June 7, 2012

That's our appointment with Dr. Paley. Our insurance will not cover his initial consult and x-rays because he is out of state so we are raising money for our trip down there. Hopefully Dr. Paley's office can convince our insurance that Dr. Paley is the only doctor capable of fixing Oscar's leg and therefore cover all future surgeries. We will be driving down there - 22 hours from Tulsa. Flying is too expensive and we risk missing our appointment if we fly on passes and no seats are available. This way we can take Alex & Bella with us. I left Bella with my dad for an hour and she cut a chunk of hair off so I'm afraid of what would happen if I left her for several days. And Alex has his idiosyncrasies that only a parent can love or at least tolerate. Yes it will be quite a task with all the kids but I think it will be a great adventure and hopefully the start of a good plan for Oscar's future.
Oscar continues to charm everyone around him with his smile. He has perfected his sitting and is working on crawling and pulling up. He is having an ultrasound of his heart on Valintine's Day to make sure the two holes in his heart are continuing to close. He doesn't like getting ultrasounds so I'll have to bring something with lights to distract him. His new favorite toy is this drum that lights up when you play it so I might have to bring that one.

Dr. Paley e-mail

Well, after e-mailing Dr. Paley, he said I can bring Oscar to see him at 9 months.  That puts us coming down there on spring break which I don't really want to fly during that time so I may change that to April (10 months old)  Dr. Paley said that "heel cord surgery would be of no value in Oscar's case."  I don't know if that means Oscar's case is too severe for that procedure to benefit him or if he just never recommends that surgery.  I feel like a teenager over analyzing everything her boyfriends says but I really don't want to be told that lengthening is not an option.  Some may think it's easier not to have the option because it takes the decision out of their hands but I just need to know that it is possible.  We may decide that we don't want to put Oscar through that many surgeries but I wanted it to be our choice.  Well, I guess we will have to wait 3 or 4 months to find out.  I will just have to find a way to put it out of my mind.  At least I know now not to even consider the heel cord surgery.  Even if we can't lengthen, I still believe we will go with whatever Dr. Paley says.  He could probably prescribe a "helper leg" and Oscar could possibly be walking by a year old.  That would be exciting!  I will be crying like crazy whenever I see him walk.