I've decided I live at doctor's offices. We do doctor appointments like other people do recreational activities for their kids. Some families go to soccer or gymnastics or dance... we go to the doctor. And we probably spend the same amount of time and money. Ugh! So lots to update.
Elizabeth:
I guess I never updated about her after the ambulance visit. No news is good news and she is fine. She complained about her back hurting for a few days, but recovered quickly. Too quickly... now I'm totally embarrassed for calling. But the good news is she's fine.
Katie:
Katie's arm hurt her for a long time. She was supposed to have her splint on for 1-2 weeks. At the 1 week mark, I took it off and she cried and cried. So we left it on another week. Tried again, same thing. Mom called the doctor and the doctor said (hey, I'm thinking of a song here! no more monkeys jumping on the bed! oh sorry.) Doctor said leave it on one more week. She was still in pain after that. So they made me bring her in for more x-rays. They said that for sure nothing is broken, just a very painful bruised bone and that she couldn't be in the splint for much longer or her range of motion would be affected. So after a few more days, I took off the splint and wrapped her arm in an ace bandage. (My idea since doctor's aren't very helpful lately.) She cried for her splint, but I told her it was in the garbage. She wore the ace bandage for a few more days but still wouldn't use her arm. At this point I knew we were headed for physical therapy and I just can't do any more doctor appointments. So I made up my own physical therapy schedule. I made her just hang her arm down straight - nothing else, but I wouldn't let her bend it. Then we worked on slowly moving her arm. Within a few days, she was using her arm again!!!! YAY! She's fine and back to normal.
Caleb:
Caleb has issues. You all know he has a severe peanut allergy. He's also mildly allergic to milk and eggs. Plus is reflux is still not going away so my pediatrician wanted us to make a GI Specialist appointment. I called about the appointment back in March and the earliest appointment was in May. I'm really glad I made it then because he has gotten worse since then. He doesn't eat well. He chokes and gags on SO MANY foods. And sometimes he even chokes, gags, and then throws up. And once he throws up, he's done eating. He's so incredibly picky too! He used to eat a lot more things, but now he can't/won't. I started keeping track and noticed that he will only eat soft foods... mashed potatoes, refried beans, yogurt, pudding, teddy grahams and fish crackers (the latter 2 are pretty soft once you chew them if you think about it). He pretty much lives on those things I've listed. He absolutely refuses rice, pasta, and bread, most meats and most veggies. He hates milk of any kind even with chocolate or instant breakfast. I don't know if it's a texture thing or if he has some damage from the reflux, or maybe both. Or if his body is just rebelling because of all his allergies. But he doesn't eat well and he's not gaining weight. At his last well baby visit he was falling off his growth curve and the pediatrician was concerned. He still seems pretty little and not growing very fast. ALL of his clothes from last summer fit him this year. We'll see on Friday when he goes in for his well baby checkup. I've been doing some research to learn more and try to figure him out. And I've talked to a lot of people in real life and online. I've learned a lot. So I went to his GI appointment prepared. The doctor was great and pretty much agreed with everything that I suspected. So Caleb will be having an upper GI x-ray this Thursday. I'm not sure what to expect from that. It can't be too bad, right? I mean it's just an x-ray. But they have a list of instructions so I'm a little nervous. We also have an appointment for occupational therapy next week to see if we can help him learn how to eat. I'm anxious to find out what's going on with him.
Michael:
We went to the orthopedist today (and waited F.O.R.E.V.E.R. again). I don't know if I ever fully explained Michael's leg.
Basically he has an osteochondroma on his femer. That's what he broke. Here is a picture that looks similar to Michael's x-ray. That little part of the bone is what he broke. If you read the first link and see the word "bone tumor", don't freak out. It's really quite common and not really a "tumor". It's more like a bone "growth". (Although I freaked out when I first read it and, of course, did a ton of research. Now I know it's nothing to worry about.) Anyway Michael basically has a piece of bone growing on his femer. Normally you don't even know if you have such a thing. But Michael broke that part of the bone. So they put a brace on him for a month and he walked around with a straight leg. We went back in (this was in April) and they said it's partially healed, but it was still hurting Michael a lot. They said he could take off the brace and try walking around for a month to see what would happen. He tried and tried to bend his knee, but it still hurt. I figured part of the pain was from not bending his leg, but the other part was from his broken bone. So we went back today and it has healed a little more. The doctor pushed on a few places on his leg that sent Michael through the roof. So it still hurts, however he is able to bend his leg enough to walk so that's good. He can't run though. (And this is really infuriating him because Michael LOVES to run and Michael NEEDS to run.) So the doc said we could wait for 2 more months and see how he does, or we could choose to have surgery and remove it. I was surprised that the doctor kinda left it up to me and Michael. Weird. But we both chose the option of surgery. While I don't want to actively force surgery on my son, it just made sense. I don't want him hobbling around for another 2 months and then find out they're going to remove the bone anyway. That would mean 2 months of waiting, plus at least one month to schedule the surgery, plus recovery time after that. That would be at least September before he's back to normal. This injury happened in March... 6 full months later. So we're going the route of surgery and the doctor agrees with us. He thinks it's a good idea. Michael's surgery is scheduled for July 8th. I sure hope it goes smoothly and heals quickly so Michael can get back to his normal, active life. He's frustrated, and with good reason.
Nathan, Anna, and Lydia:
Healthy and happy. :)
Oh, Anna's prescription for her glasses seems to be changing already. She can't see far away again. She just got glasses in the fall, but I guess she's blind like her daddy. I'll take her as soon as things calm down a bit.
So those are the updates! See why I spend my life at the doctor's office?!
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