A Preemie Miracle: Blake Hargis: Riley Visit.

Friday morning started with a quick shower, feeding and packing for the unexpected. 4 bottles, one can of formula, one box of rice cereal, 20 diapers, wipes, and an extra change of clothes. Stroller, check. Pack and Play (just in case), check. Coffee, double check! So we placed Blake in his car seat and at 7:30 we were on the road, the long journey to Indy. Only one stop on the way up!! More coffee, changed Blake and fed him and then hit the road again- only after a quick photo shoot!! Striking poses for mommy!

We arrived just in time for Blake's MRI at 1:30. Zach and I both went back with him, and thank God this was a partial MRI. One because I don't know if I could stomach Blake's crying for much longer than the 15 minutes we had to, and Two because my back would have been killing me if it lasted any longer. (I had to hold Blake's legs down, which required me to lean across the hard board of the MRI machine.

Waiting for his doctor to come in the exam room.

Blake was a big hit with all the ladies- such a flirt!

It was from there that we went to see Blake's neurologist to check in and review the results of the MRI. I won't lie Zach and I have a hard time with these appointments, and when we were in the NICU made it a rule to not look at Blake's CT scans, or head ultrasounds. We had decided it was more important for us to focus on what Blake was doing rather than focusing on what scans show Blake might not do, but today we made the decision to view the MRI results with his doctor. She compared the MRI results from Friday to one done after his shunt placement in August... Shockingly, Blake's brain shows much improvement, and shows his brain tissue is maturing where they thought would just be "blank" space so to speak. On the scan Blake's left side of his brain looked like a totally different brain scan, with vast improvements. His right side showed some improvement not as much as the left but still some- so that's why only his left arm seems to be affected so far! I know to some people who are non-medical or no nothing of strokes, brain bleeds, etc this may mean nothing- but to us this is nothing short of a miracle! It is God's work, these scan are what doctors said back in May "impossible", Blake is a TRUE MIRACLE! His doctor seemed very pleased with Blake's progress, movement, reflexes and over all condition. She also seemed okay with us moving forward with constraint therapy, and has also recommended the use of a cranial band, just as we had suspected. So Blake will be sporting a new "hat" for a while the treatment can last anywhere from 2 months to over a year, but his doctor seemed to think his shouldn't take long to fix. The medical word for this is Plagiocephaly: a condition characterized by a flattening of one side of the skull. The lucky part? The place for Blake to get fitted is here in Evansville (WOOHOO!! No long 4 hour drive!) we will see them January 2nd for the initial visit. So more to come on that once we actually see a cranial tech. But all in all this visit although LOOOONNG, could not have had better results for Zach and I- Well and Blake of course! Before we left we made a quick stop my the NICU to catch up with some of the nurses and staff. Blake was reunited with his first love his nurse Lauren! He sure did love seeing her!

Blake was such a happy baby that day, flirting with everyone and grinning cheek to cheek.

Happy Baby for sure...that was until the drive home...Blake was not happy. The drive took a little longer than normal lasting almost 5 hours...We had to make a few unscheduled stops for stretching and playing otherwise our ears would be ringing from all the crying and screaming all the way home. Note to self from now on all Riley appointments will be overnighters just to save Blake from sitting in a car seat for most of the day, well and to save our ears of course!

Blake and Daddy playing in the parking lot of a bank until Blake calmed down. Once we reached home Blake was his happy self again. So full of love and laughter! I captured our little ham, being a little ham as soon as we got home! Such a good day, but such a long trip!