Follow Up

Kaitlyn had her NICU follow up a couple of weeks ago. We met with about 50 people (ok more like 6 but they just kept coming in, it was crazy! But good crazy, very well organized). Anyways, it went well. She was seen by doctors that also work in the NICU. They are still involved in her care, even though she is no longer directly in their care. I like that. The first doctor we saw did not actually take care of Kaitlyn in the NICU (it is a big NICU, with multiple teams of doctors and "pods") but she remembered Kaitlyn and her situation. First it made me feel good that she would remember my little baby, then I realized that it wasn't necessarily Kaitlyn that she remembered but the CMV. When Kaitlyn was in the NICU I asked our neonatologist how often they see babies with CMV, and he said, "We see a few cases each year." Considering how many babies make their way there each year, that isn't very many. Little Kaitlyn has been making a name for herself from the start. :)

Anyways, they (a pediatrician, OT, speech therapist, someone else I can't remember, another someone else remember, and a neurologist) were all very happy with her social skills. She charmed them all with her smiles and showed off all her new skills. They (like all our therapists) mentioned that they would never know that she has a uni-lateral loss. She compensates for it very well. Physically, she is of course behind, but not drastically. Her "speech" is a little behind as well, in the low-average area overall but normal is some areas. Overall, for a CMV baby, she is doing great.

Her "future prognosis" as they say, is still very unclear, but her neurologist said that her "happiness potential is very high." Of course we want her to be just fine in the end, but for me, the most important thing is that she is happy. I just want her to feel loved, accepted, and happy. As long as we can do that, I'll feel that we have beat CMV.

My little fighter