We have had our share of doctor visits the past few weeks. Alaina is doing her part to make the appointments go smoothly by sleeping and not being overly fussy. Morning appointments really help that happen!
Our follow up at GI was very uneventful. The doctor appreciated my spreadsheet (I love excel!) to track Justin's medicines and BMs. So sad that I spend time tracking things like that, but very necessary. We agreed to continue with the medicine to encourage a consistent BM routine. We will keep in contact and reevaluate and maybe decrease the dose to every other day if things go well. Right now he is on a double adult dose and he is still not going daily. I was very worried about giving him so much but this is not a medicine you can overdose. The only result of getting too much would be diarrhea. And so far that has not happened so he's fine. Since we left the doctor Justin is going for a day and sometimes two without a BM and we have had to add metamucil to his routine. We also added more digestive aids and massage on his hands, feet, and tummy. And still with all of this we are now on day four of getting nothing more than a couple of marbles every day. I can feel the spots in his tummy, but I cannot make them come out. I do not want to do enemas every other day so we are trying whatever we can to avoid that. Justin doesn't appear to be bothered so it's hard to know how much is backing up. Last week he started vomiting water again after not going for only one day. He had a spot in his tummy that would not come out. When it wouldn't go down, the water started coming up. It makes me very frustrated because it is all so inconsistent. I don't know how to solve this problem. The one bright spot is that we have managed to get Justin (and Travis for that matter!) to learn how to swallow pills. That makes some of Justin's medicine easier to take and I don't have to carry as many liquids when we travel!
The ophthalmologist was a little bit of nothing. I think she was turning over a new leaf and move patients through more quickly. This is usually our longest appointment with having to dilate Justin's eyes, but we were in and out in less than 45 minutes! Everything is still the same. The myelinated nerve fibers are still not causing any more near sightedness than what is expected at this age. Good for another year!
And then there was endocrinology. Can I just say that I really do like our endocrinologist in spite of having a difficult time understanding her Hungarian-English accent. She is very sweet and kind to Justin and explains everything and prints out all our test results and overall does a great job of managing his care. I do have to ask for clarification sometimes, but she doesn't mind at all. Se even makes fun of herself sometimes when she stumbles on a word. We have had so many appointments where she just wants to keep monitoring Justin, but this time she decided to start him on thyroid therapy. His TSH levels went up again, and in spite of his good growth curve, she doesn't want him to get behind as he gets bigger so she wants to try a low dose of thyroid to see how he responds and then retest his blood levels in 4-6 weeks. And guess what form the medicine comes in? Oh yes, a pill! The things Justin just learned to start taking last week! How good is God? How can I not thank Him for encouraging us to prepare for something we didn't even know was coming? He knew! I love it! So taking the thyroid is going to cause us to readjust some of his other medicine because of interactions, but we'll see how it goes. I am getting a little muddled with all Justin's meds so I packed them all up today and took them in the pharmacist and said, "Help!" She helped me plan a routine that will get it all in and still be conducive to potty training (everything needs to be taken with 8 ounces of water!) She knows us so well at the pharmacy. She saw me walk up and she said, "Oh, are you here for Justin's two meds?" And she named them right off. Wow, we are there way too much if she knows that. Oh yes, I know we are there way too much.
And my visit to the doctor? My foot is broken in the same spot I did last time. I have to wear the boot, tape toe number four to number three, ice it often, try to stay off of it for three weeks and then back for a re-examination. I got the go-ahead to drive so at least I am mobile again!
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