Back in November, Lewis has an MRI to see how his nasty syrinx was behaving. He had an MRI six months prior that showed a rather large syrinx and we were told he would probably need surgery. Fast forward to November, and I was a nervous wreck! We spent a very long day at the hospital and Dr. Foody's office. We even made it into the background of a Helen DeVos Children's Hospital commercial which I just started seeing on TV! The news we got from Dr. Foody was nothing short of a miracle! Lewis's syrinx, Chiari, and tethered cord are all considered stable and Dr. Foody even said it looks "great." He doesn't need another MRI (or even an office visit) for a whole year! The best news, though, came when I asked for the MRI report to be sent to me. Reading it, I discovered that his syrinx shrunk. IT SHRUNK. I felt like an enourmous weight was lifted off my shoulders. This doesn't mean that it will never be an issue and he will never need surgery. But the longer we can delay it, the better!
Therapy has been going great. I partially attribute the syrinx shrinkage to the therapy we're doing with Lewis. It focuses so much on the spine and he's moving around his spine so much better than he was at the last MRI. We've been going twice a week and I've loved the routine of that schedule. This year we'll be trying out a new schedule where we go four times in a week then take 3 weeks off. I'm excited to see how Lewis does with the more intense four days in a row. Honestly, though, I'm going to miss going for the three weeks off. Hopefully the time off will give him time to play with his new movement. Here's a video from therapy. You can see he hates it. (yeah right!) He loves it. I swear he thinks we go there just so he can play.
In February we'll be returning to the Conductive Learning Center for a two week session for kids with SB. He'll be there 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. That seems like a lot for a then-20-month-old but hopefully he'll surprise us all. I'm excited for the people at the CLC to see Lewis after all this time and the progress that he has made. They'll also focus on potty-time. We've already started a potty-time routine for Lewis and I'm looking forward to hearing what sort of recommendations they can give. Honestly, though, I'm most excited for him to hang out with his buddies for two weeks while I get to hang out with their moms! :)
Lewis figured out a new trick a few weeks ago. For so long he's been ridiculously close to getting into sitting on his own. Then all of a sudden he just did it. The day before had been really great in therapy and I think it was just what he needed! It's frustrating, though, because with our hardwood floors he just slides all over the place and it's hard for him to do it. He mainly does it on a couple rugs we have in our house, although I've seen him do it on the wood too. I know he'll get better and better at it over time. Here's the only video I've been able to get of him in action. Yes, I bribed him with the video camera. Clearly, it worked.
We had an awesome Christmas this year! Coleman's family came a few days before Christmas and mine came up as soon as they left. It was GREAT to be able to stay home for a holiday! We love visiting everyone in Illinois but we leave exhausted, so it was nice to be able to stay home and just hang out for once. Lewis got sick and was teething all at the same time, but was remarkably happy anyway. I'm sure it helped that there were plenty of people around to play with him and a lot of new toys to discover. Coleman got sick a few days later so the majority of his time off was spent either being sick or taking care of a sick kid. We enjoyed the time off anyway, and I'm really thankful I never caught what was going around.
And I'll leave you with a video of Lewis's favorite form of entertainment these days. Who needs TV?!
Happy New Year!
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