*DR. VISIT*
This past Thursday, Laura took Cole to see Dr. Bensky for a check up. Of course, everything checked out perfectly. Dr. Bensky commented on how well Cole has recovered and informed us that his second surgery will be in the next 3-6 months. The reason for the variability is because the timing of the surgery will be dependent on how fast Cole grows. The shunt that Cole has inside of his heart is a small piece of gore-tex. Imagine a small cylinder that has a diameter of 0.8 mm. As Cole and his heart grow, the small shunt becomes obsolete. When this happens, they will schedule the second surgery.
*THE SECOND SHUNT*
There has been some confusion on our part about exactly what happens at the second surgery. Initially, I was told that they would put in a larger shunt which I assumed would be just a larger piece of gore-tex similar to the one he has now. I assumed wrong. What will actually happen is that the surgeons will use part of Cole's existing artery to build him another larger shunt. So, there will be a "shunt" and it will be larger, but it will not be synthetic...it will be made out of Cole's artery. I apologize for the confusion.
*GENERAL UPDATE*
Cole is eating like a small village. He eats 4 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours. To put that into perspective, Ava ate 2 ounces of formula every 4-5 hours. So, he eats as much in one sitting as Ava did in 8-10 hours.
For those of you who want an update in the sleep department...I think Laura covered that in her last post. Let me just say that "Senor Sleep" moved out to make room for Cole to move in. Actually, we should not complain because Cole does sleep for 3-4 hour time blocks on occasion and we have friends with 5 year olds that do not sleep more than 1-2 hours at a time. Still, when you are used to "8 to 8" Ava's sleeping habits, it is tough to adjust to anything less than that. Cole will get there too, in time....at least we hope he will...you hear us Lord? Let there be no mistake what the "desire of our hearts is."
Well, I gotta run to the dumpster to throw out the 416,372 dirty diapers that Cole has assembled. We shall talk soon!
MG
3 comments:
Our most FAVORITE website!!! We never seem to tire from coming here and seeing Cole's progress and reading about him, even though we talk on the phone (Grand-Parent-Perogative) and we already know much of what you post in here. It still warms our hearts to see his pics and read it again and again. Seeing my little future weight lifter, with his eyes open and taking in the world around him, is AMAZING!
Keep up the great work and long hours! One day, he will be driving off in the car and you will only be able to wish for those days gone past. Grand-Parents know all about this kinda stuff ya know. (-:
Canon just learned how to say "cold," but for him it comes out "cole." So I think of you guys whenever it's cold, lol.
Love you guys and think of your darling family often!
Hey Ya'll
Thanks for the comments...we love them and check for them daily. We will be posting an update to the blog soon.
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