Back to the Drawing Board

Yesterday, we were up at 5am and out the door by 6--back on the long road down to Miami Children's Hospital.

The purpose of this visit to MCH was to get a new Otalaryngologist since our local ENT did not feel comfortable with doing Brandt's tubes.

It was a long drive, with my mind going a million miles a minute. Would this ENT be able to do the surgery? What is the cause of his anemia? What were the results of his echocardiogram? And, would the results lead us down another road of specialists. I was going crazy, and Miami-Dade traffic was making me feel claustrophobic.

When we finally arrived at MCH, the ENT took us back right away with no BS nurse asking us a hundred questions. Right away, the doctor gave him a physical exam and sent us off for tests. First, we went to do a pressure test, which found fluid in both ears. Then, since our local ENT would not release his hearing test results, we went over to audiology for another hearing test. They performed two separate tests, and both found that his hearing is fine.

While we were waiting on tests, Darrin was on the phone chasing down doctors. He got a hold of the pediatrician, and they faxed MCH the results from the echo.

After all the testing was done, the ENT was closed for lunch so we went to the cafeteria. While they offer a wide-variety of inexpensive meals, I will say a person could starve at MCH!

Once we finally got back into the ENTs office, the lobby was flooded with patients. Finally we were called back. The doctor reviewed the results from all of his test, and then he grabbed the echo results--I think our hearts skipped a beat from the suspense and worry. And then the words fell from his lips: Normal functioning heart. It was a moment of utter relief. Life had finally dealt us a break.

The ENT then said he would do the surgery. We went to scheduling and they set us up with their soonest appointment, two weeks out.

And so, it was back on the road to go home.

While we were in Miami, we noticed Brandt had a fever, and we gave him some Tylenol a couple times. When we got home, his fever was going strong so we switched to Advil. During the night, his fever got worse and he was restless and irritable. We finally took him to the doctor's today, but by then his fever was soaring past 104. They gave him some more Advilan stripped him down, and wrapped a bag of ice around him until he was down to 102. They sent us out the door with a prescription for an antibiotic and tamiflu.

And so, all of this can only mean one thing--no MRIs on Thursday and no tubes in two weeks. He can't be sedated with an infection, and he can't have surgery within two weeks of taking ibuprofen. So, I guess tomorrow I'll be back on the phone scheduling appointments. It's just hard when they schedule so far out and he's always sick. But, back to the drawing board we go...
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