The weeks appointments

We had a lot of medical appointments last week.

Monday - Pediatrician and ENT
Tuesday - Pediatrician and Pulmonology
Wednesday - Gastroenterology
Thursday - Home health nurse visit

ENT - Dr. Gotshall checked the cyst site and said it looks perfect - like it was never there in the first place. He said he noticed that Wyatt had a lot of secretions in his throat and thought maybe his reflux was not under control. He said we don't need to see him again until he needs tubes in his ears. Cleft palate children get a lot of ear infections.

Pediatrician - The first visit was a general check-up. We like Dr. Saba. She made quite a big deal about Wyatt's weight gain. She thinks he will hit the normal growth curve soon. We talked about getting him off the tube and how we decide to do that. She thinks we can discuss at our next appointment (11/11) in six to eight weeks. I am still confused about who decides how much Wyatt eats when and how we know to take him off the tube. I really don't like feeding him where he has absolutely no control over how much he gets. Dr. Saba recommended a rotavirus vaccination.

Wyatt got pretty mad during this visit because he was hungry by this point. I pulled out a bottle of pre-mixed formula, but he didn't like it so much. The visit the next day was for a pink eye infection. She prescribed an antibiotic ointment.

Pulmonology - Dr. Shay, who we had met in NICU, asked a lot of questions about what insurance we had, whose was it, did we have DME, what was our drug co-pay. He told us they recommend Synergis shots, which will provide antibodies against RSV. It isn't a vaccination, so he would have to get them once a month during the winter month starting either this month or next continuing through April. Dr. Shay was wondering if he has a swallowing problem that is causing the problem with phlegm build-up. He ordered us a portable, home suctioning device. He also asked us what we planned to do about day care and recommended against the child care center. He said maybe we could do a nanny share. We kind of knew that from NICU, but I guess I had still held out hope that maybe the day care center would work.

Gastroenterology - We had met Dr. Mian in NICU, but didn't really remember her as Dr. Mow was mostly running the show at that point. She was also very pleased with Wyatt's weight gain. She almost had us up his feeds, which I would have declined, but thought it wasn't necessary. She upped his Reglan and Zegerid.

Home Health Nurse - This was the second visit by Robin. She is nice enough, but these visits feel something like a social worker investigating a complaint of child abuse. Or at least what I imagine it is like. She checks him all over and checks all his meds. We discuss the doctors appointments we had last week and what we have coming up. She comes once a week and will be back next Friday. The only really good thing about it is she will call DME and try and staighten them out. Kaiser DME and the vendor, Apria, are really bad. They don't return calls or they call three times asking how their service was. Wyatt weighed 9lb 13.5oz.

Wyatt got his first rotavirus vaccination and we refilled some of his prescriptions, which was a minor feat for the pediatric pharmacy. It is hard on Wyatt going to all these appointments. He has a tendency to get totally wiped out. Plus, it is hard to plan around his feedings and he almost always ends up really hungry by the end.

I also talked to Peg at Craniofacial this past week as I was thinking that maybe Wyatt was getting more cranky and gassy because as he took more of his bottles, he swallowed a lot of air. We concluded that Wyatt is just colicky. He has the typical, inconsolable early evening melt down. Peg is going to try and get a peak at Wyatt on the 28th when we see the neurologist. She is so curious to see him.

We haven't contacted Pat or stopped by NICU yet. I have to look in to cupcakes. I was going to get Sibby's because I had heard such great things about them, and they really like to decorate them really cute, but I had them at Cris' shower and I was disappointed. They are not worth a trip to San Mateo. I have have to find something more local. I feel really bad we haven't at least called to talk to Pat yet. I meant to today, but grandma and grandpa McLaughlin were here so I took a long nap instead.