18 months...almost

Carter, Luke, Brayden and I left the house this morning a few minutes after 7:00. We headed to Brayden's pediatrician for a blood test that had to been done first thing in the morning and, while we were there, his 18 month check up. We try to make the appointments a one stop shop, no need to have two.

Here are his current stats for 18 months old (I did not pad them the way Jeremy did, oops I mean, some people do for college football):
Height – 32 ¾ inches, in the 50%, he has always been long but getting longer
Weight – 23 lbs. in the 10%, hooray! He is finally back on the growth curve; he has not been on the curve since he was 6 months old.
Head – 16.5 inches, not on the growth curve, never been on the curve but it is growing.
He is really growing! It is amazing what can happen when he is finally keeping food in and getting good nutrition through the J-tube. He just feels sturdier.

The vomiting is still an issue. He is on 4 medications (not including his seizure meds) to help but it is not eliminating the problem. The past couple of days he has vomited 2x a day. It does damage his skin with a very sensitive rash and the vomiting sometimes contains blood because of the damage it is doing to the inside. The pediatrician (who is amazing) is in communication with Brayden’s GI doctor and neurologist and is talking to a neuro-psychiatrist (who knew there was such a thing). They are discussing other options. Brayden had some blood work today for cortisol, to check his pituitary gland. We are also talking about another medication that could stop the brain from sending these strong signals to vomit, something similar to the Zofran that he is currently on.

After being there 1 ½ hours, we strolled out. Carter and Luke got a surprise flu mist, which they both handled just fine. The nurses (who are amazing too) kept them occupied in another room with stickers, highlighters and a pad of paper.


I attempted to take some pictures but after his long day he was not feeling a Kodak moment. These are the reactions I got…

He will officially be 18 months old October 17th.