Welcome to Elijahland

Our appointments went well today. We were nervous about the day’s proceedings, but there was no reason to worry and everything turned out just fine.

Our afternoon started with a CT scan on Elijah’s head. The last time he had a CT scan, Elijah slept through the whole experience. Now that Elijah is older, he was wide awake and got to experience a trip in what I called a spaceship. The whole experience only lasted a few minutes, but was agonizing for us to watch. Elijah was very quiet and still at first, but fear crept into his eyes and he started to cry. Talking and singing to him helped, but it was difficult to watch his lower lip bulge and to hear him cry. (It was hard for me to hold back my tears watching him!) Overall, it was a relatively uneventful experience and Elijah calmed down once we could hold him again.

Next we headed to a different hospital to have his scan interpreted. We had to wait a long time because they had difficulty with receiving the results, but eventually we got to see the plastic surgeon. He told us good news…the plates on Elijah’s head still haven’t fused prematurely. The doc also told us that he didn’t think Elijah would benefit from a cranial cap. The reasoning behind it is that a helmet cannot pull a skull, but only push it. Elijah needs the front of his head to push out and only the growth of his brain can do that. To me, this is a catch-22 situation. On the one hand, I’m thrilled that he won’t have to wear a helmet. On the other hand, it’s frustrating because there isn’t much we can do about his head shape other than wait, hope, and pray that his head will grow and resolve the issue. The good news is that his skull hasn’t fused, so his brain has the room to grow and the opportunity to push the skull out…and he won’t require surgery at this time.

We didn’t get to see the neurosurgeon today as was planned (his grandmother had died and he was at the funeral). He will take a look at Elijah’s scan too, and get back to us about what he thinks. We have no reason to think that he would say anything different, but it’s nice to have a few opinions about the matter. We’ll be seeing these doctors again when Elijah is one year old. That seems so far away, but as we already know from experience, six months go by fast. Thanks once again for all of the prayers! Today went better than expected.

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