St Patty's pics....and a medical update

Here's an update on Elijah's medical situation:

We will be visiting his cardiologist every other week for check-ups and when he's about 4 months old, he will need another angiogram so they can look into his heart and see how it is functioning. This will give us a good idea about when his first surgery will be. Right now they are estimating that the first heart surgery will take place at 4-6 months. Our number one priority is to fatten him up for it...and to keep him as healthy as possible (which unfortunately means keeping him away from kids and the general public for a while). The bigger and healthier he is, the better the surgery will go and the better recovery will be. He has gained almost a pound since his birth. Last Friday he weighed 5 lbs, 12 oz! He has been eating all his food through bottles and has been doing better than anyone thought he could do. He is such a strong guy.

Elijah's one kidney appears to be functioning just fine on its own, so as of now it looks like this will not cause him any medical issues. We will be seeing his urologist at the end of April for a check-up.

Because his little heart is trying so hard to send as much blood as possible to his lungs (and therefore sending too much blood to his lungs), he is still taking a small dose of Lasix. This medication expels fluids from the body. Without it, fluid would build up around his heart and lungs and would make it difficult for him to function. The medication is wonderful because he doesn't seem to be having any trouble doing the things that some heart babies would have a hard time with--breathing, eating and pooping.

Sometimes when more than one anomaly is seen in a baby, the doctors look for an underlying genetic reason to possibly explain everything. Since Elijah was born with a couple anomalies--his heart defect and his missing kidney--a genetic doctor had some tests run on him as soon as he was born to see if maybe there was an underlying cause for these things. We just got those results back this week and everything was perfectly normal. He does not have a genetic disorder or anything wrong with his chromosomes, so these anomalies are just a fluke.

Elijah has some challenges that lie ahead (surgeries, recoveries, etc..) but he is such a perfect, normal little baby. Looking at him, you'd never know he needs some major repairs inside his tiny little body.

Considering the severity of his heart defect and his prematurity, he is doing EXTREMELY well right now. All those prayers that you all have sent us are paying off. God has been so good to us. We are so blessed!

xoxoxxo
M, D & E