A Little Something Extra

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Sofa climber and sleep stuff

There is no photographic evidence of the following event.  I left 3 children in the family room and went to the kitchen to get dinner out of the oven last night.  I probably left the room for a total of 2 minutes.  When I returned, I found Micah on the sofa and not in his comfy chair on the floor.  The other two kids hadn't budged.  But Micah apparently decided he would rather watch TV from the sofa than from his chair.  I'm pretty sure that event did not fall safely into the "no weight bearing" category. (but WTG, Micah, for the motivation to get up?).  Have I mentioned that this kid has the best.laugh.ever?  He was pretty proud of himself and gave me a hilarious laugh when I asked him how he got there.  Oh, well.  Seriously... I can't supervise 24/7.

Micah is sleeping well.  I can't even believe I'm saying that.  We took him off Prevacid.  And last night we dropped his decongestant.  If we can successfully take him off his nightly pain-reliever, then I'm going to have a nice little chat with Micah's ENT.  Why?  Because the only thing that's different since the cast experience is that he now knows how to sleep with a pillow.  If the pillow is fixing his poor sleep, then wouldn't it make sense that he has had some sort of breathing issue that was making him wake up frequently during the night?

There are some studies that have shown that individuals with Down syndrome sleep poorly.  Great information, right?  I mean, most parents of a little one with Down syndrome could tell you THAT (history: Micah "passed" his sleep study, aka no apnea episodes, but he had THIRTY awakenings!).  But there hasn't been enough research done to show WHY they don't sleep well.  I hope to address that at a seminar at the NDSC annual convention (in San Antonio in August... who else is going?).  There's a workshop being presented by the director of the DS clinic at Denver Children's that is supposed to address new medical information and controversies.  I hope the presenter will be open to questions.  And Brian Skotko will be doing a workshop on medical updates too.

I'm so excited that one of Micah's SLP's (speech and language pathologist) will be attending NDSC this year.  And she'll be joining Micah's neurodevelopmental pediatrician at the medical professionals conference the first day.

On a separate note, Micah saw his ophthalmologist last Thursday and received a new prescription.  His crossing is getting a bit worse and his doc would like to see if new lenses will help.  If not, we might have to go back to patching.  Or possibly a surgical repair.

4 comments:

Kim Rees said...

So glad to see that your family is doing so well. Micah is growing up so fast. Love the pic of him with the headphones on while he is getting his cast off. I take an ipod with us everywhere we go for Lily since doctor's appointments and such can be so drawn out. Glad he did so well. In regards to his sleeping I can totally relate. Lily didn't start sleeping better until they decided to take out her adenoids back in January. She sleeps like an angel now. So much better. God Bless You and your family!

my family said...

wtg little guy.....wish I was going to the conference too :(

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennie!
Hello from Milwaukee! It's so great to read that Micah's cast is off. What a road you travel!
I love reading your updates and insights. It was great to hear about his speech therapy. :)
I hope everyone is doing well,
Katherine Frontier

Jen Currier said...

Even though the weight bearing might not be ideal, you gotta love his motivation!!! :) Glad to hear the sleeping is going better too. My little guy has always slept well, but because of all of the stories I hear, I get nervous that that will change...deep breath.

I'm always excited to see when you've posted- Micah is SUCH a cutie!!