Mason's Journey: May 16th CF clinic update

After a busy and eventful weekend, we headed to good ol' Children's Hospital for a Mason update! It is starting to feel like a normal routine for us. Really?! Going to Children's Hospital is "normal"? Ugg.

Mason's CF appointments can be a little nerve wracking, so Derek chooses to nibble on his iPhone.

I will start off by reporting that this is the best appointment yet again! From the moment they came in they said "oh look at that belly!" You see the CF clinic likes to see a little extra meat on their patients...because it is not easy to keep the weight on a CF kid!

"yeah for my chubbiness!!!"

Always practice good hygiene! Wash your kid, err, I mean hands upon entering the room!

So, onto the update. Mason weighs in at 19 pounds 6 ounces (35%), he is 27.5 inches tall (35%), and his head circumference is the in the 90%! I told them I knew he had a big head on the day he was born! Gonna be a smart boy! He has been gaining 1/2 ounce a day and that is right where he should be! But the drum roll please....his height for length is 70 %!!!!!!! Remember this is the number they want to see above 50% because this number correlates with lung function later in life!! Yahoo!!! Way to go Mason!!! Can't tell I am a little excited about that number can you!

Mason does flying cartwheels in joy over his numbers!

Floating like the butterflies that are supposed to keep me entertained while on the exam table but never do darn thing for me.

We were a little worried about what affect his recent cold had on him. They said something like this..."It may have resulted in lung damage but we have no way of knowing right now and it wouldn't change anything currently." hmm. Not gonna lie, didn't like hearing those words "lung damage" but it is all too a reality for Mason and us. They of course did a routine throat swab which we are expecting the results back hopefully on Monday. This is always the CF parent's left over anxiety from a CF visit..."will he be growing anything else besides 'normal flora'?" Fingers crossed that he is not!

In the food department, because this is usually half of the appointment, we talk about a lot. The dietitian would like to us to continue to be exploring more and more table food with him and as a goal...to be off of baby food completely by the next appointment on July 18th. Kinda scary endeavor, but we are going to try and work towards it! We talked further about feeding tubes as well. I had brought the question up "when does the feeding tube get placed onto the table of reality?" Feeding tubes are a very difficult conversation and decision but they are all to a reality for a lot of CF kids and Mason. This is why we work so hard to get those calories in him and are frustrated when he just won't eat or throws it all back up. You can't explain that to a 9 month old! So we keep on with the 200+ calorie bottles, adding oil and salt to all his food, and inspecting his poop for malabsorption because once the feeding tube goes in, it usually does not came back out.

"good work on a great appointment son!"

So what did we do to encourage Mason to keep up the good work? We went and bought a new PS3 or course! Ha! Quick funny little story about this one! Derek's PS3 took a poop so he has been borrowing a friends. He came across a little deal on a site called Slickdeals which stated some Target's were clearencing out some of the older models. And where was the nearest store with one on the shelf...Kohler, WI folks! So, at 6pm on Monday night we packed up Mason and drove 1 1/2 hours north!