Good News All Around for Gwen

We are pleased to report that Gwendolyn had a rather productive day at the hospital yesterday.

The most important short-term update is that she did well in her swallow study.

After an initial melt-down had us concerned that it would be a dud altogether, Gwen settled in and was ready to sip away. They began by having her drink liquids that were thickened to the consistency of nectar. Unfortunately, that didn’t go smoothly. There were a couple of instances where the fluid penetrated her airway, although they were pretty confident that it never went past her vocal cords.

However, next they thickened her fluid to the consistency of syrup. This time, Gwendolyn passed with flying colors. In fact, she did so well that they didn’t even try her at the next thickest consistency (which would have been honey) because they were confident the results couldn’t get any better. Ironically, honey consistency is the level that Gwen was at the last time she was allowed to inject fluids orally so she’s making some serious progress.

As a result, Ms. Gwendolyn Marie is officially off her food pump again. From now on, she’ll be using a Sippy just like her sister, well except for the whole thickened fluid part!

;)

Gwen was so excited that she followed up her swallow study by downing a full six ounces of milk followed immediately by a six ounce water chaser. By the time we got in the car to go home, she was so tuckered out by her drinking exploits that she feel right asleep (although she kept a tight grasp on her cup just to make sure it didn’t go anywhere).

Needless to say, Mom and Dad are so excited by this advancement and we know that Gwen will continue to make progress. Hopefully by her next swallow study (likely taking place in a year) she will advance to the stage where she won’t need the fluids thickened at all and we can lose her Micky button permanently!

Gwen also got her new braces yesterday but we’re going to table that update until later in the week when we can get some good shots of them in action during her next P.T. session. Still, we’ll just say that we think it is also quite the positive development!!!

As for Braelyn, she was pretty confused this morning. She couldn’t quite figure out which cup was hers and which belonged to her sister. Needless to say, she hasn’t had to deal with her sister drinking from a cup all that often.

A quick shout out to Aunt Liz for the cool cupcake knit hat Braelyn is wearing in the photo above. You can’t quite see the whole thing the way Braelyn has tilted her head here but the top is complete with sprinkles and a cherry on the pink frosting… It is VERY cute indeed.

Okay, stay tuned for the update on Gwen’s new braces…

sNOw way!

Okay, this isn’t the sharpest of images but as Grandma McKee can attest, keeping Braelyn and Gwendolyn still for a moment can be an accomplishment in itself. This photo comes as the girls get their weekly Grandma McKee time this past Sunday.

Believe it or not, we had a dusting of snow overnight here in Kansas City… So, it was back to heavy pajamas with feet for the girls.

Gwendolyn has had Tuesday circled in red on her calendar for a while now... She gets her new braces in the morning and has a swallow study on tap for the afternoon. Fingers crossed that she doesn’t have a trace of any silent aspirations this time around!!! Luckily this is the last scheduled trip to the hospital in the foreseeable future for The Gwenner.

Weekend Here We Come

Not that we have any major excursions planned, but the Castellanos sure are ready for the weekend to arrive!

Braelyn's hoping to sleep in a little instead of stirring at the crack of dawn like she has all week long. (In fact, that would be a well-received treat for Mom and Dad as well!)

And as is typically the case, Gwendolyn's sure to have a smile on her face regardless of what she's doing.

We hope you too enjoy your weekend!!!

A Pair of Smooth Criminals

We’ve touched recently on Braelyn’s increasing finicky eating habits. However, Dad foolishly started to think that his oldest had begun to turn a corner or sorts. For the last few mornings, this was the sight that he typically encounters during breakfast:

As you can see, all looks quiet and peaceful as the girls are enjoying their meal. Happily, Braelyn seems to be nearly finished with all of her food.

Well, unfortunately Braelyn’s become quite the sly individual. Dad began to notice in the reflection of the microwave that Braelyn kept reaching over to Gwendolyn’s tray every time his back was turned. So, at one point he quickly turned around and captured this “drop” transpiring:

Yep, Gwendolyn’s quickly shoveling in the evidence as Braelyn unloads her unwanted scraps onto her sister’s tray.

