It's Official

We have a walker on our hands AND we are PROUD PROUD PROUD!

I have been waiting for this day to come and it actually came on Thursday May 21st. He just decided that he didn't need or want to crawl any longer.

He is still a little wobbly and stops to put his hands down to regroup, but he is doing awesome.

I wanted him to walk by July 16th and as always "My Sweet Angel Amazes Me"

Right Foot-Left Foot

Took Jonathon out shopping today for a pair of sandals. This shopping trip was not as easy as I would have liked it to be.

I had his feet sized 22 days ago at a local shoe store that sells Stride Rite. They told me that his size was size 6 and that they would order the shoes. When I called on Thursday, they hadn't even ordered the shoes yet. The shoes were supposed to be in on May 10th......

So I packed him up and went to a different shoe store(farther away). They had the sandals in stock that I wanted ordered from local shoe store. These sandals did not fit at all. His little toes stuck right through the sides of the shoe.....

So we tried on a couple of different pairs. Same thing, little toes would slide through. They tried a smaller size and his big toe would hang off the end of the shoe....

So we resized him. His right foot is a size 6 and his left foot is a size 5 1/2... No one is going to sell two different size shoes... We continued to try on about 10 more pairs of sandals. I finally found a little soft shoe that I really liked, but was concerned about his right foot out growing the shoe too fast.... So I gave up and left....

On the way home I stopped off a Target to let Jonathon use the restroom. Decided since I was there we might as well see what they have in sandals....

I found a pair of sandals with open toes. They velcro over the foot, over the middle of the foot and velcro around his ankle... I put these on, put him down to try them out walking.... They worked fine. No slipping on the ankle. No little toes sneaking out the sides.....

FINALLY! A pair of sandals that will work for us.







Needless to say I will not shop at the local shoe store any longer since they couldn't even order the shoes like they had promised and technically sized his feet incorrectly.

Wordless Wednesday

A Wonderful Surprise!

Jonathon, Andrew and I had to go up to school yesterday afternoon for a meeting. Gilbert met us there and Kenny stayed home.

While we were gone we had a visitor (I guess).

Coming down our road;this is what I see in my front yard.

A crabby sandbox!!!! I have been searching craigslist,mom 2 mom sales, and sale papers for a sandbox. I really wanted a crabby sandbox for Jonathon, but never voiced my opinion to anyone. ( And this sandbox looks brandnew, it's not, it has been well cared for.)

Of course Kenny was in the house AND seen WHO it was........It was our great friend Randy.

THANKS RANDY!!!!!!!

Recheck

I took Jonathon in this morning for a recheck on his sinus infection. He is just not getting well enough.

Confirmed that yes he still has a sinus infection. We are stopping the amoxicillin and getting a perscription for pediazole(if I can read the dr.'s writing correctly). Jonathon has never taken this one so I hope this works better.

He is not wheezing anymore so we get to stop the breathing treatments!(HOORAY)

Jonathon is up to 22lbs 10 oz. He is doing great weight wise. I didn't think we would ever get above 21lbs and stay up there. Very happy mommy on that issue.

Explained to Dr. Pediatrician what happen at our ENT appt. He was surprised that we were treated that way. He told me that the new ENT I picked~that their office has good doctors. Lets hope!!!!

He also agrees with me that something needs to be done to help Jonathon. So lets pray that June 1st is a good appointment.

Hopefully this new medicine will help him get better. He will be on it for 10 days~which puts us up to May 25th and his appt is June 1. I soooo want him healthy when we go in to meet the new Dr. ENT!

Oh and the pediatrician nurse and Dr. got to see firsthand what Dr. ENT did to Jonathon. (Trauma). He would not let the nurse take his temp(ear temp). I had to hold him down and console him. Then Dr. Pediatrician wanted to look into his ears and I had to hold Jonathon's head AGAIN! Makes me soooo damn mad what Dr. ENT did. Jonathon used to love it when Dr. Pediatrician looked into his ears...... Hopefully over time he will come to trust again.

Pediatric or Not

Does it really matter? Does Jonathon need a pediatric ENT or does Jonathon just need a good ENT?

I am really overwhelmed right now! I just don't know what to do.... I thought(THOUGHT)my ENT problems were solved. They are not.....I was talking to my sister n law last night about her son. Come to find out he seen the exact same ENT as Jonathon has seen.(The one I despise). AND he seen the other ENT(the one we have a scheduled appt. with on 5/28) Between the both of these 2 doctors no one would take her serious and her sons ears were not closing(the holes from the tubes). He ended up with hearing loss and bone deteriation. She found another ENT and he literally saved her son. Corrected the problem and now her son can hear perfect. Then she tells me to call the other sister n law, because she was at that same office and was not pleased either.

This morning I called my other sister n law who has triplets. Confirmed she saw ENT at the same office. She did not like his bedside manner and she was asking him questions about her child and he just walked out of the room saying they were finished when she was still questioning him. AND she sat in the waiting room for 2 hours before being seen and there wasn't any other patients around..... The ENT that she seen is the ENT we are scheduled to see on 5/28. She explained to me that just because she wasn't happy that I could give the man a chance. Everyones opinion is different. Yes I understand this, but I have 2 family members telling me they had negative experiences with these pediatric ENT's. No, No Thank you, I don't have time for all of that. I trust them 100% on their opinions and I already don't like the one.

