Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Update on Baby Ryan

Ryan and I visited with his Neurologist today. We discussed concerns about the increasing amount of irritability that Ryan has been displaying over the past several days, 2 events that occurred during this past month that may have been seizures, and Ryan's constant congestion. The Neurologist felt that the constant congestion could affect Ryan's ability to get quality sleep. A lack of quality sleep could contribute to additional seizures. He would like us to see a Pediatric Ear Nose & Throat (ENT) Specialist to rule out any structural issues. He would also like us to discuss with Ryan's Pediatrician the possibility that the solid food we just started about 9 days ago could be contributing to the irritability.

So, why not just blame the grumpiness on typical baby stuff? Well, the medicine Ryan takes to prevent seizures is known to cause irritability. If the medicine is the source of the irritability then Vitamin B-6 should resolve it. (Wouldn't it be nice if a good dose of Vitamin B-6 would resolve everyone's irritability? :)) If however it doesn't resolve and there's no other known cause for it, then the Neurologist feels the only decision would be to take Ryan off the medicine and look for another answer.

We also discussed Ryan's muscular structure. He is definitely improving in his muscle control. He can almost hold his head up now without looking like a bobble head. Not for long, but he can do it.

Ryan's leg reflexes seem to be better than they used to be. However, the Neurologist was concerned about the way he continues to position his legs with his feet resting on each other. He also does this with his hands. You might notice that he frequently holds his hands together over his chest.

I feel very thankful for this Dr. He is super bright and very compassionate. I appreciate my neurosurgeon friend referring me to him.

3 comments:

Jennymae said...

Thanks for sharing Ryan's journey with us Tina...the updates are always good to hear...everything in baby steps...and yes, it we should all be so lucky as to have a litte vitamin B to help the grumpy times :) Love you all!

Elizabeth Simpson said...

Thinking of you all regularly and sitting in your cheering section, Elizabeth

chickadee3357 said...

Improvement is good. One of my friends in my book club works with visual impaired children who have other problems as well. She has one who the doctors didn't think she would live long or walk or be able to interact and she is now 10 and she improves so much because of the support and help her parents give her. She has another child who is on the other spectrum, he has not had parent support and love and has not excelled. Ryan has wonderful parents to support and love him, but not only that he has 5 great siblings.