UPDATES 4-14-2008

Thank you for visiting our site and welcome to our weekly update on Lauren.

Lauren seems unstoppable these days. She really loves to climb the stairs. She just scaled the brick fireplace ledge for the first time yesterday. She is also acting her age and has started to throw tantrums. It is hard to believe that at 15 pounds she could cause such an uproar, but she can. It is sometimes hard not to laugh at the picture that it makes. She seems a whole different person than the once quiet baby who didn't want to move at all.

We have some changes to Lauren's upcoming surgery schedules at Children's. The ear tubes and frenulectomy surgeries are still planned for Wednesday, April 23rd. However, the pediatric surgeon has decided to take a different approach with Lauren's keloids around her g tube. This decision was made after she consulted the original pediatric surgeon who put in Lauren's g tube. Dr. Barsness will inject high doses of steroids to the site after numbing the area. This will need to be done over 3 separate office visits because Lauren does not weigh as much as she would need to get it all done safely at one time.

Dr. Barsness is planning to remove scar tissue in Lauren's abdominal area on the same day that Dr. Tomita will put in the LP (lumbar-peritoneal) shunt. These surgeries are now tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 9th. Lauren will most likely need to stay in the hospital for at least a few days after these surgeries.

I wanted to share a story that I forgot to mention last week. I went to have my eyes checked by Treacy and I noticed Treacy's doctor's coat right away. She looked so professional. Lauren went from happy to scared as soon as she saw her. It reminded me how much Lauren feared "the coats" at Children's during previous hospital stays. Once Lauren realized that she wasn't the patient, she seemed happy again. It amazes me how quickly children pick up on everything. We cannot get anything past her anymore.

We are looking forward to the bowling event this coming weekend!