Pediatric Neurology & More Specialties!

Cameron had his check up with Dr. Richard Morse at Dartmouth on Monday afternoon. We left my office just after the winners of the Boston Marathon crossed the finish line! Whoo!

I snuck some pictures of him during his appointment.

The giant star on his chest was from a contest we had at work. He obv had to have it!

He's 43.5 inches tall and 41 pounds -- he's grown so much in the past 6 months!

He's kind of a champ at holding still to get his blood pressure read.

Dr. Morse started the appointment the same as he always does: "How's everything going?" I explained that since we were last there, Cameron went the longest stretch that he has gone without a seizure -- 5 months and 4 days. Dr. Morse was thrilled, especially when we mentioned that Cameron had been (along with every other 4-year-old preschooler) sick with colds on-and-off all winter. He reviewed his most recent labs (from Dec. 31), which showed his main seizure med to be right in the middle of "therapeutic level," which was a surprise for us all because Cam has always had his levels above therapeutic level to keep the seizures at bay. His other med was actually below therapeutic level. All great things when we consider that those labs were drawn 4 months ago and Cameron only has had one seizure since that time. Dr. Morse suggested we continue his dosage where it is, unless he has another seizure, especially considering he MAY have had a fever prior to the last one.

When Cameron had his regular 4-year physical with his PCP (Eric Goodman, APRN) in December, we had talked to him again about his lack of balance and tripping all the time. Eric had suggested bringing it up to Dr. Morse at this appointment - and so we did. In the past, Cameron has had a tight heel cord and foot drop on his right foot. This, we've always attributed to the abnormality on the left side of his brain and he receives (or should be receiving) physical therapy at school to help. 

As you can see from the wear on his shoes, he very, very often drags the top of his right toe (the blue on his right toe is almost entirely worn off) and hardly touches the heel of his right foot (the black on the heel is just about untouched -- besides some mud). After looking at the pictures myself, I also noticed the front of his right shoe is so worn from walking on the ball of his foot most of the time. His left shoe is very evenly worn.

After having Cameron run and walk up and down the hallways (his favorite part of the appointment, for obvious reasons) and confirming a clear foot drop, Dr. Morse decided it was time to officially refer him to pediatric orthopedics. He also moved Cam's foot around and told us that he cannot flex his right foot up past neutral, and his foot turns slightly inward. This can all be due to the weakened muscles and what Dr. Morse called a "release" due to his left brain. We had talked about an ortho referral in the past, when Cam was about two and a half, but the pediatric orthopedist had just retired and they hadn't filled the position. At the time, he was starting preschool and PT, so we decided to wait on it (instead of driving even further to a doctor somewhere else). Cam's first appointment with Dr. Price is on June 1. 

We're looking forward to helping him walk more balanced and with more ease -- and maybe save some money on his CONSTANTLY ripped pants! ;) He starts tee ball on Saturday and is SO excited! I can't wait to share pictures!

One last photo from Monday -- Shawn and I both agree that Cam looks like a 12-year-old in this picture with his newly gifted old iPod from college, that I found -- he uses it to check the weather and look at the calendar, ya know, normal 4-year-old things.

"Don't worry, bout a thing, 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright"