5/29/09

I want one of these in my backyard!

S and I spent the day with Emi and David and their wonderful boys D and E. We met up with them as they went on a paddle boat ride but were interrupted by a typical Florida rain storm. We raced for cover and ate ice cream until it stopped. Then we ran to the playground and played. Made Teddy bear crafts when it started raining again. And then spent the afternoon here on this wonderful contraption that someday when we're loaded, we're going to get one!
Poor S was still feeling a bit under the weather and napped in the sunshine for more than an hour. And yes, I failed on the sunscreen. I did get pretty burnt. But it was such a great afternoon. My mom also came down and got to spend time with Emi and the boys. Too fun.
Later, M came down and we ordered pizza and wings and then had a great dinner. We were sure tired when we got home!!
What a wonderful day!

5/28/09

A frustrating day....

Thursday was so frustrating as a parent that I just couldn't even write about it until today. (Okay, I probably could have written about it yesterday...but didn't have time.) Either way, it was one of the most frustrating upsetting days I have had in quite a while.

We finally got the urine sample off to the lab to rule out a possible UTI. I dropped S off at school for the LAST time for a while (and boo-hooed all the way home!!). S LOVES school, but now that I am not working and we need to solve this health stuff, it makes NO sense to keep her in school and around all those germy kids. (And pay the 800 bucks a month now that I am "unemployed").

I spend the day "cleaning" for my cousing Emi and her family's visit. Turns out, they're not so hip on germs either so they ended up having to get their condo a day early. So my "cleaning" turned into blogging, napping, etc. until it was time to get S from school.

Picking her up from school for the last time was soooo hard. I'm going to save the story for it's own post instead of here.

We headed down to her neurosurgery appointment. After having the pulmonogist and her pediatrician "guess" it was neurological - my hopes were HIGH for this appointment. Dr. G was the same neurosurgeon that saw S when her noggin looked like this.

Here is what was frustrating. In Dr. G's practice, a PA (physician's assistant) usually comes in first to get all the pertinent info and then run it by the doc for more guidance. Dr. G usually comes in for the last few moments, gives his blessing, and sends us on our merry way.

Thurs was no different. The PA and I had an extensive conversation and I watched as her face grow more and more concerned as I explained what was going on with S. The hospitalizations. The tachycardia, tachypnea, hypertension, gait disturbances, sleep apnea, etc. I explained that the pediatrician had consulted with Dr. G and they decided to do a Flash MRI. When I relayed that to the PA, she said:

"The Flash MRI will not show us a clear enough picture - we need to do the full MRI!"

She left the room to discuss with Dr. G and they both came back it. Dr. G asked about her head shape (to which I responded that I was thankful she was a girl so her hair would hide any imperfections) and then proclaimed that we were going to do just the Flash MRI. Totally. Contradicted. The PA!!

I didn't felt heard. (We were the last patients of the day and I could tell he was itching to get out of there...) I asked him what we were looking for on the MRI and he said either hydrocephalus (but he didn't think so since S wasn't having issues), a chiari malformation (possible), and either a tumor or a cyst (not likely). He said we'd have to wait for the results of the MRI but that he didn't "think" it was neurological.

Just. Great.

Don't get me wrong (as my mother did when I explained this story). I'm HAPPY that he doesn't think its neurological -BUT it still doesn't get us any closer to an answer what is causing the issues with S. And I just want answers. Yesterday! (Patience is NOT one of my virtues!)

I also mentioned the delayed response episodes from the other day and he recommended that we take S to a neurologists for a seizure eval.

Not neurological, but go get a EEG to rule out seizures.

The entire visit was a contradiction.

And a frustration.