I took Kaiden to Royal Oak Beaumont Children's Hospital today for his x-ray and ultrasound. I normally take the kids to St. John Hospital in Detroit for everything. Dr. N suggested I take him to Troy Beaumont because it is much closer (just 3 miles as opposed to 15) and the pediatricians now have privileges there. I agreed so she wrote the order for Troy. I called Monday for an appointment and then informed me that children under 3 have to go to Royal Oak. Dr. N left last week for vacation for the rest of the month so if I wanted to go to St. John, I'd have to call another one of the docs for a new order. I was surprisingly impressed. I didn't even know Royal Oak had opened a Children's Hospital. I wasn't impressed that they charged for parking (St. John's is free unless you valet) though. Two dollars is two dollars that I didn't need to spend. But I guess that is not important. We didn't wait 5 minutes before the US tech came out to bring us in. Kaiden had to fast for 3 hours prior to the ultrasound. Our appointment was at 8:30 am so that meant he hadn't eaten since dinner the night before. On the telephone the clerk told me to expect it to take 45 minutes. I only took about 10 for her to get all of the images that she needed. She then went to get a physician to take a look at the images before sending us on our way just in case he wanted to see anything more. She came back with the physician who took a few more images himself. He told me right there that he didn't see anything to be concerned about. Kaiden was just full of gas. Then off to expose my son to x-ray. Just one picture. All looked normal. Gas. Again we waited for the doc to view the x-ray before they sent us off. Less than 5 minutes later and another physician came out to tell me everything appeared to be fine and they'd call our pediatrician later in the day to confirm once they had the final reading on it.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
X-Ray and Ultrasound
I took Kaiden to Royal Oak Beaumont Children's Hospital today for his x-ray and ultrasound. I normally take the kids to St. John Hospital in Detroit for everything. Dr. N suggested I take him to Troy Beaumont because it is much closer (just 3 miles as opposed to 15) and the pediatricians now have privileges there. I agreed so she wrote the order for Troy. I called Monday for an appointment and then informed me that children under 3 have to go to Royal Oak. Dr. N left last week for vacation for the rest of the month so if I wanted to go to St. John, I'd have to call another one of the docs for a new order. I was surprisingly impressed. I didn't even know Royal Oak had opened a Children's Hospital. I wasn't impressed that they charged for parking (St. John's is free unless you valet) though. Two dollars is two dollars that I didn't need to spend. But I guess that is not important. We didn't wait 5 minutes before the US tech came out to bring us in. Kaiden had to fast for 3 hours prior to the ultrasound. Our appointment was at 8:30 am so that meant he hadn't eaten since dinner the night before. On the telephone the clerk told me to expect it to take 45 minutes. I only took about 10 for her to get all of the images that she needed. She then went to get a physician to take a look at the images before sending us on our way just in case he wanted to see anything more. She came back with the physician who took a few more images himself. He told me right there that he didn't see anything to be concerned about. Kaiden was just full of gas. Then off to expose my son to x-ray. Just one picture. All looked normal. Gas. Again we waited for the doc to view the x-ray before they sent us off. Less than 5 minutes later and another physician came out to tell me everything appeared to be fine and they'd call our pediatrician later in the day to confirm once they had the final reading on it.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Post Genetics Follow-Up
After Dr. Bawle bringing up 3 concerns yesterday, I thought we should take Kaiden in to see Dr. Nadarajah before proceeding with the ultrasound. I'm so thankful to have found Northpointe Pediatrics nine years ago. A good friend recommended them when I was pregnant with Kaeterina and we've been taking the kids there ever since.
I was supposed to attend the Leadership Summitt today at Grace Community Church. Pete knew I would not be able to pay attention knowing he had Kaiden and Kierstyn at the doctor's office so he strongly suggested that I skip it today. I'm bummed about that but know he's correct.
