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Andrew FINALLY had his MRI done on Monday January 10. It was kind of a rough morning - starting with us being up at 4:30 and in the waiting room at Childrens Hospital at 5:50am. We were both with Andrew while he got his IV put in and Laurie was able to stay with him through the whole experience. They were almost done with the scan (they were just starting the last 10 minute scan) when he woke up in the MRI machine. Laurie was told that they were just doing the last of a couple of additional scans that the radiologist wanted when Andrew woke up - they said hopefully they got what they needed or else we would have to come back!
Laurie carried Andrew to recovery while someone went and got John in the waiting room. They warned us in the pre-op room that some kids have an opposite reaction to the sedative meaning they get aggressive and agitated when they wake up....well, that happened to Andrew on the way back to recovery and in the recovery room. They ended up calling a doctor and anesthesiologist to come in and give him more sedative in recovery...he fell asleep on Laurie for about 40 minutes until they made us wake him up...he was barely awake enough to drink some juice so we could go home. He kept the juice down so we left the hospital, dropped John off at work and then Laurie took Andrew home. He slept the entire way home and was pretty loopy/high from the medicine (couldn't even walk) when we got home....Laurie gave him something to eat and then he fell asleep for over 2 1/2 hours....when he woke up he was totally fine :)
We were told that the doctor (pediatric ophthalmologist) would have the results on Wednesday. Laurie called his office Wednesday morning and they said that they would see if they had the results and get back to her. A nurse called back early Thursday afternoon and said that the MRI was fine and that we could just follow-up with the doctor in August (for Andrew's yearly appointment). We decided that we weren't satisfied with that response (because the problem is still going on and we want to know how to correct it now that we know the optic nerve is fine) so Laurie called back and they took a message for the doctor to call her back.
The doctor called Laurie and said that everything with the scan was great – completely normal. He said that the radiologist called him and said “what’s up, why are we scanning this kid – we don’t see anything wrong”…so, that’s why they were taking the additional scans because they didn’t see anything wrong.
He said that because everything with the nerves is fine and anatomically nothing at all is wrong, it means that the problem is weak eye muscles. We are to start patching again but he said that unless we notice a severe increase in the crossing, we don’t have to be crazy about it if Andrew doesn’t co-operate….he said that if it does happen to get worse then we might want to look into a cheap pair of glasses (with the prescription he gave us in May) but because he thinks Andrew is only slightly far-sighted and the glasses would really only be used for the crossing issue, there is a good chance Andrew won’t wear them.
Laurie told him that it seems to be better (and we even have other people commenting on how it looks better) but we do still notice it happening – especially when he’s tired….he said that’s great and not a surprise because Andrew is now getting good nutrition which is a huge help as well as increased stimulation since being home with us….he said it makes sense that we notice it when he’s tired because the muscles are going to be weaker when he’s tired. He said to just do what we can with the patching and come back in August…..he said that it may be something that Andrew just grows out of eventually.
Other than playing in the snow lots - helping daddy & mommy shovel and sled riding with daddy, the rest of January was pretty uneventful which was quite nice after such a busy busy December!
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February started off with Andrew's first Super Bowl. How exciting for us that our team, Pittsburgh Steelers, made it to that game again. We went over to our neighbor's (Andrew's buddy Lucas) house for the game. Even though our team lost we had lots of fun - every single one of Lucas' toys were played with by the kids...what a mess by the end of the night! :)
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The following weekend we were supposed to go to a birthday party at Jumpin Castle for our friend Ava, but unfortunately there was a head lice incident at the babysitter's house (nobody other than her daughter ended up with it thank goodness) so we didn't want to take our chances of spreading it until we were sure that we didn't have any. We did, however, take him there to play the next weekend with his friends Ty, Reed & Lucas. Everybody had a good time so we will definitely go back there to play sometime. Andrew also celebrated his first Valentine's day with us during that time and received lots of hugs & kisses from mommy and daddy :)
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We had our second post adoption visit with our social worker, Rita, on the morning of Saturday the 26th. She said she is always amazed at the changes from the 6 month visit to the 1 year visit and Andrew was no exception. His language has exploded and as anyone who spends a day with him knows, he rarely stops talking :) After chatting with us about a few updates since the last visit, Rita followed Andrew into the playroom where she sat at his kitchen while he made her some coffee and eggs. She said that he seems to be adjusting wonderfully and was very impressed that he can spell his name, say his full name, count to 10, say most of the alphabet and knows his colors. She will send us her report soon and it will be sent to Russia for our 1 year anniversary of the adoption (April 27). She won't have another report due for us until April 2012!
Andrew's friends Ty & Reed had their 3rd Birthday party on February 27. It was a Toy Story themed party and there were lots of kids there to celebrate. The weather was beautiful and we had a very hard time keeping Andrew inside with the party as he just wanted to be walking around outside. It was a great way to end a fun month!
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