Longest "WELL" Appointment. . .EVER!!!

Today we indeed had the LOOOONGEST
WELL Child appointment in history I think!!

Ryan visited his Pulmonologist today. This was important because at times he has been known to have some tiny issues with wheezing. Seeing as there is a great deal of asthma in our family our neonatologist felt that it was important to be established with a pulmonologist early so that they would be familiar with him whenever his wheezing/asthma begin.

Unfortunately I missed the “traumatic beginning” that Gammy and Ryan experienced. Ryan had his first post hospitalization x-ray today. If anyone has ever seen a children’s x-ray they are put in a tube and the film is taken very quickly!!!! Ryan however felt that it was probably the worst thing they could have done with him. By the time he returned to the waiting room where I was he had the most pathetic little pout!!

I was stunned when they tried to tell me that Ryan weighed 9lbs 6oz! Of course Momma HAD to know that something was terribly wrong with that weight! I had to carefully explain to the staff that he is a micro premie who had shots the last few weeks and hasn’t eaten enough to have gained over 1.5lbs since his last appointment.  Thankfully the doctor noticed the same inconsistency from our Neo appointment and agreed with me that he had to be reweighed NAKEY!! His weight has begun to be another thorn in our side. When he doesn’t feel good one of the first signs is it becomes a ginormous ordeal to get through feeding times!! He did gain a few ounces and I do mean a FEW. I believe we gained around 2-3 ounces depending on the scales that have been used.

I know this was our very first visit at the clinic but at times I feel as if they were being way too paranoid. They couldn’t believe we didn’t have him on a monitor (after several weeks of doctor visits and Ryan now feeling and becoming much MUCH more active we were told by our neonatologist that it was ok to take him off the monitor because it WONT work as wiggly as he is!).Thwnnn something was said about Ryan sleeping on his Tummy. Again for a child who spent four months on his tummy to help him digest his feedings it’s the ONLY way he will now sleep. Plus he is on a monitor when he sleeps and should he even remotely begin to desat it WILLL Scream!

After going over our history about at least a million times we finally moved onto assessment and lab work. This was a bit of a debacle also! We know lil man’s CO2 stays in the 50’s. Most times it stays in the upper 50’s. We had to then go on a clinic continuous pulse ox so that they could know/see exactly what he could do. (Even though he was highly ticked off and refused to stay still in the slightest). After four sticks it was decided that all our labs were within Ryan’s normal limits. Once again poor lil man had to be re-stuck for his potassium. His blood hemolysis (clumps up) too quickly when they do a heel stick (like a blood sugar with small drop of blood) and that makes his potassium come back deadly high. Thankfully a lady from the lab came and drew blood from one of his veins easily and his potassium was very good!!

So today we learned that even though we understand all of Ryan’s health “quirks” his new doctor’s nurses may not. We did gain one very important emergency medication that we all agreed Ryan needed. He now has an albuterol inhaler for wheezing episodes. This in theory should help to stop them from worsening all together or at least buy time to get him to a doctor! Overall we are very pleased with our new physician! Hopefully next visit will be a tiny bit more lax!
(and NOT 4 hours long)