Update

Due to a scheduling conflict on the surgeon's schedule, Ethan's surgery is now 06/03/10. This is about a week later than the original date. The date may move yet again if an earlier opening in the surgeon's schedule comes up.

Ethan has developed an ear infection in both ears. He's on antibiotics now. He's been acting a little more irritable and his gums were bleeding around the site of the tooth eruptions. We decided to call this in to his doctor and Children's. Children's felt that this was nothing related to his CFM and was probably all just teething issues. The ear infection was discovered when Dina took him into his pediatrician to have him checked out. The doctor did not seem concerned about the bleeding but he will also have this checked out with his dentist on Tuesday (03/30/10).

- bob

Iron Chef Bob: Secret ingredient - Tobika

Poached eggs over smoked salmon and a toasted English muffin with a (low fat) cheese sauce. Garnished (generously) with tobika (flying fish roe). Served with potatoes O'Brien. Mmm...

- bob

Teething

Ethan is now teething. Two lower incisors are coming in.

At Jonathan's last dentist appointment (an event itself), we brought Ethan in and talked to her about Ethan and his condition. Much to our surprise, she has seen Cranialfacial Microsomia before.

Somethings she mentioned about children with CFM: teeth may come in crooked, some teeth may be missing, there may be extra teeth, and some teeth may be smaller than normal. So to sum up: there is a veritable cornucopia of possibilities and it is certain that Ethan will require extensive dental work in the years to come.

- bob

Carrots, Green Beans, and Oatmeal Oh My!

Ethan has been working on eating more solid foods since he was about 5 months old. He has been having rice cereal in his milk since he was a month old, so trying it with a spoon was just for more practice. He spit out the rice cereal each time which is the normal baby reflex thing to do. We tried again a couple of weeks later with the same result. Since then, he has tried carrots, green beans, and is now trying oatmeal. Each time he tries something new, he tries it for 3-5 days to test for any allergic reaction. So far, so good.

The actual eating and swallowing still remain an issue though. A lot of the food ends up on his face, hands, cloths, and anything else that happens to be around. The Pediatrician said that if he gets any in his mouth, then that is enough to test for allergies. The Physical Therapist, Suzy, thinks Ethan is doing well with his feeding, though she doesn't believe that he is ready for solids to be his staple. We will continue to work on impoving his coordination with his tongue, lips, and swallowing. She suggested making eating fun and let him play with some on his tray while we are all eating. We tried that tonight and he had a blast. Carrots were everywhere!!! A bath was in order afterwards. Ethan also likes to play with his spoon. He can grab it and put it in his mouth very well now.

On another note, I tried to schedule his macrostomia repair surgery today (again for the third or forth time) and the May surgery calendar still hasn't come available yet. I'm was told to call again tomorrow.

-Dina

Minor Annoyance

The wound around Ethan's G-Tube has started to develop granulation tissue. Children's had forewarned us that this would probably happen and is quite common and tends to happen a majority of the time around a wound/site of this type. They have given us ways to mitigate it and it will continue to come and go over the next few months. Unfortunately, the upshot of this is that the area around the G-Tube is very sensitive when this develops and causes Ethan quite a bit of discomfort when the area has to be cleaned.

- bob