Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Best Thing Ever

Nolan's weight has skyrocketed. He still looks..skinny, but holy moly - the overnight feeds are working.

In late July, Nolan weighed 31 pounds. He was nearly five years old. We started the overnight feeds 2 and a half weeks ago, and he is now (drum roll please....)

THIRTY SIX AND A HALF POUNDS.

Yes, folks. You read that right. 36.5 pounds.


Did you know that Nolan has dimples in both cheeks? He does. He has been so underweight for so long that they weren't visible. They're coming back. Which is why I was teary-eyed in the surgeon's office, thanking the nurse for going the extra mile and working through the insurance company/home healthcare agency mess.

There have been some unexpected side benefits from the overnight feeds as well. Nolan has always been a zombie boy when we attempt to wake him in the morning. He would sleep until 10am if we allowed him to, and is so floppy and unresponsive that he often won't eat breakfast. We always blamed this on the apnea, but C-Pap never helped with Morning Zombie Boy.

Since we started the overnight feeds, he wakes before us. He is able to walk and talk. He has energy.

The surgeon made a mention of hypoglycemia, which would make sense since he spills ketones when sick and literally flips out if it has been more than an hour or two since he last ate. His blood sugar is kept stable throughout the night with the feeds, so the theory goes, resulting in "normal boy" every morning. Zombie boy has vanished. The theory makes sense, though we haven't tested for hypoglycemia and likely won't, since he's getting the overnights already.

In any case, he is absolutely thriving. It is likely that his weight will level off a bit soon, as his body is in overdrive and making up for lost time. He's had some joint pain and is probably experiencing growing pains.

His heart murmur is a lot more noticeable lately - both the substitute nurse and the regular nurse heard it, and people don't hear it very often. It was quite loud and obvious last Friday. It's something we'll keep an eye on. He had an echocardiogram at the age of three (before he had developed a murmur) and they saw nothing unusual, so it is likely an innocent murmur.

It is nice to have things settle down on the medical front and have Nolan so healthy and growing.

I love it.

9 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh Leah, I'm cheering all the way from the West Coast! Hope you can hear me ;D

Julie

Jennifer said...

This is great news!! So happy to hear this. Go, Nolan!

Amy said...

Wonderful fabulous awesome terrific news!!!

TheSweetOne said...

Hooray!!!

Vivie said...

way to go Nolan!!!

Cheering all the way from GREECE!! YAY!

I love the change in him...and do take a picture with his dimples showing :) (I am partial to dimples, haha!)

Julia said...

Oh, just imagine how every cell in his body must be celebrating! He must be feeling so much better.

Melanie said...

Wonderful!!!!

Kimmy K said...

Hallelujah! He does look healthier in the pics. Amazing what protein and calories will do for a body. I am glad he is liking kinder and that y'all are having a good experience with his teachers. I'm still petrified of that whole situation. I haven't been blogging much and Nolan looks so big compared to the last time I checked in. I'm so glad for you and your family!

Kimmy K said...

Hallelujah! He does look healthier in the pics. Amazing what protein and calories will do for a body. I am glad he is liking kinder and that y'all are having a good experience with his teachers. I'm still petrified of that whole situation. I haven't been blogging much and Nolan looks so big compared to the last time I checked in. I'm so glad for you and your family!