2 August '06

Noah & I got back from Auckland this morning.
We flew up to 'the big smoke' yesterday, for Noah's MRI in Starship Hospital.
It all went very smoothly. It was kind of strange for me to be back in PICU, where Noah was being prepared for the MRI.
I saw some of the nurses, but none of the ones I got to know well was on yesterday :-(
Noah got lots of attention from the staff that was on duty anyway. Everybody says he's so alert, with very wise eyes. And that he's beautiful.
Just gotta brag a bit ;-)

The doctor involved with this study the MRI was for, had a talk with me. He explained that the very first MRI Noah had (before his first surgery) showed that his brain was completely normal.
The second MRI was done just after his first operation. This one showed 2 or 3 white spots on his brain. Lots of babies have these white spots, some have up to 20 or 30. Most of the time these spots have disappeared by the time the babies are 3 months old with their 3rd MRI.
They don't know yet what these white spots mean and it's one of the things they're looking at in this study.
Apparently babies who have had heart surgery and been on the bypass machine, are slightly more prone to e.g. ADHD and clumsiness. Hmmm... these things tend to run in our family anyway. so if Noah turns out to have them, there's no way of telling whether it was because of the surgery or not!
We're not worried, it's not something we can change anyway.
We will get a report of this 3rd MRI a bit later on and when Noah is 2 years old there will be another one plus an assessment of his development.

Last week I wrote that Noah's feeding tube had come out. He saw his paediatrician dr. Selby on Monday and she was very happy with his growth and progress! He's now just within the bottom line of the growth chart for 3 month old babies with his weight, height and head circumference.
He still has a small amount of diuretic medication and we're also giving him Duocal by mouth. This is a powder mixed with water or breastmilk, that provides extra calories and fat. Noah hates the stuff in his mouth, but I want to persevere with it as long as we can, to help him grow.