We get our $20 worth at the doctor's office!

Today Samren had his 6 year old check-up and Bright had his 2 year old checkup. I knew both boys needed things beyond "just" a checkup but didn't know how much. We definitely get our co-pay's worth out of each doctor's appointment.

BRIGHT:

It looks like Brighto is going to be our first kid to have tubes in his ears. =-( My other kids never really had many ear infection issues, but Bright has had an ear infection every time he's been to the doctor so far (including in Ghana). The antibiotics aren't touching the infections at this point--so it's off to the ENT we go. I guess he's used to the pain because he shows no sign of the pain he SHOULD be in.

I haven't posted much about this, but Bright had an "almost positive" TB skin test several weeks ago. It was an 8--10 is a definite positive. So I wasn't in much of a rush to get a chest x-ray but we finally did last week. Yesterday I took it to the health department. Long story short--Bright will be starting 6-9 months of preventative treatment, taking the INH drug. I'm not too thrilled about that, but would rather be safe than sorry.

Something that caught me TOTALLY off guard today was our doc's inability to find Bright's right testicle! How can I change the baby's diaper so many times and never realize how under developed his scrotum is? The doc can feel one little guy way up there, but can't find the other testicle anywhere. So it's off to the surgeon we go--to see if Bright does indeed have two testicles and/or if he needs surgery to bring it/them down from his abdomen. Fun--not!

The good news is that Bright is growing like crazy! His head size has gone from 10% to 25% in the last 5 months! He's grown 3.5 inches, which brings him up to the 10th percentile for height. And he's at the 25th percentile for weight. The doc also said she could definitely tell that his enlarged abdomen has diminished in size. It is such a joy to watch Bright grow at such a fast rate! After Samren's failure to thrive we never really got to see a huge burst of growth. He's always been very slow about growing.

Bright finished off the appointment with lots of blood work. Stuff to check leftover issues with malnutrition, and the doctor wondering if he has some sort of genetic condition (his blood cells are "small"). Oh--and we can't forget the 5 immunizations!

SAMREN

I have been worried about Samren for a few months now. Something just isn't right with him and my mommy alarm has been going off like it did when he was 9 months old and I KNEW something was wrong even though people told me he was just small and picky (he had a deadly GI disease that wasn't diagnosed for another year after that). I'm just super-sensitive to my Sammy-man, and probably a little extra protective because of all he's been through.

Since late August/early September Samren has been "sort of" constantly sick. Always with a runny nose...a cough...complaints of headache. And most worrisome is that the kid always seems to have a fever. We had two bouts with 106 degree fevers (scary) but usually every night he gets up to around 100. Two weeks ago he was pretty bad off and the doctor prescribed a 10-day antibiotic. He also had pink eye associated with whatever virus he had (and was the only one to get it in the family, which says something to me). We gave him the medicine for two weeks and have seen very little improvement. The pink eye is gone but the rest is still here.

So today the doctor had Samren take a sinus x-ray. Lo and behold my baby had pansinusitis. When the doctor first said that I thought, "Great--just a sinus infection--no problem." But it's not "just" a sinus infection. I guess it's a pretty serious thing. Like the kind of thing that might require surgery if the next round of antibiotics doesn't work. Every single sinus Samren has is highly infected with bacteria, and the infection is even spreading to the frontal lobe of his brain. I read about this condition on the internet for about 5 minutes before I stopped because of the oh-so-scary outcomes that could occur. Needless to say I will be praying over this child night and day until I know he's better. He's got to take the antibiotics for 3 weeks, nose spray for 2 months, and eye drops for 3-6 more weeks.

Oh--Samren also had a Hemoglobin A1c test done today because he is concidered "pre-diabetic." His previous GI disease was an autoimmune disease and once you've had one you usually get more than one (autoimmune disease, that is). He shows signs that eventually he will be a Type I Diabetic like Eric. We're praying that doesn't happen, but take the test every 6 months to make sure.

So, if you could keep my boys in your prayers I would really appreciate it.

Anita
P.S. Taevy actually CRIED at the doctor's office today because, "Why don't I ever get sick Mommy?!" Poor child--thinks she's the abnormal one for being the only healthy one in the family! LOL!