Crazy Medical Week

This week has been crazy!  I had medical appointments scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday ended up another medical day.  Wow!

Monday was a follow up eye appointment for Sarah and Isaac.  Sarah was diagnosed very early in life with extreme farsightedness. She really cannot see much up close and was in danger of her eyes crossing.  She is doing great and indeed her prescription has weakened a little bit though her glasses are still very strong.  We have a new set of lenses on order.

Isaac's appointment was SO encouraging.  He has amblyopia.  His left eye essentially shut down a few years ago but we didn't know it because his right eye is so good.  He's been diligently patching his good eye for more than a year now.  A few months ago, we added some therapy exercises.  On Monday, we learned that his bad eye has improved from a dubious 20/40 to a very definite 20/40, and he even got a few letters at 20/30.  More exciting still, his depth perception improved a LOT in the last 4 months.  He used to have zero depth perception and is now getting close to normal. Thank you, Lord!  We caught his amblopia very late and it was possible he'd be close to blind in that one eye permanently. That is NOT the case. Much of that is due to Isaac's complete diligence about patching.  He has never fussed about it and usually puts the patch on without any reminding from me.

Tuesday was Daniel's 2 month well child checkup, and I took Miriam in as well as she was complaining of pain while urinating.  So yes, she has a UTI.  Poor girl.  Daniel had 2 issues. One is that he is yellow...we took bloodwork (not fun) and his bilirubin and liver enzymes were elevated. The other issue is that he keeps turning his head in one direction and that is causing a flat spot and tight neck muscles.

Yesterday I took Daniel to the local children's hospital to see a GI specialist.  She recommended putting him on formula for 3 days to see if the bilirubin levels drop as his high numbers can be breastmilk related.  She and our pediatrician also ordered a full abdnominal ultrasound.  We did the ultrasound and everything came back normal. The GI said it was probably just breastmilk jaundice but we want to make sure it isn't a liver problem.

Ok, so here's the thing. I am a rules follower.  If a doc says we should do a particular thing, I have a strong feeling we should do it.  Kevin is not.  He questions everything.  He is right, of course...doctors aren't infallible!  They are people.  Actually, as Kevin says, we're doctors too. We are, but not medical -- we are engineers.  But I know I'm not perfect and I don't know everything, and that is true of medical doctors too.

So when I told Kevin about the GI's recommendation of formula for 3 days, he was very dubious.  I've had serious milk supply problems with previous children, and pumping is not as effective as a baby.  Also, a number of our children have had cow's milk allergies that showed up when they started drinking cow's milk formula.  I definitely don't want to sabotage nursing, and I don't want to push Daniel towards a cow's milk problem.

I posted the situation on FB and also contacted a dear pediatrician friend in MI.  Everyone agreed that quitting breastfeeding isn't wise, even for a few days.  Yes, I would pump, but it is not the same. Nor is it easy for me to make time to pump and I'm afraid I just wouldn't do it enough with 8 kids running around and needing to give Daniel frequent bottles too.

I talked to our local pediatrician and she agreed that we can just recheck his bili levels in a week or so.

I looked up breastmilk jaundice and this seems classic breastmilk jaundice.  The liver enzymes were slightly elevated and maybe that's a little unusual but it seems likely we know what the "problem" is and it isn't really a problem. 

So that has been my week.  I am very tired of running around and indeed tired in general as I've not gotten a nap the last couple of days.  However.  I am very grateful for access to good medical care.  We were able to get that ultrasound right away and there is nothing showing up as a problem for Daniel so I think he is fine.

Oh, I mentioned that Daniel keeps turning his head in one direction.  My pediatrician friend in MI warned that this can be a significant issue as it can increase the risk of amblyopia (and we already have that in the family line) as well as cause very tight neck muscles.  So we may do physical therapy at the children's hospital, but for now we're just going to work with him at home to have him turn his head often in the non preferred way.  He can do it without pain, just doesn't want to.

Crazy week, but good.