Doctor Meeting!

We had a doctor meeting for Owen on Tuesday the 7th in Oakland. It was originally supposed to be a doctor meeting with Heath and I, the GI team and the Surgery team to discuss possible TPN or even the STEP procedure for Owen. However, when we got there, only our GI doctor came into the room where we were waiting. She said that she tried to get everyone else there but they were all unable to make it. She told me that they would have rescheduled but after talking to the 2 teams, there was really no reason for the meeting unless I needed to clarify with everyone.

She told me that the Surgery team all agreed that there would be no reason to put Owen through the STEP procedure at this point, even though he qualified, because he hasn't even been on TPN since he left the NICU. The surgeon said that he knew Owen's history with surgery, and since Owen takes an extra long time to recover from anything, Owen might not do very well and the surgery could do more harm than good. They would like to keep watching him and keep the STEP procedure in the back of their mind. Yay! Such great news!

The GI team reviewed Owen's growth chart when considering TPN for him. At this point, they realized that Owen has not plateaued in his weight gain at all. He has had many set-backs (the biggest of which was his mic-key, g-tube surgery where he lost over 3lbs in just 3weeks) and still seems to begin gaining weight when he is well and at home. He DOES gain weight, even though it is hard to see. Looking at the chart you can tell, he gets sick, looses weight, and then gets better, goes home, and starts to gain again. It is slowly but surely. He is not on the chart for his age group in weight but he is not too far under it.

These past couple weeks I have been getting my mind set on Owen being in the hospital one more time, getting him set on TPN, and coming home with a whole new set of things for me to care for. I have made plans for where the sterile equipment would be in kept in our house, I have thought about dressing changesnd worrying about a central line and not getting an infection. I am so glad that, at this point in his life, we will not have to worry about all these things anymore! We are so blessed to have such a fighter for a son.
So, for now, Owen will be continuing his schedule as usual. We will be working on getting his formula to a higher calorie per ounce and we will be working on condensing his feeding rate. yay!

The most wonderful thing about Owen - even after all he has gone through, he is such a happy baby and even . . . wants to eat orally!! lol

pictures of Owen enjoying some watermelon!