He'll keep his eye out for ya

Skeeter had his eye surgery yesterday, and all went well. He's home now, resting comfortably on the bed. I'm happy to report that the tumor was completely contained within the eye and hadn't spread outside of that area at all. Whew! Unfortunately, he didn't come home wearing a cone/plastic colloar--I was really hoping for that! But there's still a chance we'll get him an eye patch, once the incision has healed. ;) Speaking of, the incision doesn't look as icky as I was imagining--the area is shaved so that's more odd-looking than anything else. Ah well...in time I won't even notice, I'm sure!

Anyway, since this is supposed to be a BABY blog, I won't bore you with doggy updates much longer, especially since I HOPE this chapter is finished.

Speaking of the baby...we had good news yesterday: Her blood tests came back NEGATIVE for milk protein allergy! Ya-hoo! We got the go-ahead to switch her over to regular Enfamil formula--no more Neocate! It felt so odd to be at the normal store buying normal formula like a normal person. Of course, I still have a freezer full of expressed milk and I will plan to use that at some point, probably once we get the thickener situation figured out.

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned how Adele seemed to have no interest in crawling? Oh yeah, um, well, lately she's been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. I guess we'd better start babyproofing the house before too much longer! She's also getting into the plank position, as if she's going to do push-ups. I have NO idea where she gets that! Maybe she's taking baby bootcamp classes during the day? Next thing you know I'll find her doing pull-ups on the edge of her crib.

I guess that's about it from here. Oh, one last thing...

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk! Go KU!

A quick pupdate

Good news: The scans and x-rays all came back clear! YAY! The evil eye (ha) will be removed on Thursday, and hopefully that will be the end of it!

Happy Easter!

I realize this is a ridiculous amount of photos to post, especially when they're all basically the same pose, but I honestly could NOT narrow it down. She's just too darned cute in her new Easter dress!

Easter 2008

(OK, so maybe letting her hold the blue Easter egg was a bad idea... Luckily, the dress escaped harm!)

And because I am always behind the camera and never have pictures of Adele and I together...

Two updates in one!

Thought I'd give you the latest on Adele and Skeeter in one shot. We'll start with the good one...

Adele had her monthly check-up yesterday and she's doing just fine. Still hugging the 25% for her age (actual), but the doc says that's fine. That's just her trend right now. The doc is sort of surprised she's so small considering that Steve and I aren't small people, but she says she won't make any final predictions until she's at least a year old, adjusted. Even then I won't take it as Gospel--I can't help but think of Steve's "little" brother, Jason, who was a preemie and the smallest of the triplets for many years, until he hit those last two years of high school. He's now 6'4". And then on the other hand, I have a couple aunts on my mom's side who are petite, so she could take after them. The doc is happy with her muscle tone and strength and is not concerned in the LEAST that Adele shows no interest in scooting or crawling or movement of any sort. I guess she got MY lazy gene. The doctor said that Adele is just so relaxed and laid-back (true) that she just doesn't have the motivation. She can't be bothered to go get something--yep, that's my daughter! The yucky part of the visit was that she had to have a vial of blood drawn so we could test her for milk protein allergy and finally answer that question once and for all. It was hard, as you can probably imagine, finding a vein in her tiny arm, but they did eventually. She cried, of course, but otherwise handled it well. Such a trooper!

Some fun new tricks she's learned:

