Update on Elijah's Thumb/ Cellulitis

  We have been giving Elijah Bactrim twice a day since he was seen Friday for his infected finger.  We have been keeping it clean and trying to keep it out of his mouth.  But he is not responding to the Bactrim.  His finger actually got more swollen and red.  So last night I spoke with a nurse and she told me that after 72 hours on an antibiotic there should be improvement and it should not be getting worse.  She said it was best to go downtown Cooks and have it looked at because it could spread.
   When we got downtown they wanted to take an x-ray of his thumb to make sure it hadn't reached the bone.  They also did blood work to make sure it isn't something more serious.  After a lot of waiting they told us it that his bone looks good and nothing showed in his blood work. 
   This time he was diagnosed with Cellulitis and he was given a better antibiotic for skin infection.  She also prescribed a topical antibiotic that we can use on his finger at bed time so he doesn't put it in his mouth.  Same as last time if it worsens after 2 days we go back and have it looked at again.

Paronychia

 

  Today we had Elijah's finger looked at.  He has paronychia, so it is infected.  There hasn't been any drainage or pus so they just prescribed him an antibiotic that he will take orally for 7 days and they wrapped it up in a splint.  Of course the wrap didn't last long.  He just used it as something new to chew on.  They said if the redness starts going down his finger or gets red streaks down his arm to take him downtown so they can give him antibiotics through iv. 

Elijah Update: New Speech Therapy and Cochlear Implant Mapping

It has been a while since I have updated on Elijah.  Well, we have actually decided to try a different speech therapist.  She thinks he actually has the capability to use his dynavox with the touch screen instead of the eye gaze!  So exciting!!!!  He will be going 2 days a week now instead of 1.  They will use one of the days to do some oral motor therapy and actually work with the muscles in his mouth.  The first goal is to work on him drinking from a straw.  I am really hopeful!   He does his occupational therapy at the same place so they already know him very well there.

 

 

He has also had a mapping appointment for his cochlear implants recently.  He did better then he ever has tolerating process.  He gave us really good responses and they were able to get a really good map for him.  He will now be able to hear softer sounds.  They also added a couple of programs for when he starts school.  One program is for working with him one on one.  It will cut down on background noise.  The other program is just lowers all of the sound so they won't be as loud.  It will be good for music class and gym.  He doesn't like very loud noises.  So we will go back in a month and they are going to do a little more fine tuning.  There were too many changes that needed to be done so they couldn't do them all at once.  But it was very exciting that when we got home Elijah actually turned his head towards his dad when he called his name, for the very first time!  He is much more aware of sounds!  So this will also be good for his speech therapy!

   We are hopefully getting him new afos very soon.  His boots are rubbing his feet and his toes are pretty much at the end.  Other then that we think his finger is infected and we will get that looked at tomorrow.