Dr. N gave me a stronger prescription ointment for Kaiden's eczema. She did find his left testicle. Pete was relieved : ) She said that sometimes when he moves a certain way, the muscle will retract and it'll be hard to locate but not to worry that it was there and had come down. She also wasn't concerned about a mass in his lower abdominal area. She did an exam and said it was definitely stool and that we should start him on Miralax which I had done the day before after seeing Dr. Bawle. But she did order an ultrasound and x-ray just to be sure. I'll take him to Beaumont tomorrow for those. He has a daily bowel movement (sorry if that is too much information) so I'm a bit concerned about this.
I've been doing a lot of research on autisum for the past month and half. Kaiden's symptoms do fall on the Autism spectrum. But they also fall in the 'normal' range for the neglect of an institutionalized child. Dr. N asked if we had any more questions before we left today and so Pete told her that I thought Kaiden had Autism. Which is not completely true. Dr. A said it was possible so I was only researching it just to be prepared. Dr. N discussed the symptoms of ASD with us in more detail and explained how yes Kaiden does show signs of it but it is too early to narrow it down to that. It could be any number of other things. She is more concerned about his fine/gross motor skill delays which indicate that he has something more going on that just ASD. That was a relief. I already knew and understood all that she said, but it was reassuring to hear her say that she didn't think it was ASD.
I was supposed to attend the Leadership Summitt today at Grace Community Church. Pete knew I would not be able to pay attention knowing he had Kaiden and Kierstyn at the doctor's office so he strongly suggested that I skip it today. I'm bummed about that but know he's correct.
Dr. N gave me a stronger prescription ointment for Kaiden's eczema. She did find his left testicle. Pete was relieved : ) She said that sometimes when he moves a certain way, the muscle will retract and it'll be hard to locate but not to worry that it was there and had come down. She also wasn't concerned about a mass in his lower abdominal area. She did an exam and said it was definitely stool and that we should start him on Miralax which I had done the day before after seeing Dr. Bawle. But she did order an ultrasound and x-ray just to be sure. I'll take him to Beaumont tomorrow for those. He has a daily bowel movement (sorry if that is too much information) so I'm a bit concerned about this.
I've been doing a lot of research on autisum for the past month and half. Kaiden's symptoms do fall on the Autism spectrum. But they also fall in the 'normal' range for the neglect of an institutionalized child. Dr. N asked if we had any more questions before we left today and so Pete told her that I thought Kaiden had Autism. Which is not completely true. Dr. A said it was possible so I was only researching it just to be prepared. Dr. N discussed the symptoms of ASD with us in more detail and explained how yes Kaiden does show signs of it but it is too early to narrow it down to that. It could be any number of other things. She is more concerned about his fine/gross motor skill delays which indicate that he has something more going on that just ASD. That was a relief. I already knew and understood all that she said, but it was reassuring to hear her say that she didn't think it was ASD.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Dr. Bawle - Genetics
Today was our appointment with Dr. Bawle at Children's Hospital in Detroit. We had to wait almost 3 months to get an appointment with her. I spent one hour with a genetics counselor going over Kaiden's medical history. I thought that would take one minute since I had mailed in a 6 page questionnaire and they had all of his reports from the other specialists ahead of time as well as the fact that we don't have much of a medical history and zero family medical/birth/pregnancy history. But she wanted to go over all the specialists reports.
After that, then Dr. Bawle came in to do a complete physical on him. The first few things she mentioned were a surprise to me. She said she didn't think he had a left testicle. We've only had two appointments with our pediatrician since we've been home and although she's had numerous things to discuss with us, I thought she would have noticed that. Dr. Bawle also felt something on his left lower abdominal area. She didn't think it was a tumor but she didn't think it was just stool either because it was hard and would not roll as it should have. Kaiden had just had a bowel movement prior to coming into the examining room so this sort of made sense. She gave me a script to have an ultrasound done and suggested that I call our pediatrician to discuss it further.
Based on the fact that Kaiden is making improvements instead of progressing backwards, Dr. Bawle did not order the Reyes test. She did want to order the CGH test. The genetics counselor discussed with me the option of having the blood drawn today and ordering the test today or calling my insurance company first to find out if it is going to be a covered test (some insurances do not cover genetic testing) and coming back to have the blood drawn if we decide to proceed with it. Although it meant I would have to hold Kaiden while his blood was being drawn (that is normally Pete's responsibility), I choose to just have it done right then while I was already there. I don't particularly care for going to Children's Hospital. I also wanted to get it going as soon as we could since it seemed like we had been waiting forever to get here! It's the only option we have for finding out some of his medical history so I knew we would get it done whether it was a covered test or not. As it turns out, as long as the phsycian provides medical reasoning for the test, our insurance will cover it.
