses weren’t working today, so we didn’t get to see anyone. I was a bit bummed as it would have been nice to show them how well Elijah is doing, but oh well.
I can say, though, that it was a strange and eerie feeling to walk down those halls of the hospital where we had previously spent so much time. Somehow the hallways seemed brighter, the floors shinier, the people nicer. Funny how a place can seem completely different when the circumstances are different – it was wonderful to be carrying our boy in our arms in a place where in the past we hadn’t been able to. It sure felt good when the people at the front desk referred to Elijah as a graduate with a smile. It makes him sound so refined! :)
We headed over to see Dr. Gloom in the late morning and all went well. I was impressed at how un-gloomy Dr. Gloom was today. In fact, I told Andy that if I had met Dr. Gloom for the first time today I might have even liked the man. He asked us how things have been and so we told him all that has been going on with Elijah, how pleased we are with his development and some of our concerns as well. Elijah was in a really good mood while we were talking to the doc. He was smiling, laughing, jumping. Dr. Gloom definitely got to see Elijah’s good side this time and I was so pleased.
The great news today is that Dr. Gloom didn’t notice tightness in Elijah’s tone!! He did notice a little bit of tightness in his left hand/wrist, but he called it mild. He said some kid’s tone does get better with time. (Hmm, I wonder if God’s intervention has anything to do with it?! As I write this, I am once again amazed at God’s greatness and how He continues to heal our son and diligently answer the prayers on the behalf of our son. Please keep up those prayers!)
We still have concern with Elijah’s head growth. His head size isn’t even on the charts anymore, which is a bit disappointing. I’m sure statistically that this means bad things as far as development goes, but I don’t care about statistics. I know Elijah can be an exception to the rule. He already is!
Dr. Gloom seemed impressed with Elijah’s jumping and was glad to see that his legs are bending normally. He commented that Elijah has really good head control and said he’s made vast improvements since the last time he saw him (if you recall, I was frustrated because Elijah wasn’t at his best the last time, though). Elijah did track the doctor’s knee mallet (what do you call those things?), but apparently not as much as the doc would like. He said Elijah is behind his peers when it comes to his attentiveness to things.
After an office visit full of positives, Dr. Gloom let out his gloomy side. He tried to be empathetic and said that it must be difficult for us to see what Elijah’s peers are doing. In all honesty, sometimes it is difficult to think that most babies his age are grabbing at things and seem to have longer attention spans. On the other hand, I remind myself that every baby develops at a different rate and considering all Elijah has been through, I should give him a break. I could tell in the way Dr. Gloom talked to us that he thinks Elijah is going to have cognitive disabilities. While I know that Elijah might have difficulties, I am still so optimistic. I know what God can do and I see brightness in our boy’s eyes. When Dr. Gloom said that it must be hard for us, I was proud of myself because I told him that we’re so thankful for Elijah and are so happy that he’s doing so well. I told him that we count our blessings because we know that Elijah could’ve been in a different boat – not breathing, not eating. I told him that we’re incredibly optimistic for the future. What did he say in return? “You guys are great”. And “keep doing what you’re doing with him”. Overall, it was a good day. We’ll see Dr. Gloom in another four months. Thanks for the prayers.
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