Super Stressful Well Child Visit

Lincoln had his 2 year check up today. It was stressful. Not necessarily bad, but one of those appointments where you walk out feeling like your head is spinning. First off, I was stressed out when we got there. Lincoln has hand, foot, and mouth, and hasn't really slept in a week, so I haven't either.

So we get there and check in. I've lost my "yellow card" which is required in order to be seen there, so when I was checking in at 12:19 for my 12:20 apt I told the girl, "sorry I lost my card, and I dont' have time to get a new one before his apt." SHe agreed with me and said they woudl call me back in a minute. At 12:50 I finally went up and asked how much longer it would be, and they said my apt was at 1:20. Why didn't they tell me that when I checked in! Its not like Lincoln was behaving. Seriously who waits an hour with a 2 year old just for the fun of it?

So we finally get back there, and they checked us in. Lincoln was 28.5 lbs and 33.5 inches tall. They said he was 45% for weight and 30% for height. They asked if that is where he normally is and I said no, and explained that he used to be huge, and has slowly been falling lower and lower since he was 6 months old. They said that they wanted to watch it at his next few apts since they don't have our medical records (for some reason they weren't transfered when we moved even though they should have been) Not a big deal though, I'm not worried about it.

Then they asked if I had any questions, and boy did I ever. I asked about having him allergy tested since he was first diagnosed with allergies at 4 months old and has had a constant runny nose since, and with his new diet and everything I just wanted to see exactly what is going on. The dr. agreed that he should be tested. Great! We should get a referal within 2 weeks.

Then I asked about the dent in his cheek. I'm not sure if I've posted about that or not, but he fell 2 months ago, and now has a good size dent in his cheek. The dr said give it a few months and if it doesn't go away on its own he will refer us to a plastic surgeon. Not great news, but not bad either.

Then he did the exam. Not only does Lincoln have hand, foot, and mouth (which the dr didn't seem at all concerned about) but he also has some rash all over his torso that wasn't there when I got him dressed this morning. I mean all over! They just said to watch it and call if he starts running a fever. Also he has a big scrape down his belly from falling, and its infected. Gave me a cream for that.

Then they started asking me all the general questions. They asked if he has issues with diareah or constipation, and I said yes, he's has diareah at least half of the time and has his entire life. I've always assumed it was an allergy thing. The dr looked perplexed, and asked a bunch more quesions, then said that between the diareah and the falling on the chart, he wants to run a few tests, specifically testing for Celiac's (sp?) I agreed, it didn't seem like a big deal KWIM.

So then he starts going over my paperwork, and one of them was an autism screen. He said that 2 of the questions I answered could possibly point to autism. One was that he is sensative to loud noises, and I didn't catch what the other one was. This is now the 2nd time in 2 months I've been told this. The first time I freaked out and started doing research, but between the research and the HUGE improvement he's made in the last few months, I'm not worried about it. So I just told the dr. that and that he is in Early Intervention and they watch for signs of autism.

Then came the testing. They did a blood test first. The girl doing it was horrible. She was digging around in his little arms forever! She tried both arms, then said she was going to get someone else. So the other girl came in, and she couldn't find a vein either. They did finally get it, but they spent almost 20 minutes digging around in his arms while I held him down screaming. It was horrible! Then came the really fun part. They said I need to get a stool sample. No big deal, right. Then they came out with 3 bags of stuff! I have to tape one of those bags to his butt, then when he poops I have to disctribute it to 3 little bottles and smear a bit of it onto this card thing, then get it to the dr office within an hour of when he pooped. Did I mention that the dr. office is 40 minutes from my house? Ya, like that's going to happen. Then 2 days later I have to do it again, then 2 days later I have to do it a 3rd time! Yea, I get to spend a week driving around poop! My favorite thing.

So ya, I came home feeling like I've been run over by a truck! I don't think we will be going back to the dr. for a while.