Friday, July 31, 2009
July Update
It has been a super busy month! It started out with me catching a cold. Luckily, no one else caught it. The girls had 2 weeks of evening swim lessons, then one week of vacation bible school, followed by one week of soccer camp for K2 & K3.
It was an uneventful month for Kaiden as far as any appointments go. He has continued to make small progresses. He is eating third foods very well and will eat some table foods (applesauce, oatmeal, berries) as long as they are mashed. I've also started making my own baby food in the mini food processor. Baby food gets expensive when you can go through 6 jars a day! We are trying the sippy cup now as well, with and without the spout. He enjoys apple juice but he doesn't like getting it from the sippy cup. He is also starting to not like the bottle as much. This makes getting fluids into him difficult. He is becoming more active as well. Sitting up unassisted for short periods of time as well as rolling all around the living room floor. He will roll over to get to his bottle when he is hungry but he doesn't seem to purposefully roll over for anything else.
We are looking forward to the genetics appointment next week.
It was an uneventful month for Kaiden as far as any appointments go. He has continued to make small progresses. He is eating third foods very well and will eat some table foods (applesauce, oatmeal, berries) as long as they are mashed. I've also started making my own baby food in the mini food processor. Baby food gets expensive when you can go through 6 jars a day! We are trying the sippy cup now as well, with and without the spout. He enjoys apple juice but he doesn't like getting it from the sippy cup. He is also starting to not like the bottle as much. This makes getting fluids into him difficult. He is becoming more active as well. Sitting up unassisted for short periods of time as well as rolling all around the living room floor. He will roll over to get to his bottle when he is hungry but he doesn't seem to purposefully roll over for anything else.
We are looking forward to the genetics appointment next week.
Friday, July 10, 2009
MRI & CAT Scan Results
I received phone calls this week from both Kaiden's neurologist and neurosurgeon. Both tests came back perfectly normal. Praise the Lord!
His neurosurgeon said that we could still try a re-shaping helmet but he did not recommend it. We agreed and so are not going to do it. With Kaiden still not having full neck strength, we feel that the helmet could potentially do more harm than good. It would be added weight on his head and it probably would not do any noticeable re-shaping.
His neurologist said that now we need to wait for Dr. Bawle to run the CGH blood test to tell us if he had any chromosomal abnormalities. We don't see Dr. Bawle until August.
His neurosurgeon said that we could still try a re-shaping helmet but he did not recommend it. We agreed and so are not going to do it. With Kaiden still not having full neck strength, we feel that the helmet could potentially do more harm than good. It would be added weight on his head and it probably would not do any noticeable re-shaping.
His neurologist said that now we need to wait for Dr. Bawle to run the CGH blood test to tell us if he had any chromosomal abnormalities. We don't see Dr. Bawle until August.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
MRI & Cat Scan
Today was our second attempt at Kaiden's MRI. This time it was a success. They had to use full anesthesia so we were confident that it would work this time. St. John was also able to get his CAT scan done immediately following while still under anesthesia. This is why I love that hospital so much. They are always very accommodating. They normally do CAT scans on Wednesday but even with only one day's notice, they were able to work it out so he wouldn't have to go in again and be put under for a second time. We expect to hear from his neurologist with the results after the holiday week-end. We had to do the CAT scan first so they gave us the paperwork for both that and the MRI so that he could be moved from one area to the next without any interruptions. When the CAT scan was done and they moved us down to the MRI waiting room, we took our paperwork to the desk. They had saved the paperwork from last month! The receptionist was so upset that they had us complete it again (it was really no big deal, it was only one sheet of paper double sided) that she gave us each a $5 credit to the cafe to get breakfast while we waited for the MRI to be done which takes longer than the CAT scan. We only sat for about 5 minutes once we got back from the cafe and Kaiden was done. We were at the hospital for only a total of about 2 hours.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
MRI. Fail.
