a silas medical update

sweet silas has had his fair share of doctor appointments in his first week of life and it seems there will be more in his future.

i am so thankful for our pediatrician and the care and concern he has shown for our little guy.  he's never had a patient with abdominal situs inversus and he's an older guy so he's probably seen a lot of things.  i love that he's shown an interest even before silas was born by researching and sending me info on his condition with a hand written note noting the questions we should ask at our prenatal ultrasound appointment.  i love that he has seen us twice and called me twice this week to check on him.  yes, that's right, the pediatrician himself has called me.

we've been monitoring his weight this week because he had dropped down 10 ounces from birth.  i think the doctor wanted to make sure that it was more of a "needs to eat more" issue than a "not absorbing his food" sort of issue and it was just that he needed a bit more to eat.  by wednesday he was back up to his birth weight plus a couple of ounces.  the pediatrician also was concerned about a mass he was feeling on the left side of silas' abdomen, and because things are not in their correct places, there was no way to know exactly what he was feeling without an ultrasound.

so silas had his first ultrasound yesterday morning.  we were glad to have one ordered because we knew all along that this would be standard procedure for him and for us, the sooner the better.  we were really praying before the appointment because silas could not have anything to eat for 3 hours prior.  that just seems so mean and sad for a newborn but we knew it was necessary.  we were expecting him to be upset and hungry throughout the procedure but he literally laid there asleep the entire time the tech moved the wand over his abdomen.  it was totally divine intervention!

he survived his first ultrasound!

look at that little hospital anklet

so the tech of course is not allowed to comment much on what he saw but he did confirm that silas does have a spleen!  that is something we had been praying about for months and we thank those who have been praying for that with us as well!  he explained that the doctor would contact us about the results but that he didn't see anything that would require us to stay there.

so a few hours later, our amazing pediatrician called me personally again!  he explained that the mass that he was feeling was the liver.  he also explained that silas does have the one spleen (he could have had one, none or several) which is a good thing because typically the one spleen suggests that there are fewer other issues.  everything in the abdomen is indeed flipped which was not a surprise.

now the concerns:

there were no noted malrotations of the bowels but after consulting with a pediatric surgeon, they are suggesting that silas have an upper gi test performed to see if a malrotation is likely to occur in the future.  from what i understand from reading about this online, when the bowels are flipped they are not "tacked down" like they would be in a normal orientation so a malrotation is likely to occur.  if this is the case, silas would need a surgery to correct this.  so we have an appointment on september 12 with the pediatric surgeon.

there is also an issue with his inferior vena cava.  this is the large vein that carries de-oxygenated blood from the lower half of the body into the right atrium of the heart.  it does not enter the heart in the correct place.  so we are being referred to a pediatric cardiologist for an echocardiogram to make sure that this is okay.  i read online that it can be explained like this:  in a normal body, it could be compared to 2+2=4 but with situs inversus it is like 1+3=4.  you get the same result, just in a different way.  we are waiting to hear when this appointment will be.

so from what i can tell, all of these referrals are more to confirm that things are working okay or to catch something before it becomes a problem.

i've tried to research all of this online but with situs inversus there are so many variations that it is virtually impossible to find another case exactly like his.  we are so thankful that he is doing well and thriving and acting like a normal newborn.  you just look at him and you would never know that things are so crazy on the inside.  i find myself asking God why He would make silas different in this way and i wonder if this is part of silas' testimony because God redeems everything for His glory.

we are loving his sweetness and enjoying his little personality.  he loves to suck on his hands and fingers when he figures out how to get them into his mouth.  he likes music and seems to calm down when we sing to him or play the music on my phone that we put together for his birth.  he loves it when you talk to him up close so that he can see your face.  he does not like diaper changes.  his skin is peeling everywhere, especially his hands and feet.  we can't decide if he looks more like burrito or noodle...i think he might be a perfect mix of both of them.  he had a little eye infection but that is almost completely gone.  his umbilical cord came off today, yay!  he had his first photo shoot with a dear friend today and i can't wait to see those pictures!  he's been to walmart and sprouts and tomorrow will be his first visit to church.

so that's the latest update on our guy.  we can't wait for everyone to meet him!