David's Complicated Medical History

For those of you who are friends with me on facebook, you know David, my 4 year old son better than those of you who only follow my blog of the last few months.  Now it's time for me to get my blog current with the life of precious David!

One of David's Birth Announcement Pictures

David is our sweet, thoughtful, shy-upon-first-meeting, easy-going, and obedient child.  Everyone who meets him either tells us he's "so cute" or "so sweet!"  Behind his lovable face and bubbling personality is a body that has known its struggles for all of its 4.5 years of life.  Although David was born a healthy baby despite being borderline premature, within a few months, we knew something wasn't right.  To make a very long and complicated story short, I'll give you a quick timeline of his young life:

3 months old - mouth area, hands, feet, legs started turning blue at various times when he was lying on his back

4 months old - found out David had 3 heart defects including a hole in his heart and an artery coming off of his aorta that was going the wrong way and pressing against his esophagus

5 months old - diagnosed with Gastroesophageal Disease (GERD - "reflux")

7 months old - scheduled for open heart surgery which ended up being canceled 2 weeks before the surgery when a cardiac MRI showed his heart defects weren't the source of his blue spells (ended up realizing his GERD was the culprit after a milk scan was done- he was aspirating on his relux)

David at 7 months

9 months old - big month of development because he finally was put on the right medicine to control his acid reflux -- started babbling for the first time (delayed in speech because of pain from GERD); was no longer considered "failure to thrive" for his weight/height

0-1 years - several bouts of bronchiolitis and 1 bout of pneumonia during the winter and spring; exhibited allergic symptoms but tested negative for all allergy testing - put on allergy medicine anyway to control symptoms (doctors thought he just had an immature immune system and would outgrow it)

1-2 years - multiple ear infections; diagnosis of asthma

Almost 2 years old

2-3 years - fractured and lacerated left index finger in heavy metal door at church requiring stitches and splinting; got a concussion because he talked his brother into sending him down the stairs in a laundry basket only to crash into the entertainment center; Surgery to drain infection in his ears that was resistant to 5 different antibiotics and to insert tubes in his ear drums (Jan. '09); start of multiple sinus infections

David sporting his fractured and stitched up finger (Jan. '09)

3-4 years - multiple sinus infections (at this point, he had been on antibiotics more months of his life than he had not been on an antibiotic); Surgery to remove his adenoids (Feb. '10); diagnosis of IgG Immune Deficiency

David in June 2010 - he and Josh were ring bearers for their Uncle Tim's wedding

For a summary of David's current health concerns and needs for prayer, see the next blog.