It looks like these two have been in cahoots with the old food switch-a-roo for so long that they’ve perfected when to make the exchange and when to play it cool.

Oh boy, at least they work well together... What else can you say about those Castellano girls!?!?!?

Going Clinical

Gwendolyn had her semi-annual clinic visit yesterday. We are pleased that for the most part everything went well. In fact, there really weren’t many developments to come from this latest jaunt to the hospital.

One significant thing is that it’s already time for Gwen to get a new set of braces. These will be lightweight carbon-fiber based and will support her shins more so than her calves. They should be a little easier for her when it comes to taking steps. As she’s still developing the muscles in her gluteus, she tends to dip her bottom back when she stands, thereby throwing off her balance.

The new braces will also have a hard plastic boot that slides right into the footprint of the brace and should be easier to fit into regular shoes. As a result, one of the tasks that took place during the clinic visit was getting a new mold of her feet. As was the case the initial time this happened, Gwen was very perplexed and observant of the entire process.

We were also imformed that Gwendolyn has been approved for aqua therapy this summer. We suppose that’s as good of an excuse as any that it’s time to get our voluptuous little lady a flattering swim suit. June will be here before she knows it!

In-between our doctor’s visits, Gwen found a new friend to play with… Herself. As she filled the down time between consultations, she soon realized that her reflection was staring right back at her. It was all fun and games until she leaned in to hug this familiar looking new friend only to conk her head on the mirror. All was forgiven quickly though as Gwen followed up the tears that ensued from this self-inflected head butt by giving a big smacker to her reflection. In case you are wondering, we checked and the mirror is cleaned daily so luckily tomorrow’s clinic visitors won’t have to deal with the aftermath of Gwen’s affection.

As for Braelyn, it was yet another morning of confusion as she tried to ascertain exactly where her sister had gone off to… Luckily, Grandma McKee was there for plenty of TLC until her “little” sister returned.

One thing’s for sure, both our girls have the market cornered on facial expressions.

Before we sign off, we wanted to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

A Bunch of Bull

Our little Gwendolyn had quite an eventful weekend. Without getting into too much detail, Gwen has (and likely always will) have a G.I. Tract that’s in flux. Some days it’s smooth sailing and other days… well, not so much. Unfortunately, it is yet another side effect that tends to result from spina bifida.

In her research, Mom saw that some kiddos like Gwen actually got benefit from sitting on a training potty even if they were too young to fully grasp what’s going on. We aren’t sure exactly why (more than likely it has a lot to do with gravity) but it has seemed to help others like our Gwenner out. Since we are all about doing anything we can to assist her along her journey, we decided to give it a whirl. Surprisingly, Gwendolyn didn’t seem freaked out by sitting naked on a strange new apparatus with the whole family looking on... See:

In fact, we are pleased to report that Gwen has sat on her new potty twice and each time she has left a significant amount of potty and poopy in the pot. (Seriously, did we just reference potty and poopy in a blog entry!?!?!?) So, apparently it is helping Gwen thus far. Luckily for you, Dad was under strict orders by Mom not to show off all the gory details, so you’ll all have to use your imagination on the aftermath of Gwendolyn’s initial potty training extravaganza.

As for Braelyn, she’s not quite sure what to make of our family’s new addition. In fact, she can’t figure out exactly how to use this new “toy.” Hopefully for her, we’ll be able to get Gwen’s little "packages" out of there before her sister saunters up to the potty again. As you can see, Brae Bear obviously hasn’t quite grasped which way to sit on it and, maybe more importantly, where not to put one’s feet when trying to “mount” it.

Ah, the joys of parenthood!!!

Good News (Sort of)

Yesterday was Gwendolyn’s office visit with the neurologist to review her MRI.

