It has been a while since Xander has had the old motor skills put to the test so we all headed into Children's to see how he is doing.

In general he did pretty well, but it's like taking a pop quiz on stuff you've never studied before.  They asked him to thread blocks on a string which he had never tried before, although he got the idea.  It was interesting seeing him interact with the tester since there were times he would want something in her box of tricks, but she would only give it to him when he put it into words.  It went to show how often we interpret for him unconciously.

The one thing we really have to work on is focus.  He tends to work on something for a very short time and then wants to go onto something else.  It was almost painful for him to maintain his attention on one task and get it done completely before moving on to the next.  Of course, attention span also correlated to how much he wanted to do a particular test as opposed to how much Mom, Dad or the Therapist did.

In general he did well, of course there were a few things that needed work, but Mom went out that very day and picked up some items for him to practice on.  Now he can thread and stack and cut with plastic scissors. 

We asked the Occupational Therapist for a list of age appropriate actions to review and work on and she indicated that they had disparate lists all over the place but nothing all in one place.  She was going to forward some information on but we have not seen it as of yet.

This was Xander's first Dentist appointment for a while and still little progress.

The dentist finally got a chance to see inside Xander's mouth, but it was still pretty hairy.  One thing is for sure, Xander does NOT like dentists.

Up to this point Xander has had a known cavity for a few months and all that has been done is to put fluoride on his teeth and get him to be able to sit in the chair and brush his teeth.  Small advancements in a hard won battle.

But, we need to get those cavities filled, even though they are baby teeth; he's going to need them for a few years yet.  The clear choice it to put him under to do the work since he is so freaked out by the dentist office.  The pediatric dentist office we take him to does have that as an option, but only rarely since the anesthesiologist only comes in here and there. 

We took the information home and phoned up our insurance company to see if they will cover the procedure.  Surprisingly they do, they indicated they cover anesthesiology for patients 3 and under and also cover sealing the teeth for kids under 14.  Not bad.

But we were still not too sure about the dentist office since they were not making much headway with him.

We called Corrine at Children's and explained the situation and she told us to bring him in to the dentists at Children's since "They Rock".  Well, you can't get a better recommendation than that so Corrine made the recommendation for us.  Kind of makes sense to get his teeth treated where everything else is happening.

Xander went in for a routine 3 year check  up.

Mom, Dad, Willem and Xander headed in to the pediatricians for Xander's 3 Year 'Wellness' Check Up.  It was pretty routine.  Height was 38 inches and weight 36 lbs.

He got a shot or two and then we headed home.  Catching up on the immunisations again.

We did get the doctor to check his nose which was still crusty from the MRI.  Our main concern was that if he was still showing signs of a cold or sinus infection that anesthesiology wouldnot put him under.  So the pediatrician prescribed some antibiotics to take care of the infection.  It has been 3 months since the infection has been around so it is high time we did something about it over what Xander's body is doing.

Then Mom and the boys dropped Dad off at work and headed home.

Another long day, but in the end it was worth it.

Xander, Mom and Dad headed into Children's early this morning leaving Willem with a friend.

The hospital changed the procedure slightly this time for check in and we had to go to the main check in on the 6th floor.  A step back in our eyes, it is always less responsive there, even though there were not many clients.

Then it was business as usual, down to imaging, wait around in the recovery room for a bit, although this time Xander was in better spirits and was not as anxious.  Then Mom and Xander headed over to anesthesiology and they put Xander under. 

When they wheeled Xander in the anesthesiologist informed us that Xander was having some problems with his oxygen.  He was exhibiting behaviour as if he had a cold.  It seems that people with colds and some respiratory problems utilise extra muscles to help them breath.  When they are put under and those muscles relax then they do not draw in as much oxygen as they normally would.  They had him on oxygen when they put him under and just transferring him from the cart to the MRI room he dropped from 94 to 82 SpO2.  She almost pulled the MRI, but then his rate increased to satisfactory levels.  He has had a cough and a runny nose for a few weeks, but he does not exhibit the classic symptoms of a cold so we never gave it much thought.

After Xander recovered we headed over to U Village for some lunch.  Corrine called us with the results of the MRI and they were clear again.  Actually looking better than ever.  We then headed back for an appointment with Dr. Geyer to go over the MRI and Xander's general condition, which is excellent.  He weighted in at 35.3lbs and was 39.5 inches tall.  We talked about the cough and what the anesthesiologist had said, but we are going to let Xander's immune system handle it.

We had asked Corrine about a lumbar puncture this time.  Dr. Geyer and Corrine discussed it and indicated there was no real need, if there were any signs of reoccurence then they would perform one.  One less risk while he is under.

So we get another three months of time before the next MRI in which to be a normal family.

We even got to see Jennifer and Allison while we were at Children's, another family having to deal with cancer.  Allison is done her treatments and is recovering nicely, including getting that all important head of hair back.  Nice to see good progress by these kids.

Xander turns three today, and we could not be happier.

This is his first birthday after finishing treatment and we are so glad to be celebrating.

It seems a long time ago that he turned two, far more than one year.

Both of the boys got a portion of their play structure paid for as their birthday present which Mom and Gege assembled in March.  They have both been having a great time on it ever since.

Have fun Xander - you deserve it!

While Baba was visiting she noticed that Xander seemed to have a slight limp.

So Mom set up an appointment to get it checked out at the Pediatricians.

Mom, Baba, Xander and Willem all headed in for a long day.

Xander is pretty particular about people checking out his feet which lead us to believe that there may actually be a problem.  He was no different for the Pediatrician and did not hold back on voicing his displeasure.  The Pediatrician checked the left foot and seemed to have noticed an area on the sole just behind the big and middle toes that seems to have more movement than normal.  She couldn't say what it was so sent Xander off to get his foot imaged.

This freaked everybody out a bit since you don't like to have anything unknown that seems tumour like.  So they headed off to the local Imaging company and Xander had some X-rays done on his foot.  The results came back and there was nothing abnormal about the area.  The only explanation given was maybe a deep small sliver that is irritating the general area.  It is interesting in that it comes and goes.  Another suggestion was tighter fitting shoes to minimize chaffing.

So after a long day everybody came home and had a well deserved nap.

After many delays we finally had Xander visit the Periodontist.

Again, Mom, Baba, Xander and Willem headed to the Periodontist to see if Xander would let her check his teeth out.

They do a fairly good job of making the environment seem inviting for children; bright colours and interesting shapes and such, but it is still an laboratory like area so Xander was on edge as he walked into the treatment area.

For this visit the Dentist just eased into the visit experience and had him sit in the chair, and review the process from his perspective.  He played well enough, but would not take the leap into actually going through the check up procedure.

Fair enough, no need forcing the issue.  The Dentist then scheduled a second appointment so he would be more at ease the next time and hopefully make more headway.

Good to see they are being slow and certain that they do not make the dentist visits a stressful occurrence.  Learning from previous experience, Mom requested that the same Dental assistant be available for the next appointment since Xander seemed very at ease with her.

Xander, Mom and Baba headed into Children's to get Xander's fourth round of RSV shots.

The visit was uneventful.

Mom also set up the next MRI for May.