Make that a Second!

There is nothing that I can stress more when you are dealing with a sick or special needs child than the fact that if you feel that you have gotten terrible care or that the individual you met with did not answer all your questions - PLEASE get a Second Opinion. 

Until I had a son that has had medical issues since day one, I had no idea how different and often times completely opposing views doctors and nurses would have as to what is considered appropriate care for my child. If you are new to the blog you might be shocked to hear we had an Orthopaedic Surgeon tell us that our son may not walk, a Neurologist who told us he was "fine" and a Pediatrician who missed a lot of signs of a serious issue for the first ten months of his life!

I am lucky to have had a nurse friend advise me on what to do when no one else was listening. So, if you are reading this because you have a sick child and no one listens... find someone who will. Since my son was born we have seen Nephrologists, Orthopaedic Surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Neurologists, Ophthalmologists, Cardiologists, a handful of Pediatricians, Orthotists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Dieticians, and almost any other kind of "ist" there is out there. Once I finally got his first Pediatrician to admit that something was off with my child, there hasn't been a day that I haven't fought like hell to do everything that I can for him.

After my last post, we decided to travel to Iowa City to see another Nephrologist. She concurred that he does have abnormal kidneys but that the scans weren't exactly the best. It appeared that they are almost on top of one another, so she doesn't believe them to be horseshoe kidneys per se but said that there was flesh where there shouldn't be any and that they definitely aren't where they are supposed to be. So, she recommended that he get a nuclear test (Mag 3) to check his kidney function and to make sure that everything is working properly. They were going to try to schedule it the same day as his next MRI (in three weeks, eep!), so he only has to be sedated the one time. Sedating your child is risky and scary but sometimes it is a necessary evil.

In addition to the Nephrologist, we also managed to get the Sleep Study conducted over mother's day weekend. We took our own supplies and showed the sweet nurse how we prevented him from ripping off the sensors during his three day EEG. They managed to get the information they needed from the very little time that he slept (he woke every 60 minutes the entire night) but I am hoping that it is enough to show the Pulmonologist what is going on in Abram's sleep. We have already ruled out Aspiration but are still waiting to hear if he has sleep apnea or RLS before chalking his sleep issues 100% as an affect of his chromosomal disorder and the mass on his pineal gland. 

The Geneticist also called back to report that Abram's test for Noonan Syndrome came back as "normal" but that the test only catches 60-70% of the cases so a normal result doesn't necessarily rule out Noonan Syndrome but it makes it less likely. That was a $4,700 test for a maybe? So, now we are still waiting on the results of my husbands blood work to see if he is a carrier of the Chromosome 7 Deletion. If he isn't, then they will be testing for Fragile X Syndrome.

We also have had a follow-up with our Neurologist who upon walking into our appointment was convinced that he would start medication for Abram's seizure-like activity but after seeing him and how much he'd improved socially and physically since our last meeting changed his mind entirely! That was a big relief. The less medicine the better because most anti-seizure medications make kiddos very sedate and his entire personality could change.

Next month is another huge month with appointments and follow-ups but I am hoping that July will bring fewer doctors appointments and more fun! This is officially Abram's third summer and I plan to make it the first memorable one for him. He deserves to be a kid. If the Fragile X comes back as "normal" too, I think we'll be taking a break from the hunt for a diagnosis or a name of a syndrome for our son's affliction. Life is too short to spend it in a waiting room!

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