First the bad news, the fluid in Gwen’s ventricles had slightly increased over her scan six months ago. However, the neurologist noted that even with the increase, Gwen’s brain looked to be very “happy.” (We guess now we know why she’s started saying that word so much of late). He also noted that the syringomyelia cyst (commonly known as a syrinx) that they had found on her spine during the previous scan hasn’t changed in size or shape. That's obviously a good sign. The neurologist told us that a syrinx is pretty common for spina bifida kids (approximately 40% have them according to him) but that he was very pleased it remained constant and had not grown.

So, given the fact that she has a “happy” brain, the neurologist is merely going to follow her during Gwen’s normal clinic visit in six months. He said it’s evident to him that even with the ventricles being enlarged, Gwen’s not experiencing any side effects at this stage.

While we would have preferred to hear there was no fluid to be found in her ventricles at all, we were very pleased with the overall diagnosis.

As for her sister, Braelyn’s still been a little bit of a finicky eater but apparently that hasn’t stopped her from engaging with her toy food set. Somehow her frustration as she tries to figure out how to break the bread (or any of the other fruits and vegetables in the set) into slices is about as comical as it gets for Mom and Dad!

Well, that’s about all that’s fit to print for now… We'll update you all again soon.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Friday's trip to the hospital for Gwen's check-up scans came and went without much drama. In actuality, the biggest issue we had that day was getting stuck in a construction zone that caused us to arrive at the hospital with Gwendolyn in tardy fashion. (Unless you ask Mom that is... Apparently Dad was getting his snore on in the waiting room which was echoing throughout the place... But Dad has no recollection of this transpiring whatsoever so he thinks she just imagined the whole thing!)

;)

Still, Gwen came through her MRI in sterling fashion. Last time Gwen came off her anesthesia, she more resembled a "happy drunk" as she kept smiling and giggling. This time around, she was just plain drunk. When Mom and Dad were ushered into the recovery room, there sat The Gwenner with a blank look on her face as her body shifted to and fro. According to the nurse, one of the more humorous moments took place just before we arrived, as Gwen reached for her binky and, with her motor-skills impeded, proceeded to place it in her ear as opposed to her mouth.

We have an appointment this Wednesday to get the results of the MRI. Technology is a fickle thing sometimes. We have all these amazing advances that have allowed Gwendolyn to progress at an amazing rate but it still takes five days to look over an MRI of the head and spinal column before we can tell you how everything looks.

Braelyn got some TLC time with Grandma McKee while her sister was getting the once-over at the hospital last week. Of late, Brae Bear's routine when she wakes in the morning is to immediately motion to her sister's crib so she can give her a good morning kiss and hug. We had to leave for the hospital so early last week that we were long gone before Braelyn woke up that morning. Apparently Grandma reported that there was a moment of part panic, part confusion when Braelyn got up and sister was no where to be found.

At least we know deep down she loves her sister... We'll try to remind Gwendolyn of that fact the next time Braelyn swipes a toy she's intently playing with!

Okay, we'll be back in a few days with an update from the Neurologist. Until then.

Some Tuesday Ramblings

What's going on with the Castellanos you ask? Sorry to disappoint but there's nothing of great excitement to share. As the lead photo atop this entry can attest to, not only is Braelyn still (overly) affectionate toward his sister, but Gwendolyn is actually tolerating her hugs (or should we say strangle holds) better and better.

Unfortunately, Braelyn seems to have some sort or rash on her arm. But good news, the red blotches around her inner-elbow are still not stopping her from walking around the house in various states of undress.

Yep, she's taking more and more after her Daddy!

As for the rash, Mom and the girls are on their way to the pediatrician's office right now to get to the bottom of it.

And Gwendolyn is still eating like a champ. Her MRI is coming up at the end of the week, but as you can see, she isn't letting that get in the way of a cupcake or two! (And no, we don't normally dish out cupcakes... but she was celebrating the birthday of one of her daycare mates so we made an exception.)

Well, that's all for now. We will be sure to update you all on Gwen's trip to the hospital later this week.