Friday, July 9, 2010

Drum Roll Please!

...................We are officially, finally, and completely moved into our new house!! Wooo hooooo!!
I can't tell you how good it feels to say that we are home and even more so, how good it feels to be sleeping in our own beds after a month and a half of bed hopping. (Although, poor Colin is still in a pack-n-play). It is going to take a long time before we are settled, but we are working on it slowly but surely (I'm not even complaining about that either!)
The past few days have been some busy ones for Colin as well. Unfortunately, we had to throw in some doctor's appointments and therapies right into the mix of closing on the house and moving, so it made things a little bit hectic.
First, we had Colin's 1-year follow-up at the eye doctor.
His appointment was for 7:15am, so Colin didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast before we got there. Last year, we were somewhat happy with the experience because the doctor explained things thoroughly and as far as the check-up went, Colin's eyes looked great. He used the term "Downs baby" in reference to Colin, but he was only 2 months old at the time and we were still getting used to everything so while it affected us, it was in a different way.
The doctor started doing his assessments and after a few minutes, he told me that everything looked great: his eyes were tracking, following the objects, dilating, and everything else that eyes are supposed to do during the assessment. After this he said to me "since he is a Downs baby, I'm going to dilate his pupils to check for some other things". First of all, most people's eyes are dilated during their check-ups so it has nothing do with (second of all) the fact that he has Down Syndrome. Ugh, I was so thoroughly disgusted. We were sent back out to the waiting room for 45 minutes so that we could get called back in to check the last bit of things. At the end of the appointment, the doctor said to me, "I can understand why you want to continue doing follow ups of eye exams. These kids tend to have problems with their eye sight." I just about fell off my chair.
You better believe I will not be continuing in the future with this doctor. I am going to speak to our pediatrician (who referred us to him) and I'm also going to send a letter to the doctor explaining why he should not be using those outdated terms as a MEDICAL PROFESSIONIAL! Nope, I couldn't say anything to his face, but I will handle this my own way.
Later in the day, we went for our first time to an ENT doctor.

Holy cow was this a totally different experience. First of all, the office was beautiful, the doctor was incredibly professional and explained EVERYTHING. We were referred to him because Colin had failed his hearing screening with the audiologist several months back and we needed to find out what the cause of this was.

He started his evaluation by looking in Colin's ears. He showed me several different tips to the scope, told me what sizes they were, and which size corresponds with which type of person. He told me that children with Down Syndrome often have narrowing of the ear canals (which I already knew, but was happy to have him explain everything thoroughly) which requires a very small tip in order to perform an evaluation.

He felt that Colin did have some narrowing, but it wasn't as bad as it could be. He saw minor fluid build up in the ear that Colin failed in, and performed another test to evaluate how "fluid" his ear drums were. He said they looked great and did not feel that there would be any major concerns with Colin's hearing. We will be doing a hearing test with him in 6 weeks (which I'm excited about because now I can do everything in one location) and he will rule out several other things before finally giving me the whole breakdown.

I was so encouraged after that experience and was very happy to hear that Colin's ears looked so well. Colin loved the ENT doctor too!

12 comments:

JC said...

I HATE when Russell is refered to as one of "these kids"...it has happened more times than I can count. I just never have the courage to speak up and say that it bothers me.
Glad all Colins tests went well and things look good...oooh, and beautiful house!!

randy said...

Happy - Happy NEW Address - New Home aka more appropriately now only referred to as Colin's House - cause he is King for sure! Amamzing how quickly YOU turned a house into a "home"! Extremely impressive I might add as we are for the most part home "improvement" failures accross several zip codes. Just had a chance to read and watch several Colin updates at one time. Have to say the video with Colin being assisted with his drinking by his little love interest was the cutest - sweetest - most precious clip EVER. There is NO way I could have restrained myself from a few loving squeezes for both of them had I gotten a turn. With all your frustration and worry over Colin's eating - looks like Colin and his straw skills are much improved and his motivator is such a cutie! Any chance that "relax" is somewhere on your schedule? Enjoy all the new firsts in Colin's new home and all the hard earned milestones which WILL be achieved - cause Colin is one lucky kid with very incredible parents! XXOO-Love, Randy

Adrienne said...

Congrats on the house Kelli! I know how you feel about the terminology used. It's hard to say things to people's faces but I try to just say it the correct way while I'm talking about Bennett to those people that say it wrong and hope that they pick up on it.

Bennett failed in one ear a few weeks back so we'll be going to the ENT next week. Hope it's uneventful!

Rochelle said...

Congrats on the new house and finally being moved.
Good luck on the letter to that doctor. Hoping that you get a great response and he/she learns from the experience like the store experience you wrote about.
Keep teaching and advocating you are doing a great job.

Derek, Kenzee and Gage said...

What a beautiful home! I'm so excited for your family! Sounds like a busy busy time with all the appointments on top of everything else!

Ria said...

Congrats on moving in to your new house!
Isn't it interesting how we notice how different one doctor's approach from another, particularly when they refer to our children and Down syndrome? It's so nice when you get a good, thorough doctor who is also mindful of the terminogolies he/ she uses.

Melissa said...

Congrats on the new house!!

I hate it when medical people use outdated terms. We can just educate on person at a time. Claire's surgeon referred to her as a Downs baby too, and while I didn't like it, it wasn't my focus the day before OHS.

Lori said...

Congrats on the new house! Colin looks cozy in his little chair =)
Fortunately, I have not encountered any of those "unprofessional professionals" - and I am not sure how I would react when I do.

MandD said...

Congratulations on the new house! It's beautiful!

Heidi said...

Congratulations on moving into your new house! It is beautiful and Colin looks right at home in his cute little chair.

Good for you for refusing to see that doctor again. I have had a few very unpleasant experiences with some doctors. The worst doctor was the pediatrician in the Down syndrome clinic of all places! I have since switched to our family doctor who is great with Joel.

Michelle said...

congrats on getting all moved into your new house!

Emily said...

You've sure been busy! Congratulations on the new home!