Down Syndrome clinic

I took Carsten to the Down syndrome clinic in Kansas City yesterday. It went really well and I was pretty impressed with the services. We saw OT, Speech, behavioral psychologist, nutrition, MD, and genetic counselor. There was a resident that sat in our room the whole time to observe, I guess because Carsten's case was so interesting and complicated. He wants to do a fellowship in Cardiology so that was fun talking to him. I wish that Little Rock had a Down Syndrome clinic, I think it would be really great for them. I probably got the most out of the psychologist who gave me lots of good tips about discipline and positive/negative reinforcement and talking to the genetic counselor.

They also did some blood work on Carsten to check his Thyroid and blood count. A small percentage of children with Down Syndrome develop Leukemia so I think they like to keep a close watch on their blood. I was a little disappointed with Nutrition, I thought they would help me get started on weaning him from the tube, she did a little bit but I don't think she believed me that he was actually eating things. She kept saying to give him 2 Tablespoons of food a day and that was where he was at. Well, this morning he ate 4 ounces of mandarin oranges and I'm pretty sure that's more than 2 Tbs?? I'm really just trying to be patient and wait on the Clinic in Baltimore to help with all that stuff.

Carsten's come down with some sort of virus or something, he's been running a fever the last couple of days and our nights our back to gagging on the tube all night and throwing up stomach bile, yuck! It's really miserable when he gets sick because his reflux really excacerbates. I hope he feels better soon. And I hope I feel better soon from my traumatic experience with a spider in my coffee pot this morning! I went to make my coffee and as I was pouring in the water out comes this huge white spider! I hope I can get through this emotional event as I live off of my morning coffee!!! Guess a Diet Coke will have to do for now...

Happy Thursday!
Love,
Momma Bridges