We're back!

Last week, we made the long trek down to Shriner's Childrens Hospital in Shreveport, LA. He is growing out of the braces for his feet so he was measured for some new ones that actually fit. We picked out Dallas Cowboy ones and we can't wait to go pick them up! What a blessing Shriner's is; without them I'm not sure how we'd be able to provide braces for our little man. They also talked to us about some new stretches for his arms and legs & gave us new braces for his hands as well. He will go back May 3rd for those new foot braces then we won't go back again until October 2012.

The day before we went to Shriner's we had an appointment with Ben's pediatric opthamologist  and scheduled surgery for his eyes. If all goes well and we can manage to scrape the 20% for the surgery center and the surgeon, he will have the surgery this coming Friday. It will be one of two surgeries for the year. Three muscles will be corrected on one eye this go around and it should take about 1 1/2 hours. It will be outpatient, so he will go home that day.

We also received each piece of equipment that we ordered and his stroller is wonderful! It provides so much more support than the loaner we had, it's unbelievable how awesome it is for him. I would describe it as the cadillac of special strollers.

Now that you're all up-to-date, here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Shreveport and Easter. Enjoy!

Finally. An update!

It looks as though I have not posted since September of last year, so I will do my best to catch you up!

*Our first visit to Shriners was just really an evaluation. They wanted to see where Ben was developmentally and orthopedically. He was measured for casts and braces to help straighten his feet (pictures to be added later), we were given temporary braces for his feet/ankles along with several other things to help his hips and hands. An appointment was then scheduled for the following month to put the casts on his feet.

*In between the first and second visit, we saw a neurologist in Oklahoma City. This was also an evaluation type appointment to give the doctor an idea of where Ben is at developmentally and what our next step needs to be. He suggested an MRI to see where the damage to his brain is, but we couldn't afford it at the time so it is to be rescheduled when we can actually pay for the procedure. We also talked about a muscle relaxer for him, but the improvement rates were so low that we decided it would not be worth it since he is only mild - moderately affected.

*The second visit didn't go quite as planned. He was supposed to have casts put on that I could remove myself 6 weeks later, but the braces he was fitted for did not fit due to the muscles in his ankles being too tight.  He needed to be put on a low dose muscle relaxer, which I had not done yet. So, he had regular casts put on and we scheduled an appointment to come in 6 weeks later to get the casts removed and the braces put on after he'd being on the muscle relaxer for a little bit.

*After a phone call to the nurse at his neurologist, Ben was put on Baclofen (the low dose muscle relaxer) to prepare him for his braces.

*Our third visit to Shriner's was our longest and most productive. His casts were removed and his braces actually fit this time (YAY!). He is to wear the braces 23 hours a day until we go back for our forth appointment in April of 2012 to upgrade his braces to a bigger size.

--Other exciting news--
A gait trainer, new stroller/wheelchair, and a bath chair have all been ordered and should be received within the next couple of weeks! We absolutely can't wait! Our insurance is a PPO and sometimes it's difficult to get a gait trainer approved if the child has not reached certain milestones. Luckily we were approved and the process was in fact long, but smooth! We can't wait for Ben to have his new equipment!