Annual Beach Trip

It's been awhile since we added an entry. We've just returned from a week at the beach. This year we went to Corolla Light, which is near Duck, NC. That's in the Outer Banks, NC.

It was a really nice trip - very fun and relaxing. The weather was beautiful - with the exception of one day. The boys had a great time. Simi's best friend Alex and his family was also there, which was great. Simi and Alex had a lot of fun playing on the beach and playing in the houses. Asher did his best kid brother routine and chased after them as best he could.

Asher seemed to have a number of developmental advances while we were at the beach. His vocabulary grows by a number of words each day and now he's even putting together two-word sentences. He's still a super funny baby and knows how to get us to really laugh. That kid's going to be a comedian when he grows up. Asher's also into the "I'll do it myself phase" - which means that I have to wait patiently while he struggles going up/down stairs, toddles to the beach or to where-ever we're going, or putting on shoes, etc.

We'll post pictures soon.

Tomorrow we're back at work/school. We need another week at the beach, I think.

---Update: Here are some pictures:

At the beach

Simi and Alex play on the surf

Asher at the Beach

Simi's Cardiology Appointment

Here's an update for you on Simi's appointment with his pediatric cardiologist: We've been going annually to monitor his atrial septal defect, or hole between the two atrial chambers of his heart.

Summary:
In a nutshell, we're going to wait until this time next year before closing the defect. On May 12, 2006, we'll do another echo of the defect and talk with his Dr. about the best method of closing it. At that time, I think we'll go ahead and schedule "it" (whatever method "it" may be).

Background:
When he was under two, the Dr. said the only way to close the defect was open heart surgery, where they open his chest, break open his rib cage, stop his heart, and put him on a heart/lung bypass machine for hours, then sew a patch where the hole is. The risk of complications is 1% (amazing it's not higher), but it's highly invasive and requires a long recuperation period. Plus, being on heart/lung bypass reduces your mental capacity.

Last year, the Dr. said that he now qualified for a (much) less invasive procedure, where they can snake a catheter in through a vein in his leg and place a device (amplatzer) in the hole to close it. The reason he suddenly qualified is because there is now tissue on either side of the hole, which they need to anchor the device. Last year, the Dr. said that kids do better the bigger they are and suggested we wait a year. So we did.

More information on this visit:
This year, after doing the echo, the Dr. said that there is a 70-75% chance that they'll be able to do the amplatzer catheter procedure, but they'll only know that when they go in to place the device. (Last year, we didn't realize that there was a chance they couldn't do it.)

It's questionable just how much tissue he has on either side of the hole and they'll get a better view of it when they go into his heart. One side, in particular, has less tissue than the other side. So we could submit him for the catheterization procedure - go through the four hour procedure and its risks - only to have to submit him again for open heart surgery.

Timing (age of the child) has its factors too. The younger the child, the less they remember and the less emotionally traumatic it is. It's important to close it before the child starts school so he doesn't miss 6+ weeks of school.

While our memories can certainly fail us, both Raj and I thought there was more tissue on either side of the hole this year over last year. And the year before, there was no tissue at all on one side. So it seems like the tissue is growing. At worst, we'll still have the same odds next year that we do this year.

So we decided to wait a year - with the hope that the tissue on either side of the hole will grow and we'll have improved odds for a successful amplatzer device. Simi will be 4 1/2 then with the plan to close it before he's five.

Asher's Test Results

The results of Asher's endoscopy and pH probe came in today (insert drum roll here....):

Biopsy results show "intense eosinophilic infiltration". If you remember from an earlier post, eosinophilic esophagitis is an allergic reaction that manifests itself in the esophagus. No wonder the reflux medication didn't help him any. His pH probe study came back normal. (Did you know that everyone refluxes at some part of the day?)

At least now we know. And now we can give him the appropriate medicine which will treat his condition.

And for all those doctors who said this thing was behavioral and not medical, I give them a great big, "TTTHHHHPPPPPFFT".

There's a moral to this story: ALWAYS believe the mom.

Funnybaby

AsherStar	Asher's new "hat"

Here are some recent photos of our clown-baby to entertain you while you're awaiting Asher's test results. He's a silly baby.

Last week-end, while doing sticker work, Asher suddenly decided to put his stickers on his face. What a goofball! You can see the result in this photo.

Later that day, upon awaking from his nap and seeing Simi's new t-ball glove, he exclaimed, "my hat!" and promptly put the glove on his head. We were able to compose ourselves from our deep belly laughs enough to snap this photo.