Introductions

[Guest guest]

I'm comming in on these introduction kind of late - sorry - I've been busy at

the hospital. I was not able to read all my email as there were too many.

I believe everyone is introducing and reintroducing themselves. It's been nice

reading about every one.

My name is Kim Kanan. I am a stay at home mother of 4 children. 5 year old

twins (Ali and Jennah), 3 year old son Noah and my 11 month old Reiyan (with

DS).

Reiyan is a 27 week old preemie and has many complication due to being so early.

He has lung, heart, ear, and GI issues. It is tough determining which problem

is due to his prematurity and which is due to his DS. I guess it does not

matter much since the corrective procedure is all the same. I just get so

curious.

His Heart - PDA and ASD. His PDA was almost healed through the use of indicen

but on the 4th of July weekend he has Conjenital Heart Failure - they stablized

him and 3 days later had Open Heart Surgery where they repaired his ASD and

pinched his PDA.

His Lungs - He has Pulmonary Hypertention, Pulmonary Hypoplasia, Aterial

Sclorosis, and CLD (Cronic Lung Disease).

Arteries - Besides his Arterial Sclorosis - his artery that goes into his right

arm starts out going left. It then U-turns back going around his esophagus and

then to his right arm. They said this may cause difficulty swallowing but so

far he is fine.

GI - He had Failure to thrive caused by a combination of Reflux (he has it bad)

and his heart and lung condition causing him to work too hard. Not only was he

burning all the calories that he would take in but he'd also throw up the entire

amount every feed. They have now done a Nissen Fundoplycation (wrapping the

stomache around the esophagus so that he can not throw up) and put in a g-tube -

both which are working well for us.

His ear canals are completely closed and he is 50% deaf in one ear and 75% deaf

in the other (good thing I know sign - my niece is 100% deaf). His tear ducts

are also clogged.

Of course he has sever hypotonia and is just starting to roll to his tummy but

his arms get stuck under him. I'm not sure if he is so delayed because of his

DS or becasue he has been in the hospital bed ridden so much.

I'm sure there is more but that is the gist of his condition. My twins are

perfectly healthy and rarely see the doc and my 3 year old had bad alergies

which causes him Asthma. And he also has Reflux. That is what we were in the

hospital for is his ph study to see how bad his reflux is - no results yet.

We live in sothern CA were we are freezing today becasue it is 60 degrees. It

is time for the sherling coats in the house with the heater on!! Snowman????

What is that????

Take care and nice meeting all of you. Kim, Reiyan's mom

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