Good Reports

Clayton had two checkups in Memphis last week.  First doc we saw was his orthopedist.  Clayton's left hip is still slightly out of socket, but in general his x-ray looks the same as a year ago, which is definitely good news!  Also, while his spine does bend while he is seated, it is still flexible enough to go back to the straight position when he is lying down.  We are coming up on the next big growth spurt for him, and this is when it can get hairy for a non-ambulatory child.  All those spastic muscles will be pulling on his bones as they grow, so we will have to take good care to keep him in different positions and stretched well.  I pray his body handles the next few years of growing well.

We also saw his neurosurgeon.  His MRI was unchanged, which is another round of good news.  We discussed Clayton random afternoon episodes of crashing.  I had decided that he was having hypoglycemic spells, and she agreed that this could be possible.  She also suggested that it could be a low pressure headache from too much drainage from the shunt and/or from a bit of dehydration.  She said that almost all of her patients who deal with low pressure headaches find they come in the afternoon.  We'll see the next time it happens . . . if water helps it go away, then we'll know it was just a dehydration issue that led to a low pressure headache (low pressure due to not enough spinal fluid in his brain).  If that doesn't work and some juice or sugar water does, then we'll know it's low blood sugar.  I actually had his PCP order a blood test for the sugar, we just haven't made it to the lab after fasting for eight hours yet.  I hope to get that done this week and it might shed some light on the issue.  

All in all, two painless doctors appointments with happy doctors is what I'd call a win-win!