• Clapping! Sometimes she forgets to open one hand and claps with a fist, but you can tell she's SO proud of herself when she does it!
• We're working on "uh-oh." She can get the rhythm/inflection, but sometimes not the right sound. And sometimes when I say "uh-oh" she gives me her fake cough instead, but in the "uh-oh" inflection. Tee hee!
• She's really good at "dada" and I think is even starting to use it discriminately. She's finally added "mama" although it's more "mamamamamamama" and seems to use it more with me than anyone/thing else.
• I swear, SWEAR, she is trying to say "good doggie." She definitely makes a sound like "goggie" or "gog" when the pup is anywhere near, and if we say "good doggie" she'll use the right inflection/rhythm and end it on a "goggie." I don't know...seems too coincidental NOT to be that, right??
• She's great at sitting on her own (when she feels like bending in the middle, of course) and one of our "exercises" for Tiny-K this week is to get her to start bearing weight on one arm at a time so she can learn to get from a sit to the ground without a complete toppling. That one is still a challenge. She CAN do it, it's just an issue of getting her to do it.
• I can't remember if I mentioned this, but her second bottom tooth FINALLY came in! No more snaggle tooth!

I think that's about it for her. I know I'm overdue on photos, but I plan to post some after this weekend. :)

Now for the Pupdate...

We went to our local vet Wedesday for a recheck and things hadn't improved at all. Unfortunately, the vet saw something in the eye that concerned him and he sent us to the specialist in KC. They were able to get us in yesterday, thankfully. The vet there confirmed what the vet here suspected--there is a tumor of some sort in that eye, and that's the cause of the glaucoma. Right now there's no way to tell if it's cancerous or benign, and the only option is to remove the eye. However, we have to first determine if he's a candidate for surgery. Monday, I will take him to the vet here (we don't need to go back to KC again as all the remaining procedures can be done here in town) and they'll give him a chest x-ray and abdominal scan to check if he has any growths elsewhere. If all is clear then the eye will be removed ASAP and sent off to be biopsied. A week or two later we'll know the results of that and will deal with whatever news that brings us. If the x-ray/scans show other tumors...well, I don't know. It will all depend on how significant they are and what the timeframe looks like. Obviously our goal at that point would be to keep him as comfortable as possible for as long as possible, with as conservative treatments as possible. There are a lot of scenarios that could happen there, none of which we like to think about at this point.

Steve and I have a lot of guilt because we both realize we will eventually have to put a price cap on things, and we both feel terrible about that. I hate saying "it's just a DOG" but when it comes down to it, that's the truth. We love him terribly, and he's a fantastic pet and friend, but we always knew we'd outlive him so we have to be prepared to draw the line, especially when we now have a child who requires signficant care herself.

Anyway, it all just sucks (pardon the vulgarity).

Our other baby

Before there was Adele, there was Skeeter. He's our shelter-rescue beagle-mix and the cutest darn thing you ever did see. He's a great dog and friendly to all (except squirrels!). At around 8 years old, his biggest health concern has never been anything more than his preference for pudginess.

Until today.

A few days ago, Steve and I noticed he was having difficulty keeping his right eye open. It was as if he was constantly winking at us. Cute, yes, but not normal. Tuesday we thought it looked better so we cancelled the vet appointment we'd made. Wednesday he began the winking/blinking and the eye had taken on a cloudy, foggy appearance. Thinking it was nothing more than a scratch or minor infection, we made an appt for this morning figuring we'd spend $100 on an office exam and come home with a tube of ointment.

Well, the news today wasn't as simple. It turns out he has glaucoma. After a few tests, it was determined that pressures in his right eye (the affected eye) were in the 40-50 range. Normal is anything below 25. His left eye was at 11. Luckily he still has vision in his right eye, and the vet told me that we caught it just in time. There's still a chance we can save vision in that eye. Normal treatment is eye drops to relieve the pressure, hopefully saving the retina. However, the vet said that the drops aren't cheap, and if they don't work (or don't work well enough) we may have to consider other alternatives. Worst-case scenario, he has to have that eye removed.

The main question right now is whether the glaucoma is caused by genetics or injury. If it's the result of injury, we hope that a treatment of steroids and the pressure-reducing drops will solve the problem. If it's genetics...well, then we run the risk of the other eye being affected at some point or another. I learned that beagles are predisposed to glaucoma, and the kind that generally affects that breed usually affects both eyes with in 6-12 months of the initial diagnosis.