Today Kaiden was scheduled for his brain MRI. Because we had to be at the hospital one hour before the appointment which meant 7:30 am, the girls had a sleep-over at Nanu & Papa's so they didn't have to get up at 6:00 am. They always love those!
We arrived promptly at 7:30 am to the hospital. Of course we had to do paperwork and answer all of the same questions that we had to answer on the telephone twice before (once when scheduling and then again yesterday). We had to accomplish this with a screaming hungry baby because we couldn't feed him before the sedation.
Then the nurses took us back to a room to take his vitals. It was a slow day for them today apparently because for the one hour that we had to sit in the room, we were able to hear very clearly all of the drama surrounding one nurse's pending wedding as well as the staff opinion's on the Red Wings and GM bankruptcy.
After the vitals were done the nurses called the physician in to exam him to make sure he was OK to take the sedative. They said it should take 15 minutes. He was given chlorate hydrate which is supposed to make him just sleepy. Then we were allowed to give him a bottle. They came back after 15 minutes to find him playing with his Daddy. They came back another 15 minutes later to find the same thing. Then they gave him another half dose and said this would surely put him out. Another 15 minutes later and the same thing. He was acting droggy but not ready to go to sleep. I climbed in bed with him because that is how he goes to bed at night, and covered us up to try to darken the room so he'd know it was bedtime. When the nurses saw this, they said they could take us to a dark room if that would help. Off to the waiting room we went. As soon as they left and shut the door, I laid him on the floor on his blanket. It was pure darkness in that room. He was asleep within 5 minutes.
Pete went to get the nurse to take him for the MRI now. Hoping he would stay asleep for the 20 minutes that they needed. Within about 10 minutes I told Pete he was awake because I could hear him crying. Sure enough, 5 minutes later and the nurses were back with him. They needed just 6 more minutes but he wasn't having it.
I thought for sure he'd fall asleep on the way home but he didn't. He stayed awake and playful until his normal naptime. Then he took a nice long 2.5 hour nap.
Now we go back on July 2 to try again. This time they will perform full sedation so that they are sure he is sound asleep for the entire test. More waiting.
We arrived promptly at 7:30 am to the hospital. Of course we had to do paperwork and answer all of the same questions that we had to answer on the telephone twice before (once when scheduling and then again yesterday). We had to accomplish this with a screaming hungry baby because we couldn't feed him before the sedation.
Then the nurses took us back to a room to take his vitals. It was a slow day for them today apparently because for the one hour that we had to sit in the room, we were able to hear very clearly all of the drama surrounding one nurse's pending wedding as well as the staff opinion's on the Red Wings and GM bankruptcy.
After the vitals were done the nurses called the physician in to exam him to make sure he was OK to take the sedative. They said it should take 15 minutes. He was given chlorate hydrate which is supposed to make him just sleepy. Then we were allowed to give him a bottle. They came back after 15 minutes to find him playing with his Daddy. They came back another 15 minutes later to find the same thing. Then they gave him another half dose and said this would surely put him out. Another 15 minutes later and the same thing. He was acting droggy but not ready to go to sleep. I climbed in bed with him because that is how he goes to bed at night, and covered us up to try to darken the room so he'd know it was bedtime. When the nurses saw this, they said they could take us to a dark room if that would help. Off to the waiting room we went. As soon as they left and shut the door, I laid him on the floor on his blanket. It was pure darkness in that room. He was asleep within 5 minutes.
Pete went to get the nurse to take him for the MRI now. Hoping he would stay asleep for the 20 minutes that they needed. Within about 10 minutes I told Pete he was awake because I could hear him crying. Sure enough, 5 minutes later and the nurses were back with him. They needed just 6 more minutes but he wasn't having it.
I thought for sure he'd fall asleep on the way home but he didn't. He stayed awake and playful until his normal naptime. Then he took a nice long 2.5 hour nap.
Now we go back on July 2 to try again. This time they will perform full sedation so that they are sure he is sound asleep for the entire test. More waiting.
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