We had our new patient visits for all three boys today. God bless any physician who is willing to schedule them all in tandem, on the same day, and in the same room. A pox on any physician who simply isn't that brave! If we mothers can manage it on our own (WHY didn't I ask Zorak to come? What was I thinking?) then so can they (and they have nurses for backup, too!) I do love our pediatrician.
We learned a few things today:
* John is terribly, completely, and utterly left-eye dominant. He is SO left-eye dominant that he tipped over twice while the nurse attempted to test his right eye. He was be fine with all the directions, right up to, "just look at the red dot"; then the head began to lean and swivel. You could see that left eye jockeying for position. I could have helped, if I hadn't been sitting behind her, laughing. He tried, though, for all he was worth, and finally succeeded in keeping his head mostly straight long enough for her to test his right eye. You could see the concentration in his face, though, and his little neck muscles strained and trembled with the effort. Both eyes are fine, although it's pretty obvious he has no intention of using that right eye, except in emergencies.
* Smidge will never volunteer to go first again. Ever. The boys each took turns going first for various bits of the visit: weigh-in, height, exam, talking with the doctor. Oh, this is easy! This is fun! The nurse comes in and asks, "OK, who wants to go first?" It's not his fault he didn't recognize the little alcohol swabs and plastic capped syringes. Smidge volunteered and hopped gleefully up onto the table. Two shots: polio and tetanus. HOLY CRAP, WOMAN!! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU!?!? Or, that's what he would have said if he'd thought of it.
In all, the boys all held out far better than I did at that age. We talked about FDR and rusted things. We talked about Smidge's duck band-aids (which turned out to be a bad choice, as it sent him off, muttering to himself and glaring at us all over again). And then, it was over. For me, it was delightfully wonderful to hear the doctor say, "It is up to you." I love that man.
* James has a referral to an ENT for a full audiology workup. I'm not in full panic mode, and we won't have any firm information until after the ENT visit, but it does look like there may be a few hurdles in his path. If there are, well, then it's our job to show him how to leap them. If there are, then that's that and we'll do what we can from here. It's not a big thing, in the grand scheme of things, as a friend said today. But you know, I'm going to go ahead and be sad. I'm going to have a little period of grief and fear for my child, who may be facing some really tough stuff ahead. That doesn't mean I'm throwing in the towel. And it doesn't mean he's any less capable of doing the things he loves to do. It simply means that, as every mother would, I am going to wish like hell that I could take his limitations on myself and leave him free to flourish. I'm going to stand at his bedside and let slip a tear or two for the inevitable pain and disappointment that all our children encounter in life - pain we just would rather they not ever encounter. But they do. And rather than your basic conditioning and running skills, we may have to teach him some leaping and vaulting skills, as well. And that's okay, too.
In all, though, the boys got clean bills of health. The doctor prescribed eye drops for James' EyeThing (yay!), and said that if he has another incident and the drops don't help, he will schedule an appointment with an allergist.
We came home, popped popcorn, watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factor, made milkshakes, and then read stories til our eyes watered. It was a good night. It was a good day. And tomorrow's Saturday! Yay!
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
6 comments:
Oh, I got teary reading about James. It'll all work out.
You know, Hugo is 8 now & I still have my doubts. He was such a late talker & there was a period of about 2 months where I was looking up how to get an audiology referral & seriously thinking that this was a problem ... and then he started to talk & I back-burnered it. But every once in a while, I still wonder.
What a fun day! I love Dr.'s that love my kids, and aren't afraid to take the whole lot of them on in one appt.
We had to do the audiologist thing this summer, too. Brogan has some serious articulation issues and flunked the hearing test at the ped. office. The initial audiologist appt. showed his nerves were fine, but he had some issues because of (get this) fluid in his ears. It caused him to hear everything like he was underwater. The fluid buildup is due in large part to (get this) allergies. treat the allergies, fluid goes away, and hopefully hearing improves.
It was much better knowing that it was something that simple. Hang in there!
Blessings,
Hillary
I know its hard, but you and Zorak will help him get through. In some ways these thing turn out to be what shapes them and makes them stronger than we ever believed possible. In the many years we've spent with Kevin's asthma I've wished it was me, but if not for asthma I wouldn't have homeschooled him, which means he wouldn't be in college early. Hug him and yourself for me.
love ya bunches sis
I don't know what all is entailed in the deal with the audiologist...so I can do nothing but pray for you and offer my sincerest support to you--this will not be a rock to stumble on but to leap over and so become stronger.
And you don't really know anything at this point except that you are going to the audiologist...so you can just wait and learn...do the next thing. My tendency is to travel (in my mind) every possible rabbit trail that could happen...what a waste of time and an anxiety generator. Just do the next thing.
My son had to do some "vision therapy" this year...started down the rabbit trails, had visions of Weird Looking Geek in all stages of life...turns out that he has 2 months of exercises to do and he's GREAT at the end of the two months...and GUESS WHAT! READING! VOLUNTARILY! Who knew?
And as for your left-eyed bandit...i have a very dominant right eye--it is so dominant that i actually have no depth perception, which makes every game of catch a very large adventure--who knows WHEN that ball will get here. My poor son knows that he has to throw *consistently* at the same speed, or I spend half the game missing the ball. My son's vision therapist told me that had I done the corrective exercises when I was young, it would have been totally fixable. She said that I could still do them, but it will take about 10 times as long to get half the result I could have had if they had known LO THOSES MANY YEARS AGO what they know now. I'm OK with it as I don't do so much "catch" now--but it does explain why all sports involving flying objects were, umm, painful for me. Also, I can't see a lot of optical illusions--the ones that rely on depth patterns and stereoscopic vision.
Just so you know, the eye exercises my son did took less than 15 minutes per day for 1 month, and less than that for the second month.
Boy I blabbed on here.
I love your new house. You guys are a wonder.
My thought was kind of in line with Patty in WA's. A guy needs both eye-balls to be a good shot. I'm not that big on guns, but I'm big on a guy being able to get a deer if the situation calls for it.
I'm also not excited by the idea that one of my kids might go into the military, but I do remember my cousin's heartbreak at being refused because of his eye issues. I guess I want my kids to be able to have the choice.
Developmental or pediatric optometrists (not ophthomologists) can make a world of difference when a kid is John's age. You need both eyes working together to get binocular vision. That's what it boils down to. Also, the optometrists can test the eyes in a way that the doc's office just can't (and don't).
Poor little Smidge! What a nasty surprise.
I hope James' audiologist appt goes well and it turns out to be something simple. I know just what you mean about those seemingly unfair challenges that our kids sometimes have to deal with. When the speech therapist told me that Katie might never speak normally, I felt physically sick. We are so grateful that she has made better progress than they expected, and is doing very well, but as a parent I don't think you can help wishing your kids could have a smoother path.
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