Week 39: Three quarters

Today, Lemon turned three quarters of a year old.  To celebrate, he worked out an amazing new trick over the weekend:

If you play the movie with the sound turned on you can hear just how pleased he is with himself!  He has been on the cusp of this breakthrough for at least a week, and he finally figured it out at music class on Saturday (I had taken him for a make-up session since we missed Wednesday).  There must have been something in the air at music class that day because a little girl in the class who has been just pulling up and standing all of a sudden took about ten unsupported steps, which was really exciting to watch.  It's amazing to think that in another couple of months, Lemon might be able to walk!

It goes without saying that our lives as we have known them are now over, and we are in a frenzy to at least vaguely baby-proof some areas of our house.  Every object on the floor, and there are just a few, now must be viewed as a potential hazard.  But, the extra fuss is well worth it--we're so thrilled that Lemon hit this major developmental milestone right on schedule.

We had a good visit at the CF clinic on Friday as well.  Since everyone loves a good growth chart, here's one of my favorite ones yet:


You can see how his growth was basically flat from mid-March to mid-April as a result of the April plague.  Then he got better!  We now think that the ranitidine that he was taking between his sick visit on April 18 and the end of last week may have had something to do with that amazing growth, too.  Our prescription for the ranitidine ran out a few days before our clinic visit, and over the weekend we noticed that his digestion wasn't as good as it was while he was on it.  So, today we called in to the clinic to ask them to renew that prescription.  He started on it again tonight so we'll keep watching over the next week or so to see if things improve again.  He's on the borderline for being big enough to increase his enzyme dose as well, but his doctors felt that it would be better to use the ranitidine to get the current dose of enzymes to work more effectively rather than increasing the enzyme dose, at least for now.

The rest of the clinic visit was uneventful (ie, we only saw the nurse, the social worker, the nutritionist, the pediatrics fellow, Lemon's actual doctor, and the clinical study coordinator, all over the course of about two hours).  For better or worse, but given the circumstances I would say for better, we've been there enough now that I actually recognize all these people and remember their names.  They all recognize us, too, and are really impressed by how much Lemon changes between visits.

Just as a reminder, the Cycle for Life event is just a few weeks away, so if you haven't made your donation to our team yet, there's no time like the present!  Please visit our team page by clicking here and make a donation.  You can even make your donation to either Papa Bear or Opa instead of me if you prefer, since I am in the lead at the moment!  Your money will go straight to support the invaluable research that we so desperately hope will extend Lemon's life.  To those of you who have already donated, thank you so much--your support means the world to us!