3 Going on 30

Every morning I take Aiden to school and walk with him to class. He wants to stop at the boy's bathroom even though there is a bathroom in his class room. He's obsessed with bathrooms.

And every morning, when we get to class, I give him a kiss good bye and tell him "See you later". However for the past few weeks, my kisses good bye have been met with resistance. I can't even blow the child a kiss bye. It's like he's embarrassed to kiss Mom bye in front of his friends.

So this morning, I blew him a kiss in which he gave me a look indicating that he was no longer a "baby".

I shook his hand.

An in other Aiden news, a few months ago I entered Aiden in a contest for a photo shoot with Jill Solomon, who does our local Down syndrome calendar. Jill emailed me this morning letting me know that Aiden won her "Fun in the Snow" contest.

She didn't post the picture I submitted of Aiden playing in the snow and I don't think I did either, so here it is..

Medical Rant

Thursday, Aiden got sick at school and I had to go pick him up. Fortunately, we live like right across the street from the school and I was there pretty quick. When we got back to the house, I called Dr. Pediatrician's office and made an appointment for 2pm on Friday. Aiden spent the day Thursday with things coming out of both ends. Friday was better, but we went to our appointment regardless.

Now, keep in mind, we live 45 minutes away from the office and traffic is horrendous on Friday...

We get to the office and go up to the check in desk. "I don't see an appointment for Aiden. Go up to the second floor and talk to them."

Okay....

Get up to the second floor and...

Receptionist: "Well, he doesn't have an appointment. Can you come back at 6:15 tonight to be seen in the after hours clinic?"

Me: Ummm, no. We have a 2 pm appointment. I didn't drive all this way due to a figment of my imagination. We want to be seen today."

Receptionist: We can get him in to nurse triage today and he can see a doctor on Monday.

Me: No, he has a 2pm appointment today. Not on Monday.

Receptionist: I can double book him, but you'll have to wait a few hours.

Me: No, he has a 2pm appointment with any doctor, I don't care who. If I wanted to wait a few hours to be seen, I'd take him to the emergency room.

At this point, Dr. Pediatrician's nurse comes out and says that Dr. L has a 2pm opening and he will be seeing Aiden. See, she knows.

Out comes Dr. L's nurse to retrieve Aiden. She sees that Aiden is 3 and wants him to stand on the scales. That won't be happening. He doesn't stand independent for longer than 2.5 seconds. So into the room to strip Aiden down, go over his ENTIRE history which is, by the way, ALREADY in the system located on the laptops all the doctors carry around. (This is why I HATE going to new doctors!)

The nurse and Aiden compare "zippers" and she asked which stomach surgeries Aiden has had. I didn't mention any stomach surgeries did I? Nope, those scars are all from heart surgery. She had to try 10 times to get Aiden's pulse ox. Aiden doesn't know her, so he isn't about to cooperate either.

In comes Dr. L.

"So this is the world famous Aiden? I went over his history and he has a lot of history for a short time."

Yep.

He checks Aiden over, listens to his chest, looks in his ears, attempts to look in the mouth.

Dr. L goes to get Dr. T.

Dr. T comes in asked about the bald spots, tells Dr. L about children with alopecia, checks out Aiden and diagnosed Aiden with a cold (ear pulling) and the stomach virus that is going around (oh yay me!). Asked about Aiden's allergies and how is the Benadryl working. Works really good at night, but not so great during the day. Prescribes Children's Zyrtec for the time being and if that doesn't work, Aiden gets to try out nasal steroids.

Take the prescription and leave. By this time, school is out and the one road I HAVE to go down to purchase carpet shampoo at a specialty store is down to one lane of extremely slow moving traffic. Spend an hour in Friday rush hour traffic to get to the pharmacy in the town in which we live...

Aiden's pharmacy is located down town. Now the town in which we live isn't big. It's small. Downtown consists of 1 stop light and about 50 businesses. The pharmacy is located next to City Hall. Since it's the first of the month, the city utility bills are due. Those who don't auto pay or mail in their checks go downtown to pay. There are no parking lots, just parking spaces in front of the businesses. There is no available parking spot for me to park in, so fine I'll drop it off Saturday morning and wait the 15 minutes to get the Zyrtec filled.

However, Saturday morning, the pharmacy was open but there was no pharmacist. Okay fine, I'll come back before 5pm when the pharmacy closes.

I got back to the pharmacy at 3:30pm and the pharmacy was already closed!

