Whew! February has been an exciting month here in our house. So very
much has happened since our last update. Where to begin? Well the first
thing was that Owen got his Botox injections for his eyes. We are starting to
see his left eye not crossing nearly as much as it used to, so that
is good news.
The next thing was a trip down to UNC to get the hearing aids. We were,
of course, hoping that they would turn them on and he would actually turn
his head toward our voices, but there was nothing that dramatic. Instead
we are looking for more subtle changes like more coherent babbling.
I think the prevalent theory right now is that he used to have
hearing at one time that he has slowly lost. This is because he used to
have several words that he has slowly stopped being able to use over time.
Below is a picture of Owen with his hearing aids in. They are light
blue and you can just see one over his right ear.
The other big news from this trip was that there may still be a possiblity
for Owen to have a cochlear implant. Further research has shown a
few models of implants that have much weaker magnets that are not
capable of making large changes in the pressure of his shunt. We are
waiting on the final word as they are still in the process of finishing
up their study. So if the hearing aids don't work, all hope may not
be lost.
The other big thing was Owen getting a second cord blood infusion. You
can read all about that here.
We will be driving ourselves nuts for the next few weeks watching for
the smallest change in his behaviour, but it's worth a try.
We are in the process of setting up speech and occupational therapy
to help Owen with his communication and fine motor skills. OT starts
next week, we are still waiting to see when speech can get started.
I've posted a few new pictures of Owen below, including a few from
one of his physical therapy sessions where you can see the huge strides
he has made in head control.
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Pictures from Owen's January 30, 2008 Physical Therapy Session
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February 9, 2008
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