Max Isaac L's online diary (February 1995-April 1995)

This diary is pulled together from updates that my dad sent to his friends about my progress. Don't just read --- send him a note!

The entries here are arranged from most recent to least recent. That way you can find out the latest news easily!

Wednesday, April 26th

I'm feeling a little better this week but I'm still a bit down. Some positive things: Max is doing wonderfully. At his nine-month pediatrician's appointment the doctor seemed to think that Max is exactly on target for his adjusted age (six months as of yesterday!). Max is now 14 pounds and 9 ounces (about 6.6kg) and almost always smiling. I've been taking him out for walks in the recent spring-like weather and that makes for a pleasant change of scene.

Saturday, April 22nd

I'm surviving, but only barely lately. I've been trying to work on my thesis proposal (seems like forever now) but I'm taking care of Max full time. Early on wasn't so bad but Lisa is on an oncology rotation now and she's still making up call from when she was on leave. The result is that she's working 12 hour days and hasn't had a weekend off since the beginning of February. This weekend is nominally her first weekend off and she's ``rounding'' for 5 hours this morning and probably the same tomorrow. And she is responsible for a huge presentation next week so the time that she is home this weekend will be spent working.

So I'm holding the house together, taking care of Max mostly alone, and trying to at least keep up with school. Some of the research is going well (several of us put together a very nice paper that will be published in a conference proceedings this summer) but I'm not able to make any headway on my proposal.

Friday, April 21st

...the latest thing is that I'm trying to teach him English by saying things like ``Max eat applesauce'' while I feed him and so forth. Another example is ``Max hold da-da's hair'' in case he forgets he's pulling my hair out. There's no evidence that he's understanding it yet but if I repeat things enough, I think he'll start to get the idea.

Wednesday, April 19th

We're doing ok. Yesterday I was pretty sad from watching Max all the time but I'm pulling through. Max had his first unwitnessed roll today. I had him on the floor on a blanket on his belly and a went to get his bottle and he was about a foot away from the blanket on his back. It was pretty funny. I saw him doing something that looked like an attempt at rolling but he doesn't seem to have flipped on purpose yet.

Thursday, April 14th

Max had his surgery today. He went under anaesthesia at around 9:05am and the doctor came out to tell us he was done at around 9:50am. We sat with him in the recovery room for awhile and he came in and out of consciousness. It was interesting because he had the same sort of wires and monitors as he did when he was in the special care nursery but he's much bigger (and therefore harder to hold) now. He hasn't smiled at us since the surgery since he's still somewhat groggy and he only cried a little bit (when he noticed he was covered in wires) in the recovery room.

Now we're all home and my parents are out food shopping for us (thanks!) and Max is sleeping peacefully in his very own crib. The only other surgery we have slated is sometime this fall (hypospadius repair). That's a tricker surgery but it's less risky, I think. Not that today's was particular risky, actually. But anyway.

Tuesday, April 4th

Max and I went to his pre-operative appointment with the Urologist. It went fine and Max was a very good boy. I had a crummy time though. I think medical personnel are used to talking to one of two types of people: other doctors (who know the lingo), and normal people (who probably aren't interested in the lingo). I fall somewhere in between since I don't know the lingo but can pick it up very quickly. So they either talk over my head or talk down to me but they rarely talk to me in a way I find comfortable. So, overall, I got the information I needed but it wasn't fun.

Not sure what there is to tell content-wise. I learned that Max has a unilateral hydrocele which is a little different from a hernia in that there is no bowel coming through, just fluid. The repair involves sealing up the inguinal canal after first separating it from some nearby blood vessels. There is little to no risk from this procedure. The only real risk has to do with the general anesthesia. I asked the Urologist for a recommendation for an anesthesiologist and he basically listed all the possible people that might be available the day of the surgery. But he insisted that he'd trust any of them with his own kids.

The actual surgery takes about an hour and we'll probably spend an additional hour or two in the hospital post-op. Surgery probably starts around 8am so we might be home for lunch.

One strange thing was that I went to the surgery with Jenn and people kept thinking she was Max's mom. Weird.

Let's see, Max's latest tricks are that he's getting very good at grabbing at things in space and he still loves standing. He doesn't hold his bottle with hands well anymore. He's still not rolling. Lisa's parents got him a mobile and he loves it to pieces.

Wednesday, March 29th

Just got back from a trip to Philly with Max to visit my parents. They had a remarkable time with the little guy. Also visited Lisa's parents on the way back up. They had a shorter, but also wonderful time. His latest tricks since we've been back include a new repetoire of noises (he had been saying only ``ghee'' and now he's using ``ooooh'' as well), sticking out his little tongue (his tongue used to never leave his mouth until tonight), and brief bouts of sitting up unassisted. He's still not rolling and we're now officially ``delayed'' according to the development books. He's still way ahead of the curve on standing which he can now do for brief periods while holding onto the couch.

Wednesday, March 15th

Max's latest thing is that as of yesterday he's been developing his Alfred Hitchcock imitation. He basically juts out his lips and drools (that's not part of the imitation). I'm about to feed him apple juice (which is also new).