Huh? But the sign says "Saturday 9am - 5pm"?

I'll pick up his Zyrtec Monday morning.

Blow

The season for snot has come full force with a vengeance this  year. I should buy stock in Kleenex and Benadryl. And since I'm pretty sure we'll be discussing a lot of snot here on the blog, I made a new label - The Snot Chronicles.


 We have been teaching Aiden to blow his nose. He's figured it out pretty quickly and doesn't seem to mind doing it. The only problem is that he doesn't necessarily wait for a Kleenex to be in front of his face. He used his hand the other day at the grocery store. Yeah, that was gross.

The child is so congested I sent him to school the last few days doped up on Benadryl. This morning's dose didn't work. He threw up as we were walking into the classroom, fortunately, he still had his coat on and it didn't get all over his clothes - mine however are a different story. Then an hour later, his teacher called and said that more Pediasure had been expelled by the child and he was tugging at his ears. Which of course prompts me to drive up to the school and pick the child up and make a call to Dr. Pediatrician. Who by the way, is also out sick. Now, with me, if I'm really, really congested it messes with my ears. So hopefully that is the case with Aiden and not the viral thingy that is going around school.

We also had to cancel therapy again (he hasn't seen his PT in a few weeks to due illnesses on someone's part). I don't think he really minds, but ummm I have goals I want met.

And in other health related news...

The results from the Holter monitor came back and Dr. Pediatric Heart Electrician called (personally himself) with the results. Now if you know me, I don't like when the actual doctor calls - that means bad news. I would rather talk to the nurse. However, Dr. Pediatric Heart Electrician's office and I have been on the phone several times this week. Every day to be exact. Twice on Monday, once Tuesday, twice Wednesday and once today. (I'm seeing a pattern developing here...)

Dr. Pediatric Heart Electrician wants to see Aiden in the OU Clinic. Translation - we're going back to Oklahoma City. Not to fond of that idea, but what's a momma to do? They normally don't step in unless something is going on. Aiden will go to the Cardiac clinic there in May so that they can get him into their pacer system. Not sure how that is going to work out since Aiden's home transmitting device is linked to the Tulsa clinic.

The Holter results showed that Aiden hasn't had any tachycardia episodes since beginning the new medication. Which is a good thing. However, if his next transmission (later this month) shows any episodes, then another Holter will be ordered, Aiden will go to OKC earlier than May and we'll go from there. So, please pray that the next transmission doesn't send anyone to the ER with symptoms of a heart attack.

Oh, hearing aids.... Last week I received a letter of authorization from secondary insurance stating that everything was approved. YAY!!! Then yesterday I received a letter saying "Pending Pricing". Huh? Which prompts a call to secondary insurance. I give them the 2(!) authorization numbers. Apparently, the postal service delivered the "pending" letter way late. Person from insurance says call the provider and give them authorization #########. Okay, so I do.

Aiden's hearing aids are in the process of being made and we go pick up his yellow /blue swirled hearing aids on March 23. We will finally have a hearing Aiden.

Rock Climbing

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here

Spread the Word 2010

Something important needs said.

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Spread the Word to End the Word. I blogged about it last year. And once again, I'm blogging about it.

Do you realize how often the word is used? If not, click here. And that is just for today. Pretty sickening huh? And there are people out there who are using the word in a hateful, derogatory way. On purpose. To be mean.

I'm not joking. Throughout Facebook land, there are GROUPS that are promoting the use of the word in hateful, violent ways. Just search and you'll see what I'm talking about. Sadly, as soon as one gets shut down, another one pops up in it's place. It's like a bad rash. And one that no amount of cream is going to control. Sadly, other groups have had to step up and take the "policing of Facebook" to rid the social networking site of these hate groups. The good thing is that there are more families who have a member with an intellectual challenge than these "fanpages" have fans. Several thousand voices are heard and Facebook does eventually remove the group. But like I said, another pops up within minutes of one being shut down.

All it takes to stop the word from being thrown out there like a pair of dirty underwear is a conscious effort. Those who use the word in a derogatory way are scared of something. I'm not really sure what. There is nothing to be afraid of. Really there isn't.

It's a term used to describe those who have a harder time grasping a cognitive idea. They still grasp it. It just takes longer. You know, like those who CHOOSE to misuse the word.

This year, I encourage you to make the conscious effort. Take the pledge. The State of Oklahoma took the pledge.