This is not a secret... We ALL have healthy issues... The five of us. This has to change NOW! Everybody keeps telling me this is normal because they are preemies and spent their time in the incubator and so on, but I just cant get used to seeing them sick all the time.
I sat down with the ped and told her that I really needed for us to work this out, and make exams to my girls from head to toe to make sure everything is fine, and nothing is not working right. We decided that February and March will be for the girls, and April and May will be for hubby and I.
You guys know me... I LOVE lists. So, I decided to make a list of all the tests and specialists they girls will go throught in the next days and weeks.
Amelia - The Pink Bud
* She has been getting frequent colds, and had tonsilitis two times in between mid December and mid January.
* She is also showing signs of lazy eye in her left eye.
* Another thing is that she gets frequent and VERY serious rashes that only go away with a very strong cream (Desitin is like a joke for her). She has a very sensitive skin.
Action Plan:
1 - CAT Scan to check for Sinusitis
2 - Check up with an Eye Doctor
3 - Check up with a pediatric Dermatologist
Camila - The Red Bud
* Every cold ends up with an asthma episode, and this last time she ended up with bronchopneumonia. She has had 3 episodes in the last 6 months.
* She has recurrent diarrhea and ocassional vomiting since she was 12 months old. She now has abdominal distention.
* Every blood work that she had in her life has shown a little bit of iron deficiency, even though she eats just fine (better that Gaby who doesnt have any low levels of red blood cells).
* She doesnt know her colors. She is still on the age where it may be normal, but one never knows. She knows her shapes, positions and talks like a parrot, but she cant tell the colors.
Action Plan:
1 - X-Ray to check for Sinusitis and Adenoids
2 - Buy Humidifier or Vaporizer to sleep (still need to find out which option is better for her)
3 - Ultrasound to check if she has any enlarged organ to produce the abdominal distention
4 - Test for tolerance to Lactose, Gluten and Soy (Those are 6 tests, 4 of those are RAST to milk proteins, and the other two are RAST to Soy, and RAST to Gluten).
5 - Disaccharides Test and Digestion Test... Both done with stools
6 - Check up with the Eye Doctor
7 - Blood work to check on the platelets level
Gabriela - The Purple Bud
* She has enlarged adenoids and sinusitis. She needs to be re-check now that she is 5 to consider surgery. She has frequent otitis and tonsilitis with no fever or pain.
* Her colds ends up with wheezing, but this may be related to the enlarged adenoids.
* Gaby's bull legs havent improved at all... She is now walking worse than ever. She also complains about leg pains sometimes.
* The principal and psicologist at school noticed that Gaby is showing lazy eye in the "good eye". I have heard that this happens to some kids, but I need to ask what to do.
* She continues to have misbehavior at school. Not everyday, but still more than the average misbehavior.
* From time to time she complains about a pain in her leg.
* She gets frequent vaginal discharge, we assume it is because her lack of good cleaning when she goes by herself to the bathroom.
Action Plan:
1 - X-Ray to check for Sinusitis and Adenoids
2 - Check up with the new ENT doctor
3 - Check up with a new orthopedist for a second opinion and tell him that she sometimes complains of leg pain.
4 - Follow up with her eye doctor
5 - Call the new psicologist to find out about group therapies.
6 - Resume with the tests prescribed by the neurologist. EEG, Head MRI, plus some blood work with several tests.
7 - Vaginal culture exam
It may seem like a lot to take, but Im positive that things will be easier as soon as we have some answers... It is not easy to deal with something when you dont have an actual diagnosis, and always gets a comment of what it "could" be.
I will keep the blog updated about this.
I sat down with the ped and told her that I really needed for us to work this out, and make exams to my girls from head to toe to make sure everything is fine, and nothing is not working right. We decided that February and March will be for the girls, and April and May will be for hubby and I.
You guys know me... I LOVE lists. So, I decided to make a list of all the tests and specialists they girls will go throught in the next days and weeks.
Amelia - The Pink Bud
* She has been getting frequent colds, and had tonsilitis two times in between mid December and mid January.
* She is also showing signs of lazy eye in her left eye.
* Another thing is that she gets frequent and VERY serious rashes that only go away with a very strong cream (Desitin is like a joke for her). She has a very sensitive skin.
Action Plan:
1 - CAT Scan to check for Sinusitis
2 - Check up with an Eye Doctor
3 - Check up with a pediatric Dermatologist
Camila - The Red Bud
* Every cold ends up with an asthma episode, and this last time she ended up with bronchopneumonia. She has had 3 episodes in the last 6 months.* She has recurrent diarrhea and ocassional vomiting since she was 12 months old. She now has abdominal distention.
