Owen's update

Last Wednesday Owen had his annual visit at the Children's Hospital in Denver. We also met with a surgeon to talk about his rectal prolapse.

The surgeon was awesome, and very reassuring. For now, we've decided to continue to monitor him, and use diet and training to control the prolapse. Eventually he will most likely require surgery to tighten things up, but as he has only recently become fully potty trained--we didn't want to set him back with a surgery and hospital stay. The surgery is also pretty basic, and doesn't seem too invasive. That was reassuring.

We met a new nutritionist--and she was GREAT! Many of you know that we've been very disappointed with our past experiences with our nutritionist. This one listened and asked questions about our holistic treatment of Owen with great enthusiasm and encouragement. She also noted (as all of Owen's medical team do) that Owen is growing rapidly--very unusual for his geno-type. She asked us to take part in their genotype study. They want to find out what is so different about Owen that allows him to grow so well, while others with the same genotype fail to thrive.

Owen's lungs are showing very early signs of "cloudiness"--something that is very common for CF kids, though most show it much sooner. This means we must be even more diligent with his respitory therapy, and possibly next year we'll introduce a new drug--pulmozyme. Pulmozyme is an inhaled drug that thins mucus, allowing CF patients to get it out of their lungs easier. It's been very successful, and I've only heard positive information from other parents--so, I'm interested in seeing how it can help Owen.

The most amazing news was finding out that Owen has grown nearly 2 inches and over 2 pounds in less than 5 months. Incredible, and a huge blessing. Though, it's evident he will quickly be as tall, and then taller, than his mom very soon.