Arran's parents are slackers and never recorded anything from Jan '02 through May '02. The next available update is June 2002. Please go there for more information.

Arran Turned 2 this Month!!!!

First let me apologize. I know that we have been total slackers and we haven't added any new information since Christmas Eve!!! One way of looking at this is no news is good news. Arran has remained pretty much status quo. He has gained weight and gotten stronger. He weighs 19 pounds and 5 ounces right now and is actually pretty chubby. He can roll over although he usually chooses not to. On his stomach he can get his arms out in front and push himself up into a crawling position. Arran has also gotten a wee bit manipulative. He now is fully able to pout and stick out his lower lip when things aren't going his way. This is simply a pout and he does it often. He has such a personality and he's getting spoiled a little more each day.

Arran had several doctors appointments this week. On Tuesday he went to see the kidney specialists. We spent a fair amount of the time updating records. He had some blood work done. They check his electrolytes and they check his calcium and other things. This gives them a fair assessment of how his kidneys are functioning. We haven't heard back from them so we can only assume that no news is good news. He was also supposed to have an appointment with the growth and nutrition people but they had their signals crossed and weren't there so we will get in touch with them at a later time. One new thing that resulted from the kidney visit is a referral to see his surgeon again. The doctor who did his Nissen Surgery is also a urenologist so we've been referred to him because of Arran's undescended testicles. I think that we've both agreed that if he does surgery on this that we would like him to be circumcised too.

On Friday we went to see Arran's orthopedic doctor. That was a mess. We had a 10:20 appointment but we weren't seen until 12:15. So needless to say we were all a little tired of waiting. Anyway, he thinks that Arran will need his heel cord snipped again. He had this done about a year ago but since he hasn't been able to put weight on his legs its reversed and gotten tighter. He said that he would do this when Arran has his other surgery performed. So now we wait until August to see what the other doctor says.

Arran has had a busy week this week. He visited his pediatrician early in the week for a weight check and he had to get some routine blood work done for his nephrologists. Last Friday we visited his surgeon to discuss a possible upcoming surgery. The doctor wants to find and bring down his testicles and do a circumcision. His orthopedic surgeon will also be on hand to do his heel tnotomy, that is when they will snip his Achilles tendon in both feet. He will be in short leg casts for three weeks following that procedure. Today we heard back from the surgeons and it looks like he will have surgery September 11th. Today he also saw his GI doctor and he has given us a few techniques to counter his ongoing reflux issues. Health wise Arran is doing great! He's getting bigger and stronger and has quite a little personality.

Arran is going in for surgery on Sept. 11th 2002. He will be having a circumcision and his urologist will also look for and hopefully bring down his testicles. He will also be having his heel cords snipped because they are too tight as a result of the procedures done to correct his club feet. He is doing great and we are optimistic about this surgery!

Arran is still seeing the following specalists on a regular basis. Here are his most recent weights and a listing of his current specialsts.Specialists

Arran had his surgery yesterday and came home yesterday afternoon. He slept off and on through the night with some discomfort. Mainly he is having gas issues due to the anesthesia and not pain directly related to the incisions. The surgery for his feet went well and both legs are casted from the knee down. His other surgery was partially successful. The surgeon was able to bring one of his testicles halfway down. To do so he had to split a blood vessel which was somewhat dangerous. In 6-8 months the second half of the surgery will have to be performed and then we can start thinking about the left testicle. Poor boy! He is acting pretty pathetic. He just wants to be left alone so we are doing our best to make him comfortable and let him rest. We'll let you know more as he improves.

Arran has his casts off once again. He is doing well and getting strong. We go in for a weight check during the first week in Nov. so we will see how much he weighs then. I'm sure that he is over 20 lbs. Right now things are going well.

Arran now weighs a little over 19 pounds. If you will recall from prior months he was almost at the 20 pound mark. We think that this weight loss if a direct result of him being more active and expending more calories at work and play. To counter this slight decrease in weight we've increased his caloric intake. Instead of recieveing 640 mL of Pediaure he is now getting 1000 mL of Pediasure. Because managing Arran's medical care is like balancing a scale once we increased his formula we had to watch for signs that he might not be able to tolerate this change. He had to get extra blood work done to make sure that his water intake was still sufficient. We just got word from the kidney dr. today that said all was good. Arran will go back in to get weighed again on Dec. 2 so hopefully he will have gained back what he had lost. Otherwise he is doing well. He is almost sitting up on his own. He's so close! Plus he is starting to army crawl (inches at a time).