Trip to Indianapolis-LPA Medical Conference

We went to the LPA Midwest Medical Conference over this past weekend.  It was a very worthwhile car trip.  Thank goodness we had the new minivan!!  It kept the kids almost totally entertained watching movies and listening to their own music for the long drive.
We left on Friday after picking Aiden up from the bus stop.  We made a quick stop so I could keep my appointment with the dermatologist and we were on the road by around 4:30p.  We drove to the Dublin, OH area and stopped for dinner at a Quaker Steak and Lube.  The kids loved the restaurant and all the cars hanging from the ceiling!  We arrived at our hotel in Indianapolis around 11:30 pm and finally got tucked into bed a little after midnight.  Aiden had slept for about the last hour in the car and Emmi had fallen asleep shortly before we got to the hotel.  They were EXHAUSTED!!  Emmi and I lucked out because we got to sleep in the comfy bed and Eric and Aiden shared the pull out couch, which had little if any mattress on it!!
We got up at 7am to make sure we got to the conference on time...we could have slept for hours more!  The conference was at the Riley Children's Hospital in Indy.  It is next to the IUPUI campus so it was somewhat challenging to find exactly where we needed to be.  The conference started with opening remarks and introductions of all the doctors, many of whom are on the Little People Medical Advisory Board.
We had our first appointment with Dr. Michael Ain.  He is an orthopaedist, as well as a little person.  I was most looking forward to meeting him.  Having gone through medical school and residency myself, I would never have imagined stature being a deterrent to being an excellent physician. I have read his story online and he had been flat out told that his patients would not respect him based only on the fact that he stands only about 4 ft 3 inches tall.  On the contrary, many people travel from very far just to see him, myself included.  As an average height parent of a little person, what better person to take care of your child than someone who has been through it and who lives with the same condition each day and has been so successful in life!  I am sure he will be a great role model for Max.  Also, he is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and has a great reputation.  If Max needs orthopaedic surgery, I am sure he will be in very good hands with Dr. Ain.  He was quite personable and funny.  He told us that Max looks good now.  Nothing to worry about at this point.  He feels that Max has a slight kyphosis and told us to roll a washcloth up for behind his back in the car seat to help push his lower back in.  He said he will see us at our next trip to Johns Hopkins in February, but that if we had any questions in the meantime, not to hesitate to call him.  He seemed to make himself very available if we needed to speak with him.  I believe it was his calling to become a doctor for little people.  We may never know why things happen the way they do, and I do wonder what Max's calling will be in life, but I believe Dr. Ain is doing just as he was meant to do.
We also met with Psychiatry...(wow, somedays I really feel I need one of those on a regular basis!!).  She felt as thought we are coping quite well with things.
We met with Dr. Bellus who is a geneticist from the University of Colorado.  He was super nice.  He talked about the specific genetic mutation associated with achondroplasia.  He did say that other genes do interact with the gene that is mutated so there is no way to know for sure how exactly it will be expressed.  We do know that Max will be short statured, but because Eric is tall and I am slightly taller than the average, Max could be a little taller (maybe gain a few more inches over the norm of 4'-4'3" that is usual for a male with achondroplasia).  At that point, those few possible inches will just help with adaptability in his environment, but he will still always be short statured.
I met with the nutritionist from Akron Children's Hospital. (Eric was in the waiting room at this point with a 3 year old girl who was quickly melting down!!!!  Yes, it was Emmiloo!!!  Finally after that she fell asleep in the stroller and slept for a good hour and a half!)  The nutritionist was wonderful, although we talked very little about nutrition :-)  She is a little person and we ended up talking mostly about our kids and nursing and upcoming LPA events.  At this point, Max is feed on demand (and he is very demanding!! hehe).  Nutrition will become a bigger issue when he starts eating table foods.
Our last appointment of the day was with Dr. Richard Kerbavaz, an ENT from Oakland Children's Hospital.  I thought he was great too!!  He had such practical advice and has had a lot of experience with little people.  He examined Max and thought his nasal passages seemed normal and that his external ear canals were quite large (they are often times very small in achons and can make it hard to see the ear drum).  He did not see any fluid in Max's ears and gave me advice on what to look for if I examine him (although I usually leave that to Dr. Phelps).  He was very knowledgable and seemed genuinely interested in being there.
By the time we left, we were all exhausted!  It had been a very busy day but well worth it!  It was nice to get the opinions of other specialists who deal with little people in their clinics on a regular basis.  We really went to have Max looked at and to gather more information, as well as meet some other parents and other little people.  We met a few parents who plan to be at the regional LPA event in Perrysburg in October.  We hope to hook up with them again there.
We decided to drive to the Columbus area to spend the night on Saturday night (Eric REFUSED to sleep on that pull out couch again and I can't blame him!).  We stayed in a 2 BR Residence Inn and all got a good nights sleep.  Both kids fell asleep with Eric in the one bedroom and I had the whole other bed to myself!!! (except when little Maxy woke up to eat...but I didn't mind sharing :-) )  We surprised the kids by taking them to the Columbus Zoo on Sunday.  We had never been there before and got in for half price because we are members of the Cleveland Zoo.  It is a great zoo!!!  We were there for about 3 hours and didn't even make a dent in it!   They have a bunch of rides and a roller coaster that we spent a bunch of time on.  We saw monkeys and birds and the fish, but not many other animals.  We need to go back and devote an entire day to that zoo!
On the way home, we stopped at Easton Place and took Aiden to the Lego store.  There are not many Lego stores around so we figured that was a great place to stop for dinner.  WOW!!  Easton Place is huge!  Tons of shopping!  I need to go there and spend a weekend just wandering around shopping (anyone up for a trip!!!)  When we got back on the road, it was about 3 hours until we reached home.  We were all so tired that we all just fell into bed.
Overall, it was a great weekend.  We are looking forward to going to the Regional LPA event in Perrysburg the weekend of October 23rd.  It is at the Holiday Inn Holidome.  The kids are super excited about all the fun stuff there will be to do there!!
Well, I'll keep you posted...this was a pretty long post so if anyone read this far..thanks...:-)  I figure I  may as well include all the details since I am taking the time to write it down...  I wish I was a more eloquent writer and more witty! I will work on it!!