So my sister n law with the triplets took 2 of her children to a ENT that is not pediatric. He did surgeries on both and they are doing great. He didn't play games with her. He put the one on an antibiotic for limited time and it didn't work so he said I believe it's time. And with the second one, when he went he immediately said he needs surgery. So she had good experiences with this doctor.

Now my other godchild who is turning 20 this year went to a local ENT when he was around 5 and had his tonsils out. He has been healthy ever since.

This same local ENT corrected my nephews problem(bone deteriation, and holes in ears) He has been doing great ever since. His surgery was last winter.

My father n law just went to this same ENT to have surgery to correct breathing problem. About 2 months ago. And is doing great.

My brother n law also seen this local ENT years ago. He corrected a nose/breathing problem after a major car accident. Has been fine ever since.

This local ENT is not pediatric. Does he take young children? I don't know. Does he accept our insurance? I don't know. Do I want Jonathon to try him? He is not pediatric. Does it really matter? I DON'T KNOW

Or do I want to go see the ENT(that is also not pediatric) that two of the triplets go see?

Or do I search for another pediatric ENT?????????

I JUST DON'T KNOW.........



An update after some real searching.

I have spent today researching ENT's. I have found a new pediatric ENT that takes our insurance and is taking new patients.

We had an appointment scheduled for the end of June, but when I explained my concerns and what has been going on with the previous ENT she quickly changed our appointment to June 1st at 4:30p.m.

What a relief! I have had a rough couple of days.

I appreciate all the advice my 2 sister n laws gave to me: Thank you to Dawn and Wanda. And also Thank you to Stephanie and Lacey.

I won't say the Dr. ENT's name on here, but he is on Hall Road and he is out of Beaumont Troy Hospital.(for family and friends following us locally)


And I am sure my sis will be happy that I am finally going to see a Beaumont Doctor!!!

Will keep everyone updated.

Wonder Mommy to the Rescue

Man, I sooo love it when I am right!

The referral department called me back today about Jonathon's ENT. I quickly explained to her what has been happening with Dr. ENT and my concerns.

She then told me how I am not the first parent to call and complain about Dr. ENT. How his favorite words are nose spray and ear drops. How he is not kid friendly. How he acts like he has no concern at all for the patient or parents.

She then told me the name of the Dr. ENT that her son saw. And that there have been many good reviews on this other Dr. ENT and her herself has been very happy with him. He did her sons surgery and her son has been healthy ever since.

So this other Dr. works out of the same office, but they work different days. I don't have to worry about running into the man that I NEVER want to see again....

Our new appointment is scheduled for May 28th at 12p.m. with new Dr. ENT. for our second opinion.

Oh by the way I had already stopped giving Jonathon the nose spray. My own thinking was what good was the stuff if it was supposed to help him and make him better AND he still ended up with another sinus infection!!!!

Alot to think about

Back in January 09 Jonathon had his first hearing test and he failed.


He passed in the booth 100%. . (booth testing- wide range of things can be done in the booth depending on the age and cooperation of the child. for our kids at a young age behavioral testing as described above is the best thing, it can give some side (ear) specific information but does really give you an idea on the degree of hearing loss or if it is a conductive or nerve loss. As a child gets older the booth is used with headphones and a bone stimulator (buzzing thing placed behind the ear). this is the best. it gives specific information on specific frequencies, and the type of hearing loss as well as the degree of hearing loss. this information is crtitical for programming a hearing aid ( if you have to go that route))


but with the tympanogram he failed. Came back that he has fluid in his right ear.

(tympanogram- this is not actually a hearing test but is done by the audiologist. a puff of air is applied into the ear canal under seal, the pressure tracing monitors how well the ear drum moves and helps gives a an idea of what is going on in the middle ear space (ie fluid build up, negative pressure) downs kids are prone to these things because of a higher rate of eustachian tube dysfunction ( tube that runs from the throat to the middle ear) these kids can be hard to test though because of congenitally narrow ear canals. there are some things that can be done with tympanograms in response to an auditory stimuli where you look at how the middle ear muscles and bones pull on the ear drum, but that is really a fine point and not looked at that often)


So we went to the pediatrician and it was confirmed that he had fluid in his right ear. From Dec 6th thru Dec 29th he was pretty sick and we were hoping it was just from that. So he was put on Clairitin for 30 days , then we would go for a recheck and then another hearing test and hopefully he would pass.

So after 30 days we went back to Dr. Pediatrician and had a recheck on his ears. Dr. Pediatrician still seen fluid. And Jonathon had his first ear infection. Instead of going back to local audiologist for another test we were scheduled to see an ENT.

When we finally got in to see the ENT, Jonathon was over his ear infection, but had another sinus infection(4th one since Sept 08). Dr. ENT looked him over and sent us for a tympanogram test. The tympanogram showed fluid in both ears. Good thing was that it was a better result than the one taken in January. So the test showed Jonathon was getting better. Dr. ENT decided that we would 2 months and retest. In the meantime he put Jonathon on fluticasone(nose spray)once a day. Hopefully this would help with the sinus infections.

