We are almost 2 weeks post-op and Dallas is doing much better than last week.  It usually takes 2-3 weeks for him to get back to himself relative to sleeping and eating.  He is almost back up to what he was eating orally, and is sleeping comfortably again.  He is such a happy, delightful baby.  You can reliably make him smile or laugh by doing “SOOO BIG,” or by tapping his hands or feet together.  He loves taking baths and getting his diaper changed!  That’s my boy!

Last week, he had his first eye appointment.  I braced myself expecting the worsed, the doctor would for sure tell me he was near blind I was certain.  Thankfully, the optometrist was “unimpressed” by Dallas’s coloboma’s and stated how small they were.  He indicated very little impact they would have on his vision.  He does have stigmatisms in both eyes, which could cause some blurry vision, but this is treatable with glasses down the road if the stigmatisms don’t change by age 1.  What a relief.  I told the optometrist that this was the best appointment we’ve had in 5 months, and he said he was glad he could give me good news, but he seemed disappointed that Dallas’s wouldn’t be a good “case” for him.  C’mon people, seriously.

We heard back on the heart CAT scan which showed that the narrowing was not significant enough to warrant surgery at this time and we’ll continue to have ECHO’s every 6 months to keep an eye on it.  More good news!

We finally received the genetic confirmation that Dallas does in fact have the CHD7 gene mutation that is found in 75% of CHARGE kids.  This doesn’t change anything or tell us anymore that we know already, but it does mean Dallas would have a 50% chance of having a child with CHARGE because he carries the gene. L  The geneticist explained the mutation simply like this; the gene basically stops doing its job early.  Because this gene is required in so many organ systems, these kids are so widely affected when the gene doesn’t complete its’ job.  Explains why many of Dallas's organs were incomplete or are still  incomplete....ears, kidneys, heart, etc.

Yesterday Dallas got his 3^rd set of ear molds (that attach to his hearing aids).  These are the best fit thus far and they aren’t constantly squealing!  The bad part is that he is getting old enough now where he realizes they are on his ears, so he likes to pull them out!  Hence the cheesy hat in the pic below!  It’s not our goal to make him look like little bo peep, but you do what you gotta do.

We are looking forward to showing him off at the Thanksgiving festivities; we have lots of family that has yet to see Dallas in person!  However, you’re always thinking about the germs so our goal is to keep him and his sister healthy throughout the holidays.

Oh, I can’t believe I almost forgot this….he has still been maintaining his stats at night and not requiring air support.  We will be more excited about this once we can prove it to his pulmonologist.  He has a repeat sleep study on December 2^nd.