* Every blood work that she had in her life has shown a little bit of iron deficiency, even though she eats just fine (better that Gaby who doesnt have any low levels of red blood cells).
* She doesnt know her colors. She is still on the age where it may be normal, but one never knows. She knows her shapes, positions and talks like a parrot, but she cant tell the colors.
Action Plan:
1 - X-Ray to check for Sinusitis and Adenoids
2 - Buy Humidifier or Vaporizer to sleep (still need to find out which option is better for her)
3 - Ultrasound to check if she has any enlarged organ to produce the abdominal distention
4 - Test for tolerance to Lactose, Gluten and Soy (Those are 6 tests, 4 of those are RAST to milk proteins, and the other two are RAST to Soy, and RAST to Gluten).
5 - Disaccharides Test and Digestion Test... Both done with stools
6 - Check up with the Eye Doctor
7 - Blood work to check on the platelets level
Gabriela - The Purple Bud
* She has enlarged adenoids and sinusitis. She needs to be re-check now that she is 5 to consider surgery. She has frequent otitis and tonsilitis with no fever or pain.* Her colds ends up with wheezing, but this may be related to the enlarged adenoids.
* Gaby's bull legs havent improved at all... She is now walking worse than ever. She also complains about leg pains sometimes.
* The principal and psicologist at school noticed that Gaby is showing lazy eye in the "good eye". I have heard that this happens to some kids, but I need to ask what to do.
* She continues to have misbehavior at school. Not everyday, but still more than the average misbehavior.
* From time to time she complains about a pain in her leg.
* She gets frequent vaginal discharge, we assume it is because her lack of good cleaning when she goes by herself to the bathroom.
Action Plan:
1 - X-Ray to check for Sinusitis and Adenoids
2 - Check up with the new ENT doctor
3 - Check up with a new orthopedist for a second opinion and tell him that she sometimes complains of leg pain.
4 - Follow up with her eye doctor
5 - Call the new psicologist to find out about group therapies.
6 - Resume with the tests prescribed by the neurologist. EEG, Head MRI, plus some blood work with several tests.
7 - Vaginal culture exam
It may seem like a lot to take, but Im positive that things will be easier as soon as we have some answers... It is not easy to deal with something when you dont have an actual diagnosis, and always gets a comment of what it "could" be.
I will keep the blog updated about this.
9 Lovely comments :
Im so doing one of these lists when I get back to NY. Me and the kids finally have american insurance and Im going to get my moneys worth. I might be asking you for ideas, watch out now, lol!
Here is to hoping you find answers and solutions and get all the flowers healthy!
-h
I hope you have a great medical plan ! My doctor tells me that he wishes the Internet did not exist as so many patients come in with lists were they have done diagnosis from online sites - so I am glad this is a list you did with your doctor . Your family has the worst of luck and I sure hope the rest of the year looks better for you .
H: That is sooo cool... Im here to give you ideas if you need me....
KA: I have medical care... It is not premium, but is a good one.. However lots of those testing are only covered 50% or 80% and we will be spending several hundreds of dollars to work them out...
If my doctor doesnt like me to read internet, then I change doctors. Honestly, I think a mother is the doctor of her kids, and the pediatrician is just a support system for the mother... Nobody knows more than a mom what is going on with her kids. Even though Internet may have tons of wrong information, there are tons of reliable sites, and sometimes I trust internet MORE than a doctor. My pediatrician is awesome, and even though she is very down to earth, she knows that they one that knows my girls is me, and she trusts my insticts. My daughter's previous pediatrician is suppose to be one of the 5 best in the country, BUT he didnt listed to me, which is why I changed doctors.
I love my doctor and I do also belive in mothers instict for sure - but I also agree with him that to many people look things up on the internet and think that their kids have that ilness and start over diagnosing , suddenly a child has 10 different ilnesses ! lol I wish you were in Canada - we have 100% medical - that would be so much better for your family .
Again I wish your family all the best as your luck as meen so poor .
I am sending you a referal today :o)
Yeah... I agree that some people simply overreact and tend to believe everything they read... In my case, Im simply always alert, and I have my trusted sites....