As of March 16th I had Jonathon healthy once again. He was doing great and then last week Wednesday I starting noticing a difference in him. His breathing seemed different. I just monitored him. By Thursday night he was snoring again and when he woke up Friday morning he had a snotty nose. I sucked him out hoping it was allergies. No such luck. It was yellow and he seemed congested.

Made a call in to see Dr. Pediatrician. And I was correct. Dr. Pediatrician confirmed sinus infection and put Jonathon on amoxicillin. Saturday late afternoon Jonathon started coughing some. (When he starts coughing we are to get an appointment with Dr. Pediatrician to make sure he is not wheezing)I didn't want to take Jonathon to the E.R. so we just monitored him.

On Monday morning I had to take both big brothers to Dr. Pediatrician.(complaints of sore throat/strept). Found out that neither one had strept. They could return to school. I had Dr. Pediatrician take a quick listen to Jonathon since we were there.
Uh Oh! He was wheezing!!!(I of course felt horrible). He was immediately prescribed Albuterol for his nebulizer. He is back on his nebulizer 3x day for 5 days to help the wheezing.

Monday afternoon Jonathon had a recheck appointment with Dr. ENT. Gilbert was supposed to meet us there, but he called me at lunchtime to say that he was sick. I told him to forget it and just stay at work and go home, that I would take Andrew with me instead. So that is what I did.

We arrived early and actually got taken right back. Dr. ENT came right in. I explained what has been going on lately with Jonathon.(sinus infection again and back on albuterol for wheezing). He took a look at him and said that he had some wax build up. Needed to be cleaned up. Personal opinion~not very kid friendly at all. Made Jonathon scream AND I mean scream his head off. Would not take time with him at all. Actually poked his little ear and made him bleed. I was soooo glad when that was over, and I was mad. Dr. Pediatrician cleans Jonathon's ears ALL the time AND has NEVER once made Jonathon cry. 1st mark against you Dr! Got that done. He then sent us down the hall to get another tympanogram done. Still fluid in his ears. It is getting better, but is not better.

Then we wait for Dr. ENT to come and get us.....

So this is what he tells me: He still has fluid in both ears. We could put tubes in his ears and while we are in there take his adnoids out. Not saying it will help with the sinus infections. But we could do it or we can wait a couple more months and see what happens...... Ok, now I am in a fog...."Are you saying that Jonathon needs tubes in his ears and you will take out his adnoids while you are in there? Yes says Dr. ENT. "You want me to answer you today if I want Jonathon to have this surgery, when my husband is not here?" No No Dr. ENT says, you can wait and let me know. Do you have any questions?

Yes I am concerned about the fluid in his ears. This started in January and is not getting better. Can this damage Jonathon's hearing? Dr. ENT says to me: Well it is not getting worse. It is not staying the same. It is improving some. So I don't see any reason why you can't wait 2 more months and see what happens or have the surgery now. But if he isn't better by July, then definitely he needs the surgery. By now I was really wishing I had brought another adult with me. I questioned him about my concerns with him having tubes put in(my godson had a horrible experience). He of course answered me, but not to my liking. So I made an appointment for July and they gave me all the paperwork to fill out for surgery if we decided to have the surgery now.

Of course Gilbert was sick last night so even though we discussed a little bit about it we didn't resolve anything. I am really at a loss and not sure which way to go. I really do not think we are going to see a major change over the next 2 months on the tympanogram. Do we make Jonathon suffer for 2 more months or do we just get the surgery done now?

In case you do not know, when you have fluid in your ear;it is like getting water in your ear and you shake your head or pull on your ear and it gets better. Well Jonathon is stuck like this since January.

I am beginning to think that maybe this is why he is not a full walker yet. Equilibruim is off. Which is not fair to him. I wish I could take the fluid and take all these sinus infections from him. Really really heartbreaking to see him sick all the time.(I HATE it)

Talked to my sis a little while ago and she told me to get a second opinion. She went with me to the first ENT appointment back in March. She too said that she did not care for the doctor then.

I do agree, I think I need a second opinion. I do know something has to be done. I just don't care for the way that Jonathon has been treated and he leaves me uneasy. I have seen many doctors since 2007 for Jonathon and this is the first one I have come across that I am just not Happy with. I think I will take my sisters advice and see if our insurance will cover a second opinion.

Mothers Day

Yes, I know we all look really happy. I really dislike getting my picture taken, but really wanted my picture taken this year. And of course Andrew never cooperates either. But hey, it's a picture. For those of you who do not know us. The order of picture is Andrew(blue), me, Jonathon, and then Kenny at the end with pajama pants on.

I woke up to Jonathon running around and daddy making pancakes and coffee for me. I should have taken a picture of my food(didn't think of it til it was too late) my pancakes actually spelled out "M O M". Totally cool.

We pretty much spent the day indoors not really doing anything in particular. Jonathon is sick. Andrew and Kenny were not feeling well either.

We watched movies and just vegged.....IT was a nice Mothers Day.

Wordless Wednesday