The Latest Adventures With Dr. Lung

Like I mentioned yesterday, Maddie's trip to Dr. Lung's office was basically successful. We were worried that Maddie would be a mess in her office what with the NON STOP crying, but I think she must know English or something because she actually listened to us when we begged her to sack up and not cry in front of the doctor. I know you're thinking that she's a doctor who specializes in pediatrics, so she should be used to teething babies...you give her too much credit. Dr. Lung is an alarmist. She FREAKED one time because there was some snot in Maddie's nose that was causing a whistle when she inhaled. No joke! Everything has to be perfect or the doctor gets all jittery.

We were told to arrive an hour before the appointment so a chest x-ray could be taken. Mike and my mom (who filled in for me!) arrived as directed, only to be told there wasn't an order written for the x-ray. So they had to go back to Dr. Lung's office to ask for an order. When they got there, Dr. Lung said, "Oh, well, I just sent another one of my patients down there for an x-ray! Can you do it after the appointment?" Nooo. They got there an hour early per your instructions, Dr. Lung! What are they supposed to do for an hour? After some hemming and hawing, the doc decided to see Maddie right then, and she'd have her x-ray after. Annoying, because then Dr. Lung would go over the results with us on the phone instead of in her office. We like to see what she's talking about, with visual aids.

Dr. Lung wanted her weighed because she didn't trust our pediatrician's scale. When I heard that, I felt affronted. Does she not know the awesomeness that is Dr. Loooove? Maddie was weighed, and she'd gained two ounces since last week. Not stellar, but Dr. Lung was pleased for some reason. She listened to Maddie's chest and said that Maddie sounds "way better." It was determined that Maddie will have another overnight oxygenation study, but this one will be at home. We have to call a company to bring out the monitor and set it all up. She also has to be on oxygen at night until her next appointment, which is in a month. At that point, Dr. Lung will decide whether or not to keep her on it or start to wean her off.

The doctor called us at home later to say that Maddie's x-ray came back and showed lots of improvement since her last x-ray three weeks ago. I always hold my breath when we get x-ray results, because we can never ever predict how they are going to turn out. It could always go either way. Luckily the stars were smiling on Maddie's lungs yesterday.

We also talked a bit more about Cystic Fibrosis. We are still going forward with the repeat sweat test. Dr. Lung tried to set it up for us in Long Beach, which is not convenient for me so I told her no. So I'll be handling the scheduling of this test, at a different facility. I want to make sure this doesn't have to be repeated EVER again. Dr. Lung also had no good explanation for why the blood work was messed up when Maddie was in the hospital. She swore that both of her residents ordered it, but yet, it wasn't done. When pressed, she finally admitted that there was a mistake. Maybe because there was some loudly spoken words from us? Sometimes I just can't reign it in.

Later that night, we noticed that three of Maddie's diapers had traces of reddish/pink in them. Just a little spot, and only on the wet diapers, not the dirty ones. I'd read somewhere that girl babies sometimes have period-like discharge, so I figured that's what this was. I went about my business and forgot about it until my daily bitch session with Stefanie. She pretty much shamed me into calling Dr. Looooove about the redness. A nurse from her office called me back and said that most likely it was something called urate crystals. They're common when a baby is dehydrated. Maddie is most definitely dehydrated, but it's not from our lack of trying. The teething is making her not want to eat. She'd rather chew on the nipple than drink in the sweet deliciousness that is Enfamil AR. When we were trying to get her to eat, I noticed that she eagerly gobbled down the Motrin we gave her, so I had the bright idea to give her the formula through a medicine syringe. It worked! Mike sat there for an hour and gave her four ounces of formula, 4mL at a time. Like she was a baby bird being nursed back to health!!! Since then, she's taken most of her feedings by bottle, but Mike has broken out the medicine dropper a few times. The things we do!!!