I have never been to Canada, but I have heard about the free healthcare.... However, I prefer to pay and be able to walk in at ANY time for ANY kind of test and have my results in MY hands a couple of hours later... I dont know if is true, but I have heard that with the free medical care you get limited attention and it could take you several weeks to get an appointment, and then several weeks to get a result (and not in your hands, but the doctors hands). We have several 24/7 labs and I can go at 2am for a regular blood work with no prescription, and if I want to, I can wait for it and 10 minutes later I will have the results in MY hands with the levels of each thing and the parameters expected for each thing. This way, if I see one level out of the parameter, I can call the ped at the cell (which will be answered by the ped, not a calling service), and actually read her the results so she could tell me what to do.
I remember when I was pregnant... If I didnt feel the baby moving today, I will just walk in for an ultrasound... If everything was fine, I didnt even had to call my OB... kwim??? Ultrasounds here are not made by techs.. they are made by real doctors with an specialty in the subject, and they actually tell you what they are seeing... Of course, if is something bad, they will let the OB to tell you the details, but anyway, you walk out from there with an analysis of the results with a diagnosis... kwim??
I know sooo many moms that are not aware of the white cell levels or red cell levels or platelets levels their kids should have, and they will only relay on the doctors and what they say, with no knowledge of what is going on with your own child.
I know you mean it right, but I dont think our luck has been poor... I know sometimes we can think is A LOT, but I have to be thankful that they have both legs, arms and hands. They dont have any serious syndrome or retardation... and so on. But, thanks hon, you are a sweetheart (you know that, right??)... I know that you mean the best for us, and I also HOPE that my girls are just HEALTHIER by the minute!!!
Thanks for the referral... I have awesome news for you, and I will email you later on about it. =)
Hi hun
We do get our tests just like that and it was a doctor that did my ultrasound etc so the same as you :0) we also pay a premium of a few hundred dollars a month so it is not really free , but if you don't have the money the government helps so that is a good thin.
I guess what I ment about bad luck was seeing your list with everything that is wrong with your girls - and thinking that Annalisa has had only a few colds since she was born. But you are rigth it could be so much worse - we have had alex in and out of hospital for the first 5 years of his life and he is now doing great - I have a friend with a 4 year old with cancer and I feel so blessed that my 5 kids are all health now :o)
I still hope your girls will have a better health year even if it is not luck LOL
Glad to hear that your baby girl is back home.
Have you considered having tonsils removed? I used to get really sick all the time, they removed my tonsils at the age of 5 and I stopped getting sick.
Checking for the Gluten allergy is good. It seems that more and more people are allergic to gluten these days. (Speculation that it's caused from immunizations). My cousin recently found out that her son has a gluten allergy. (He is 10 days older than my DD).
He was constantly fussy, never slept, constant abdominal distress. When they removed gluten from his diet, he became a completely different baby. Calm, happy, sleeping better, and no more abdominal distress.
He also has a lactose allergy (which runs in the family) but I wonder if it's also linked to his gluten allergy.
I hope they can get to the bottom of everything for your entire family soon.
Kari-Anne: I think if I would live in Canada, I will also pay for premium to have the privileges that you have. It is new to me to know that you guys can also walk in for all kind of tests, I have always heard US and Canadians cant. I remember people from our june 07 board saying that they had to trick the doctors for them to refer them for an extra ultrasound.
In this country, the are free hospitals for people that cant afford health care too. Our ped actually volunteers in one of those hospitals in the mornings.
Im sorry about Alex being in and out of the hospital his first 5 years of life… I cant even imagine how hard that must be… Gaby is 5 and a half and has never been hospitalized. Camila has been hospitalized 2 times, and Mimi was hospitalized 1 time… Camila’s first time and Amelia’s first time, was because a bacteria that one them brought home from preschool, and contaminate the other… I think you may remember that time.
And don’t worry hun, I KNOW what you meant… For real… I know the list can be intimidating, but I feel so relief for have it done. I have received at least 6 emails of people doing their lists for their kids too, plus a comment here.
And thanks for the whishes… God willing this will be a healthier year, and we will get everything sorted out…
By the way, I have a question for you… One of my actions plans is to buy a humidifier or vaporizer… Do you own one??? Do you have any idea which one should be better?? And ultimately, do you know which brands are recommended??
Amanda:Thanks dear! To which one of the girls you mean with the tonsils removed?
As for the gluten, we will be going today, as I wanted to make sure the ped didn’t wanted anything else before taking her to drawn her blood (so she doesn’t need to get more than one blood work). I will post on Monday about all the updates from this week.
Thanks for telling me that story… It gives me hope!
Great plans! I love planning now. Thanks to my awesome friend Anelys. You are a great mama.
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