An Explanation of Megan's Health Update

I posted a few days ago that Megan has an updated profile.  We love her new picture!  We also received some updated health information.  At first, when you read through these, it seems a little scary.  The good news is it's definitely not as serious as it sounds. 

I read a blog post today from a family that is adopting Victoria from Reeces Rainbow.  They wrote a letter to Victoria about Megan and her health update on their blog Rescuing Victoria.  I would like to share that with you on our blog as well because I think it gives excellent insight and perspective into Megan's health update.

Victoria,

As your Daddy and I read the information above about her medical records we both feel like they sound a lot scarier than they are. Just about everyone of the conditions listed are very common with children with Down syndrome, and in our minds and those of our friends, not a huge deal. I like to refer to them as the price to pay to be blessed with a child with Ds. Totally worth it! Of course we are not medical professionals, but we have been around the block with your little sister Kaelyn and are quite familiar with many of the terms. So here is our play by play of what each of the things listed are. (**Of course this is in our words/experience and we are not medical professionals)

-Down syndrome & mental deficiency - Learns at her own pace. We have learned with Kaelyn that she has her own time frame for reaching milestones and that is just fine with us. We are so proud of everything she is doing, regardless of when she gets there.

-deformation of musculoskeletal system - Not exactly sure what they mean here it is very common with children with Ds to have loose joints, thats why they are so flexible. Her's may be more complicated than that, not sure, but that is just what we have experienced with Kaelyn and her friends. She makes the Chinese splits look like a walk in the park :)

-day and night enuresis (incontinence)-Not potty trained. Very common, and something that can be worked on I'm sure, when the time is right.

-strabismus- Lazy Eye

-farsightedness- Needs glasses. Kaelyn is also farsighted, just not too interested in wearing her glasses yet. The eye doctor assured us that her vision is not worsening because she is not wearing glasses. She will just be able to see better at distances when she wears them. Until she realizes that, she will not leave them on for longer than 2 secs.

-Atrial septal defect & anomaly of aortal mitral valve- I'm guessing that she would need heart surgery for these, but not really sure. If she does it IS NOT as scary as it sounds. Yes open heart surgery is a big deal, but there are amazing surgeons out there that do these surgery's EVERY SINGLE day. Kaelyn's heart defects were even more complicated than this and she was home from the hospital 2 weeks after surgery. Her heart is doing great now and we just go into see the cardiologist every 6 months or so. Yes surgery and hospitalization are expensive, but they are covered through insurance.

-delay in physiologic development- Also very common with Ds and like stated above doing things at her own pace. Children with Down syndrome are most often smaller than children with out, and even have their own growth charts.

So what we are saying is that Megan needs a family and we don't want them to be scared off by the medical information on her profile. Kaelyn's medical history is far more extensive than this and we wouldn't change a thing if it meant we could not have her here today. Having her as our daughter and the joy and happiness she has brought into our lives, far outweighs the 140 days/nights she has spent in the hospital. We mean that with all our hearts and hope that someone will open their hearts and home to this sweet little girl Megan. Please help us spread the word about this little angel and pray that her family will find her SOON!

Love Mommy & Daddy