I apologize for my absence from this blog. School and the Christmas holidays have kept us pretty busy. I wanted to update the blog to let you know that Bram had his MRI on Thursday, January 5th, and it came back clear again. No evidence of disease! His next MRI will be July 5th. We still have a couple more appointments at Children's before then.
We saw an endocrinologist last week. After researching HGH and talking to the endocrinologist and the oncologist, I've decided to go ahead and start Bram on HGH injections. They first have to do an HGH study. It entails Bram being hooked up to an I.V. for three hours. They will then give him two drugs that stimulate the pituitary gland to release HGH. Blood will be taken at thirty minute intervals so that they can get an accurate picture of his HGH production. The endocrinologist is expecting Bram's output to be very low. Basing his calculations on parental height, the doctor says Bram is five inches shorter than his expected height for his age. Radiation to the brain typically damages the pituitary gland and causes HGH deficiency. Bram's HGH study is scheduled for March 12th.
Bram also has an appointment on January 18th with the ENT and the audiologist due to a perforated right ear drum. We have no idea how the perforation occurred. Bram has not complained of any ear pain at all. He has started saying, "What?" a little more frequently. At this time, we're not sure if it's due to the perforated ear or just him being a boy. I know my brother Bill can relate to that statement. I recall him driving my mother to distraction with his constant "What?" response to anything my mother said to him when he was a child/teenager. :o) The appointment with the audiologist should clarify whether we dealing with hearing loss or a simple case of XY sex chromosomes.
We had a wonderful Christmas break. We had a chance to drive over to Shreveport to meet Bram's new cousin Roger, my niece's new baby. Bram also got a chance to play with his "old" cousins Joel and Travis. I got to visit with my sister, niece, and nephew-in-law (?). It was a very nice visit.
Bram had an excellent Christmas break. He got to see Santa numerous times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He also got a chance to spend lots of time with Papaw and Cousin Brandon. He even got to spend time with Granny when she wasn't working. Once Bram wore everyone else out, I got my chance to spend time with him. We had tons of fun playing with his toys together. I believe some of his favorites were his train set, race car track, a new Fisher Price zoo, his pink Doodle Bear, his Moon Dough play sets, and his Star Wars action set. He also loved the pink bean bag chair that Santa brought him.
We also had a fun-filled Thanksgiving break. We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday and then headed out to San Antonio on the Wednesday. We spent Thanksgiving at Sea World (and now have free admission for all of 2012. YAY!) and Friday at Fiesta Texas. Bram loved both. He really enjoyed feeding the dolphins at Sea World. However, the amount of money we spent on food for the dolphins makes me think we should do the dolphin encounter next time so that he can actually touch one. He also really loved the Scooby Doo ride at Fiesta Texas. It's a dark ride where you ride through a haunted mansion and shoot at ghosts and monsters (similar to the Buzz Lightyear Ride at Disneyland and WDW).
Since the house purchase has left us pretty strapped, we won't be able to afford a trip to Disneyland this summer. However, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to swing a trip down to San Antonio with visits to Sea World (free), Fiesta Texas (free if we buy a Six Flags season pass again), the San Antonio Zoo (half price with our Tyler Zoo membership), the S.A. Children's Museum, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. Maybe we can even make it over to Galveston for a little sun and sand. Bram loves playing in the sand. We're also hoping to take a trip out to Georgia for a visit with my brother Bill and his wife Margaret. We haven't seen Bill in a while and Margaret has yet to meet Bram. I'm sure we'll also make stops in Alabama to visit with my aunts, uncles, and numerous cousins. However, our first act of the summer will be swimming lessons for Bram.
Well, I have to go for now. Bram is ready to get up so my writing time has come to an end. I'll post another entry soon.
As always, thank you for all your prayers, thoughts, and support. I hope everyone has a healthy and happy 2012!