Tuesday, March 14th

Max is doing very well. Yesterday we went to spend the day with little Molly and her mom Lauren. It was fun but I'm certainly glad Max isn't a fussy baby. Molly had a kvethcy day. Driving with Max was very fun. It was a beautiful day on the way there Max was looking out the window. When I would talk to him, he'd turn and look at me until I was done and then returned to looking out the window. He's a wonderful companion. At Molly and Lauren's we went for a little stroll outside. That was especially fun for me because I hadn't done it before.

Monday, March 13th

His favorite thing to do these days is to stand (with support). Every time he gets up into standing position, he gets this big, proud smile on his face. It's the funniest thing. He seems to be doing this about a month before the standard time, which is a nice change. He's still not rolling but he has a few more weeks before he is considered ``delayed'' with respect to rolling.

You may recall that he was evaluated by a physical therapist and a speech therapist a month or so ago. At that time, he was considered ``mildly delayed in gross motor skills'' because he wasn't willing to turn his head in the direction of his sore ear. I'm happy to report that we visited a PT again this week and she evaluated Max and decided he is now at 4 1/2 month level... no longer delayed. She was impressed with his standing but seemed to think we needed to work on sitting a little bit. So sitting and rolling are the new challenges.

One interesting note, if you know some statistics... the PT said that Max was at the 4 1/2 level. She asked if I knew what a T-score is (I do). She said his T-score is 48. Hmmm... I wonder what that means, I thought. Turns out that practioners like to use a 0-100 scale for things so 48 is just below average. I don't think that's how T-scores are normally reported though.

A few days ago he did something really cute. I covered his face with his blanket while he was sitting in his little chair. First time I covered his hands as well and he pushed his hands out and uncovered himself and smiled. Then I covered his face with the blanket while his hands were on the outside. This time he used his fingers to grab the blanket and pull it off. I was impressed.

Also, we found out last night that the respiratory virus (RSV) that we were worried that Max would get and have to be readmitted to the hospital is on the wane for this year. This, from a pediatric resident friend of Lisa's who noticed that the number of ex-preemies being admitted for RSV is dropping.

Thursday, March 9th

Max is developing very well. He's making all sorts of noises and he's very alert and his latest game is that he enjoys standing (with some help). Every time I get him up into a standing position, he gives me a huge, proud smile. It's the funniest/funnest thing.

Friday, February 24th

On his belly with his head held up, he can identify his pacifier beneath him and pick it up with his mouth. Hysterical!

Wednesday, February 22nd

He's starting to kick his feet downward while on his back. It makes his back arch up and it's interesting though not obviously useful. Today, while he was playing with his suspended ``hit with your hand'' toy, he used both of his hands to catch and grab the suspended rattle. That was neat. Pearl has started calling Max ``The Screamer'' because he has a new game now where he screeches very loudly and very high-pitchedly just for fun (not for pain or for happiness or to get attention... well, maybe to get attention).

Saturday, February 11th

Max laughs when shaken lying on his back. He held his bottle by himself for about 40 seconds yesterday. Lately he's been watching TV on his belly with his head up (uh oh).

What's new with me?! (2/9/95)

Tuesday, February 7th

I think I know why Max woke me up every few hours last night. Now that his bad ear doesn't hurt, we're encouraging him to put weight on the bad ear. He will fall asleep on the bad side (like I made him do last night) but apparently he doesn't sleep as well that way. But he's getting so good about turning his head to both sides and everything.

Friday, February 3rd

I took Max to his 9am urologist appointment by myself. Doctor said that things look good. He wants to do the hypospadius/chordi repair (and circumcision since the foreskin is used in the procedure) when Max is about a year old. It will be an outpatient procedure with a catheter that would stay in for 7 days afterwards. Beforehand, Max would get a dose of testosterone to make things a little bigger and thus simplify the surgery.

The hernia needs to be repaired as soon as possible. This will be a separate outpatient procedure and we'll try to schedule it for sometime in the next few months, I think. The doctor thought that Max's hernia is unilateral (left) but he'll plan on checking on the right one while he's in there.

His overall assessment seemed to be that Max looks great and should do quite nicely. He expects Max to have no lasting urinary or sexual sequela.

The pediatrician appointment was less eventful. Max is 11 pounds, 9 ounces. He's still roughly 25th percentile in weight and 3rd percentile in length, but he certainly doesn't look stubby. One thing is that the pediatrician, although nice, is not in love with Max. Not that he's supposed to be, but the result is that I didn't feel all warm and fuzzy when I left. Very clinical.

Quick summary of his latest achievements: he's getting good at grabbing toys, he likes taking baths in the big tubby and can now stand on the bottom, he's getting better at turning his head onto his bad side.

Thursday, February 2nd

Max's latest stuff: bringing hands together to hold toys, turning much better to his bad side, lifting him chest off the ground when on his tummy, putting things in his mouth (occassionally), turning to see who's talking (occassionally), making long ``sentences'' of noises.