Unfortunately, everything I've read is telling me that treatment is usually just a "time-buyer" and or pain reliever (since the pressure can cause severe headaches), and that eventually the animal would need surgery to fix the glaucoma, or at worst, remove the eye.

I'll pick up the prescription drops after work tonight (and I'm bracing myself for a huge tab), and we'll take Skeeter back to the vet on Wednesday for a recheck of his eyes. We'll also be heading to KC at some point to visit a Veterinary Opthamologist, as s/he is the only one who can diagnose what the cause of the glaucoma is.

Of course, the decision we will eventually have to face is how much we are willing to spend to save his eye(s). I hope that decision is many, many years away.

I couldn't have said it better myself

I've added a few new links to preemie blogs I read. My newest obsession is Flotsam. I haven't been reading it long, but I'm already hooked, and when there are no updates in a few days I begin to worry. Anyway, Alexa (Flotsam's main contributor) is a wonderful writer--the kind of writer I wish I could be. She makes it sound effortless, and when I read her NICU updates I think "That's EXACTLY how I felt!" I don't know...maybe all preemie moms feel the same way, but somehow she mangaes to articulate the unarticulatable (is that a word?).

Anyway, after a few days of no updates there was finally a new post. I can't do the post justice by trying to describe it--you'll just have to read it yourself here.

She took the words right out of my mouth.

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P.S. I don't know if there is a special blog-ettiquitte that requires I notify her that I've linked to her blog. If anyone knows if there's protocol here, please let me know. I don't want to break the blog-rules!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is the sound of panicking you hear, the sound I make when I realize Adele will be 10. Months. Old. TOMORROW. Holy cow, where does the time go?? This means I really must start making First Birthday plans. If you're within eyeshot of this blog, you're officially invited to the big bash. All I know so far is that it will be the second weekend in May, probably Saturday the 10th (since Mother's Day is the 11th). Subject to change, of course, but just know it's coming and soon.

We've all battled the sickies here. Some of us (me) had it easier than others (Steve) and yet others (Adele) are still working through stuff. She had a cold last week and it's finally on its way out, but one lovely side effect has lingered: massive amounts of spitting up after every meal. Oh joy. At least we've found a new use for all of those nice hooded bath towels she outgrew. We noticed they make lovely, gigantic burp cloths. We made a trip to the doctor just to be safe, and she's fine. We hope this is just a fast phase she'll be out of soon. In fact, I thought today we were finally in the clear because we got through a feeding and all the way to KC (see below) without a spit-up. I should have known not to get too cocky, though, and she threw up just as the doctors were walking into the exam room. Sigh...

Today, Adele and I made a trip to CMH for an eye appointment. It was just a 6-month follow-up after she was cleared of ROP back in October(?). The good news is her eyes are PERFECT and she requires no follow-up until she's 3.5 (such a random age, but whatever). All the doctors and nurses we saw mentioned they couldn't believe she was born so early because she looked so good and is obviously developing so well. Yay! It's such a relief to be able to check the "typical preemie issues" off our "wait and see" list.

We finally have a OPM/swallow study scheduled for April 30. We're hoping at that appointment she can finally be taken off thickeners and will be allowed to move up to Stage 2 baby foods.

She still has just the one tooth. It's slowly getting taller and taller, and she looks SO funny/cute as a snaggletooth. I can see the one next to it right under the gum's surface, so I'm sure it will pop through any day now.

That's about it from here. Just a few photos to finish up!

Adele and I made a trip to Lincoln last week to visit Jeremy & Jill and the kiddos. A couple of the photos are from that trip.

Adele (9.5 months) & Edie (8.5 months):

Adele & Madeline:

Adele got sick on her coat just as we were leaving for daycare the other morning, and we ended up using this cape/poncho instead. Too cute! (I tried to get one of her with Skeeter for a "Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf" set-up, but he wouldn't oblige.)

I am desperately trying to get a good photo of her tooth. The following are the best I could do!