Still pretty quiet in the Hayden world, which is good news.

At 21/2 he sure is showing his personality. He responds NO to most questions, even though he really means YES.
His temper tantrums have decreased, but every once in awhile he still resorts to them instead of using words.

We continue to go to UW Children’s Hospital here in Madison, WI for his monthly IVIG treatments. In spring Hayden will be reassessed to see where his antibody numbers are. If we see an increase and can see that his body is creating its own antibodies, then we can stop the IVIG and monitor his natural immune system. The Autoimmune Dr. who is following Hayden has warned us that IVIG may be a lifetime thing if the antibodies don’t reproduce on their own.
We hate to hear this because Hayden is terrified about being poked each month and to think of doing this for the rest of his life is horrifying!

Recently we started back up on the inhalers twice a day and albuteral inhaler every 4 hours.  A small cold caused his lungs to react which made his breathing harder. I brought out the nebulizer only to have him freak out by the noise it made.

He really is sensitive to weird things like that. I can understand his sensitivity to touch, having been poked and taped up so much. Perhaps it is part of the WAS, afterall, he had severe Eczema and that would be like having very dry skin for months and months where it was sore to the touch.
When he had his hickman line in his chest he always had some kind of tape dressing to keep it clean and dry. I would have to peel it off each dressing change which would hurt him.

In addition to the inhalers we added a 5 day steroid med to open up the lungs to help him breathe easier. He hated the syrup med and fought us each time we had to give it to him.
The following week (after the yucky med was done) I brought him back in to see Dr. Taylor, he still wasn’t acting like his usual self. I thought it was the lungs again or the ears since he would lay his head down all the time.
Sure enough, it was the left ear. It was infected. We picked up some bubblegum antibiotics this time and with a little coaxing, was able to get Hayden to take it! Why can’t every med be bubblegum!

Next week we go in for the Feb. IVIG. Our gameplan is to sedate him a bit with a med that relaxes him so he isn’t so scared during the IV insertion. Also I apply a numbing cream on both inner arm areas before we leave for the hospital. This helps reduce the pain of the needle as they try to find the vein.
Once the IV is in he seems to calm down quickly, but the anxiety before this all happens is getting worse each visit. I understand his fear. Each dr. visit Hayden asks me “no pokes? no pokes?” It is a nice feeling when I can say NO POKES back.
Child life services has stepped in to help us keep him distracted and relaxed which helps the nurses do their job quickly.

Hayden is excelling in all other areas of his development. He is saying 4 to 5 words in a sentence and can is counting and saying the alphabet. He starts swimming lessons in a week (Mom and Tots) and show a lot of interest in his dad’s favorite sport HOCKEY! Even though he is very cautious in his actions, he is all boy!

Here are a few new photos of the kids. Thanks for all your support!