Flashback Monday!

Here it is 9 pm and I'm just now getting to this....I was hoping I would be better at blogging, but I guess I'm going to have to put more effort out :) Today, we had an appointment with Cam's CDSA(child developmental agency)worker. She came out to evaluate his progress, something she does every month. She was asking me all of these questions about what he is and isn't doing right now, and as I'm telling her about the things he is doing, I started thinking about the first time she came, which was right before we left for Cam's shunt surgery.

After we left the hospital the second time, we were home for about 8 days before we headed back to Winston for Cam to have a shunt placed. The shunt was going to ensure that his ventricles didn't over expand once he had his cranial advancement surgery. Because Cameron already had a ventricle that was a tiny bit larger than normal, they thought that once the surgery to correct his fused sutures was done that because they were cramped they may over expand and that could in turn cause his bones to grow incorrectly, so the decision was made to place a VP shunt.

Before this shunt was placed he had an assessment to determine where he was developmentally. At that time his chronological age was 10 weeks, but because he was early they considered him to be 5 weeks. The assessment determined that he was developing like a typical 5 week old, and in alot of areas like that of a 10 week old. So they decided that the only services he really qualified for would be physical therapy because of his upcoming surgeries and the assumed delays he would suffer because of them. So we then began receiving physical therapy once a week.

After his shunt surgery I remember the Dr's telling me his development should really take off, and it did. Before the surgery he really wouldn't interact or smile, then a few weeks after his shunt he was a smiling machine. When he was 3 months old I remember thinking how his personality had really started to come out, and the developmental assessment people thought so as well. However, now that we are getting closer and closer to Cam's first birthday his development will be observed alot more closely. So today she determined that he is still developing within normal ranges for his age, and even though I can see that he isn't able to be compared to a typical 7 month old, I'm blessed that he is making progress, and that the shunt continues to do it's job!!