Today was our fifth and final day at the NIH. I think it was the busiest day too! We started the day with Caleb getting an I.V placed for a lab test. He was a hard stick so we took him upstairs and they used an ultrasound machine to view his vein as they inserted the needle. Caleb did wonderful throughout the whole thing. They put a special numbing cream on his arm and so I don't think he felt a thing!
Then he had an EKG and an echocardiogram. He had professional photograph taken to be kept in his records. He had a skeletal survey done where they took x-rays of legs, back, head, hands, etc. He did so well that the tech said that he did better than a lot of adults! The last test of the day was a skin biopsy.
We ended the day with a wrap- up session with Lynne Wolfe, NP and Dr. Tifft. These two women coordinated all of Caleb's care and were just wonderful! If either of you are reading this blog then let us thank you again for all your hard work. We are very grateful!
Tomorrow morning we leave to go home. The week has just gone by amazingly fast! We unfortunately do not have a diagnosis yet but there are a couple of things that Caleb will be tested for but will take weeks if not months to come back. Some of his bloodwork was even sent off to Germany! Overall, we feel blessed and grateful that Caleb was chosen to participate in the UDP. At the very least we feel that everything possible has been done to figure out the mystery that is Caleb. :)
We also met a couple of very nice families whose children were participating in some other studies being conducted at the NIH. I met a mother who told me that her 12 year old daughter had been diagnosed with a terminal illness only two years ago. I met another mother who shared that her 5 year old son wasn't potty trained either, probably would never potty train. It was last on her list of priorites though because BOTH of her children had a rare disease in which the life expectancy was 10 years old. So we are very thankful that no matter what is going on with Caleb, he appears to be progressing and we expect him to be with us for a very long time.
Thanks to all of our family, church family and friends who have prayed for us during this trip! We love you all!