Catching up

In October we also saw Ethan's orthopaedic surgeon and he is happy to keep Ethan in the back brace and revisit his spinal images in January to see if we need to move towards surgery.  Each time we wait, that allows Ethan to grow a bit older, bigger and stronger and reduces the minimum amounts of surgery he will require until fusion.  The surgeon said that in a year and a half, Ethan's back has only progressed a few degrees so although it is a severe scoliosis, it isn't changing rapidly right now.

In November we followed up with the general surgeon about Ethan's hydrocele.  It had reduced leading into November but started to act up again just before the appointment, which was nice as it allowed her to see what was going on.  She said that since Ethan is shunted, there will always be extra fluid and that his hydrocele likely will never self correct.  She planned for surgery on November 20th.  I then brought him to where he goes for therapy and he came home with a cold.  :(  It lasted about 3 weeks and meant he did not have surgery on the 20th. 

He also saw his neurologist last month who was quite pleased with his progress.  I had brought along the iPad in case Ethan got bored of back to back appointments and he was having a grand time with it, doing what he does and impressing everyone with his ability to work the iPad.

Lorelei too had an exciting day in November...she became a Brownie!

For anyone who remembers...she is wearing a vintage uniform (circa 1982).  She is not the only girl wearing a vintage uniform there is another girl also wearing one from her mom's youth.  The blue sash is so that she can collect her own badges as removing them from the dress would likely leave lots of holes and it might not hold up so well.  She seems to be enjoying it.  Just last week we toured a local fire station and they got to see a truck leave on a call (and come back to finish the tour).