Another MRI to come

We met with the Neurologist again! She had great things to say and was so pleased with Logan's progress. We are looking at another MRI when he turns three, because that is when most of the myleination levels out. Dr. Sweetman was just very excited. Time for bed. More later.

10th percentile!!

Logan finally made it to the 10th percentile for his weight in May! ( Yay! Happy dance!) Twenty-four pounds! It is now August, and he hasn't gained any more weight. Mom and Dad were scolded by his GI doc for not putting him on the anti-inflammatory drug. We were waiting for his last stool sample to come back. It came back inflamed again with numbers in the hundreds. We decided to put him on the anti-inflammatories. He's been doing rather well on them. Off to another adventure!

PT for Logan

On Wednesday, the 17th of March, Logan was seen by a couple Physical Therapists. Mom has been concerned about his gait. He drags his toes when he walks and is generally still unstable. The therapists found that his hamstrings are very tight, his ligaments in his right big toe pretty much non functioning, and that there is tightness in his arms with overall low muscle tone throughout his body. They recommended that we get a referral to an orthopedic (our ortho loves us, I am sure) specialist and put him in orthodics. They recommended weight bearing activities such as pushing or pulling things, marching, bouncing and sitting on a ball, or rocking horse to build the core. We have not seen thier report, so will have more when we get that. They did recommend PT for him. We will see how often. More fun!!! He was really loving the attention. He laid on the floor with his arms out and just about fell asleep as they rubbed his feet, legs, looked him over. He was pretty tired of it by the end, however, and pointed to them and waved. Time to go!!! He is so hilarious. They couldn't get over how easy he was to work on. What a doll!

Movin' along

Hello! Not much has been going on. We saw the GI doc, who recommended a prick test again for allergies, and ordered a lactoferrin stool test again. If the numbers are still high, he wanted to put Logan on some anti-inflammatories for his gut. We also did get the prick test done--came back completely negative. So, we keep chugging on. Dr. Montes did say there could be an allergy in the intestine that won't show up in the blood. Dr. Morgan(Naturopath) also said that because Logan is so young, and the antibodies haven't had a lot of time to build ( usually by 18 mos. the inflammatory response can be seen) He isn't surprised at the lack of response. Logan has been growing slowly and steadily. He had gained another pound, and 1/2 cm on his head circumference. While he is still well below the growth chart, he is still tracking on his own curve. MOm felt the pound was awesome considering he'd had a cold and the stomach flu. That was in February. Logan again had the stomach flu the first part of March. Lasted for about a week, after a few days, had already lost that pound. Poor kid couldn't hold anything down but ginger-peppermint tea with slippery elm and chamomile. We put him on Zofran to help him keep things down. It went through the house but never to the extent he had it. We went to the Naturopath again on Monday, the 15th, and he had gained it back and then some! Yea Logan!! There are constant ups and downs with this little guy, but I guess if his overall progress is up, we are o.k, right? He also started to sip at water (still makes a face like it is the worst thing ever) and juice. He also ate some homemade bread. He normally won't touch the bread. We are loving the fun he brings, and the challenge to rise to some pretty awesome heights and gain some pretty amazing knowledge.

I love your guts!!!

O.K. so we haven't posted for a while, really not much to share. Just pushing forward, but......Yipee! We got good news from Dr. Morgan this week. The second round of stool samples came out much better in some areas than before. His Lactoferrin test came back negative as did the fungal growth, which is a HUGE improvement over last time. The Calprotectin rose slightly, for an unknown reason. The microbiology was not quite as big of an improvement. While there is still little good bacteria, the bad bacteria is still there, different ones this time, but not as many in the "pathogen" range. Not perfect news, but we will take it. This also should exempt Logan's GI doc. from wanting to put him on some intestinal "anti-inflammatories". Great news!!
Beneficial Bacteria
Escherichia coli 3+
Bifidobacterium 4+
Additional Bacteria
alpha haemolytic Streptococcus 4+
gamma haemolytic Streptococcus 3+
Bacillus species 1+
Klebiella pneumoniae 4+ (pathogen)
Pseudomonas aeruginosa 3+
Enterobacter cloacae 3+
haemolytic Escherichia coli 4+
Dr. Morgan took Logan off of the Aloe Vera, and added a mix called GI comfort instead. He also added a high dosage, OTC lactobacillus as well. We still have him on the pro-biotics, tincture, fish oil, and GI protect as well as the EleCare medical food. Cha-Ching! Can you hear it? :-)
We also had Logan evaluated by a physical Therapist today. She recommended he be seen on a regular basis, and see an orthopedic specialist for some orthodonics. He drags his toes when he walks, and has low overall muscle tone, etc....etc...etc.... We will be posting more on this as we get the reports. Turns out Mom's hunch that the weak gait was a little more than that, was right on. Yeah Mom!! Have to pat myself on the back once in a while to make this journey a little easier.
Well, it is time to close, we feel so blessed to have this little angel in our care. He is such a joy and so happy. He really brings some needed peace to this home, and lots of laughs and love.

Good News - Bad News

Good News - We ruled out another potential cause of Logan's microcephaly!  We completed his CT scan on 29 December.  Dr. Sweetman (Logan's neurologist) called last night to tell us that the CT scan came back normal.  We were looking for any small calcium deposits that would have been left by any viral infection he may have contracted while growing inside Mommy's tummy during gestation.  This leaves only two options left, 1 - he has some genetic/chromosomal disorder or 2 - this is all GI and nutrition related.  We are leaning very heavily towards the latter.

Bad News - Logan had his monthly weight check with Dr. Montes (gastroenterologist) also on the 29th.  Logan only gained 8 ounces this last month with no changes in head circumference in 30 days.  We need to be seeing much more growth than this and his GI doc is very concerned.

The plan is to complete his IgE Skin Prick test as soon as possible to rule out any additional allergies that could be inflaming his gut so badly.  We are continuing the therapies recommended by Dr. Morgan (naturopath) and will retest the lactoferrin, calprotectin and stool culture the week of January 18th. Additionally, we are doing all we can to increase Logan's intake of calories, carbohydrates, fats/oils and proteins.  We are hoping that we can get a few more ounces on him for his next weight check.

Overall, Logan is still doing very, very well.  He is very active, happy and social.  He continues to meet developmental mile stones and is improving in his verbal (and hand sign) communication skills.  His appetite appears to be growing and he is self-feeding a variety of foods more often.  There has been no noted regression in any of his obtained developmental milestones thus far.  What a blessing!!

IgG Test Results In

    We received the IgG blood test results today.  We have not had time to talk to Dr. Morgan about these yet but everything looks really good.  Logan is showing no sensitivity to eggs or milk.