On March 25, Brendon has an appointment at Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

Here's the results of Brendon's test.

The pediatrician, recommends surgery and for Pam to take Brendon to a pediatric neurosurgeon for a second opinion.  The neurosurgeon will be the one to determine if Brendon needs surgery.  Alaska has no pediatric neurosurgeons.

The doctor gave Pam this information:
Craniofacial Foundation of America, (CFA)
975 East Third Street Chattanooga, TN 37403
615 778 9192
1 800 418 3223
FAX: 615 778 9011

Keith and I were with Pam at the doctor's office today.  While the doctor explained the procedures, Keith held the baby.  Brendon was laughing and bouncing up and down.  The doctor commented, "He sure is a happy baby."

After the doctor's visit, Keith took us out to lunch. Brendon scarfed down two jars of baby food before we even had our orders taken. Then he laughed and cooed while we ate lunch. Keith went back to work, and I took Pam and Brendon home.

This evening we baby sat while Pam went to her class and Todd was still at work. Keith fed him two more jars of baby food for dinner, and he fell asleep about 8 p.m. Pam picked him up at 9:30 p.m. She is totally wiped out from all the stress and worry. Todd is, too.

Yesterday Keith went to Fred Meyer looking for a Johnny-Jump-Up for Brendon. He came home with a walker because they didn't have any. The walker has little toys that bend over. Brendon grabbed one of them and popped it in his mouth. He is a strong little guy.

We were 45 minutes early for the hospital appointment.  This time everything went fine.  The doctor told Pam not to feed Brendon until right before the scan so that he'd fall asleep.  He was wide awake, and didn't fall asleep until we were driving out of the parking lot.

Todd took off work to go with Pam and Brendon to the hospital for the CT scan on his head.  When they got there, they were told they missed the appointment.  The nurse wrote down the wrong time.  I'm so mad about this that I could spit!  The CT scan is rescheduled for next week.

I'm mad because there's no way Todd can make up for the money he lost taking off a day of work for nothing.  I'm even more mad that we have to wait even longer to find out if Brendon needs surgery.

Pam drove us to see the pediatrician.  Now we have a name for Brendon's condition:  craniosynostosis.  At least he doesn't have Apert's syndrome which is a more serious condition.  The CT scan is scheduled for Friday.  I laughed when the nurse told us the time.  It is the same time as my appointment on Friday.  We are all hoping that his head just looks funny, and that he doesn't need surgery.

In spite of the warm weather and slick roads, Brendon, Pam and her mother made it home safely on Saturday night.  Brendon and Pam came over on Sunday, and Brendon stayed the night.

I e-mailed my family about Brendon.  I've noticed that Brendon's forehead has been bulging since he was born.  His forehead reminded me of how Connie's son and Rene's daughter looked.  They both had the surgery and everything was fine.  One baby had the surgery in Anchorage, the other in the states, both with no blood.  That was over 20 years ago.

Pam is very upset about this.  I can't blame her.  I looked up some stuff on the Internet and it was all very scary.  I called Stacey today and while I was talking to her, Pam called me.  So I asked Pam for more information.

Pam took Brendon to the doctor in Michigan because he had a cold.  The pediatrician was concerned about the shape of his head.  The doctor called Brendon's pediatrician in Alaska and set up an appointment for February 10th.  The Michigan doctor recommended that Brendon have a cat scan to see if he needed surgery.

We won't know anything further until Brendon sees the doctor on February 10th, and probably not until after the cat scan which will probably be scheduled after that.

Brendon and Pam are in Michigan visiting Pam's grandmother. They left with Pam's mother a couple of days before we got back from our vacation to California.

We haven't seen them for over a month. I miss the little fellow a lot. I'm used to seeing him at least every few days, and he often spent the night. He was a welcome companion during many of my sleepless nights.

Pam took Brendon to the doctor this week. When they get back home, Brendon will need a cat scan. The doctor suspects an abnormality with Brendon's head which may require surgery to correct. Any surgery on the head is scary, but even more so when it's a sweet little baby.

When Pam first told me, I wasn't especially alarmed. I've known two people, Connie and Rene, whose babies had surgery to correct a premature closing of the soft spot on the baby's head. Both surgeries were successful and the babies are adults now. With advances in medicine, I would expect the procedures to be successful in Brendon's case, too.

Then I decided to look up the disorder on the Internet. If the doctor told Pam what I've been reading, it's no wonder that she is scared and upset. Now I am, too.

Babies can have several abnormalities of the head. I don't know which one affects Brendon. However, I have wondered if Brendon had the premature closure disorder because his head reminds me of Connie's son and Rene's daughter.