Tag Archives: medical

Rough Patch, Part Three

March 3, 2019 By in Healthcare, Noonan Syndrome-Like Disorder, Our Family's Journey Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Rough Patch, Part Three

If you haven’t read the rest of the story yet, start here.

We loaded our son into the car and left for the hospital. It was dark and rain was pouring down throughout the drive to the emergency department. Check-in went quickly. Our son was exhausted and still showing signs of difficulty breathing so it didn’t take very long to be seen. A chest x-ray was ordered immediately and we were settled in to wait for the results. No one seemed particularly concerned so we did our best to relax and wait. We expected to be given antibiotics and sent home.

The nurse came into our room and asked in an unusually timid manner if our son had been seen at one of the other hospitals downtown. We explained a consult we had at one point with an interventional cardiologist, but that we only went once and that doctor recommended against running any tests. I mentioned to her off-hand that we had also done several second opinions at Hopkins. “Why do you ask?” was the next obvious question. Micro expressions danced across her face, all showing signs of discomfort, and she pointedly avoided eye contact. We were to be transferred and they were deciding where. The doctor would be in shortly to answer any other questions. With that she ducked out, having not made any additional eye contact.

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Rough Patch, Part Two

February 25, 2019 By in Healthcare, Noonan Syndrome-Like Disorder, Our Family's Journey Tags: , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Rough Patch, Part Two

If you didn’t catch the first part, read it first.

We were waiting for many months for a call from Kennedy Krieger’s Outpatient Feeding Program. It’s not something I had mentioned previously; I wasn’t sure how helpful it would be. When the call finally came we were so excited. There was, however, a massive “but.” Our son had begun struggling with a new medical issue, ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytic Purpora), and we weren’t sure how well he would do in the outpatient program given the need for weekly blood draws and hematologist visits. After speaking with the program’s nurse we concluded that, while difficult, managing his care on an outpatient basis was possible. If we were already actively in the outpatient program and he needed to be transitioned to inpatient they would do their best to have us transitioned to inpatient as quickly as possible.

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ObamaCare vs. Affordable Care Act

March 28, 2017 By in Healthcare Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
ObamaCare vs. Affordable Care Act

There has been a lot of discussion in the news lately about repealing and replacing Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act has also come up a lot in those discussions. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear during the discussions that these are the exact same law. It’s important to raise awareness of this issue, especially among people who don’t frequently follow politics or news “inside the beltway.” The main reason is the Affordable Care Act, hereafter referred to as ACA, is known for a lot of things people like while “Obamacare” tends to be associated with all the things people don’t.

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Finding Resources

January 23, 2017 By in Caregiver Tips & Tricks Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Having a child with medical or other special needs can be overwhelming and expensive. Not knowing where to find resources is a common reason children and parents don’t get the support they require. I wish I could transfer everything I’ve learned over the past few years to you. My book is a great resource, but even it doesn’t cover everything exhaustively. Trying to address every challenge all in one place would have made it so vast and unwieldy it would’ve been unreadable.

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I’m Still Here

December 11, 2016 By in Our Family's Journey Tags: , 2 Comments

I apologize profusely for the silence. It’s not like me, and I’m disappointed in myself for letting it occur. I became overwhelmed approximately the end of November, and I’m only now getting my feet back under me. Again, I’m sorry.

A lot of things have happened in a month. I’ll stick to the highlights and keep this brief. Our son is beginning to do what most people would consider eating. He’s getting more confidence every day in his ability to keep food in his mouth and swallow it safely. A lot of us take it for granted – it’s never been a given for him.

We thought we would need to go in for a heart catheterization. The interventional cardiologist recommended against it because of the risk due to his bleeding concerns, and he wasn’t certain he would find any more relevant data than we already have. There is something concerning going on with our son’s heart, enlargement of one of the chambers, and there’s no apparent cause. So far he shows no visible signs of heart difficulty.

I haven’t forgotten you, and I hope to begin writing on a weekly basis again soon. Thanks for staying with me.

Medical Care for Your Pet

October 3, 2016 By in Healthcare Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments
Medical Care for Your Pet

It’s not a fun topic, but it’s an important one. We’re all so busy rushing around trying to take care of our little ones and their vast array of different medical needs. It’s tough sometimes to stop and think about our other loved ones — our pets. Getting them to the vet once a year for their booster shots and a well-visit is essential to keep them healthy and catching any chronic health problems early on in their life.

For the most part, your pet’s well-visit will cover similar things that other family members’ visits include. They take a look at their eyes, ears, and ask about any health concerns. Just like when you take your children to the pediatrician your pet will get booster shots needed to maintain their immunity to a wide variety of illnesses that can be life-threatening to your pet. Some of these ailments may even be able to spread to the rest of the family.

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Update – More Testing Needed

July 26, 2016 By in Noonan Syndrome-Like Disorder, Our Family's Journey, Uncategorized Tags: , , , Leave a comment

We went to the hematologist yesterday. They need to run more testing. According to the tests ran two weeks ago, our son does clot moderately slower than expected. They’re not sure why and the additional tests will hopefully provide some insight. Depending on the cause it may be easy to manage. I didn’t ask questions about what we’d need to do if it wasn’t easy. I don’t want to know unless I need to know.

It’s been tough for me because I wanted to believe I was wrong. I wanted with all my heart to believe I was paranoid and I had been nagging nurses to hold the gauze a little longer and check before they put the bandaid on after removing an IV for no reason. I wasn’t wrong. I’ve known for a long time he had this issue and while I chided the nurses to be cautious, I still denied to myself that there was a real problem.

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Update – A Rough Fall

July 18, 2016 By in Noonan Syndrome-Like Disorder, Our Family's Journey Tags: , , Leave a comment

No word yet from the doctor about the lab results which, frankly, is probably a good thing. About a week from now we’ll go back for an office visit and get the official word. If they haven’t called yet for additional testing they probably won’t. It’s still possible I might get a call but most likely there are no bleeding issues and the appointment will be straight forward. It’s definitely a relief not to have heard back with bad news even if there’s a small chance the call might still come.

The wound is healing. The kaleidoscope of colors has faded for the most part. Now he has a golf ball sized lump. While it looks bad, it’s almost reduced to the point you might expect it to happen from a random bump on the head. I’m looking forward to it going away entirely. With every bump and scrape, you get a funny look now and again from strangers. This particular injury has resulted in way too many uncomfortable encounters for my tastes.

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Crazy Week – A Rough Fall

July 13, 2016 By in Noonan Syndrome-Like Disorder, Our Family's Journey Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
Crazy Week – A Rough Fall

Not sure how many people know this. I certainly had no idea before this past week. Noonan’s Syndrome carries a decently high probability of having a bleeding disorder of some kind or another. Having a bleeding disorder can mean a lot of different things. Sometimes the bleeding is slow to stop. Sometimes the wound re-opens easily for multiple different reasons. I didn’t know any of this until our son took a spill face first onto the hardwood floor from standing height. He falls a lot but this one was different. A blood vessel in his head burst on contact.

Instantly he had a golf ball sized lump on his head. I wasn’t sure how serious that was so I was dialing the pediatrician when it gradually doubled in size before my eyes. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so comfortable waiting on hold. I called our emergency number and waited for the medics to arrive. When they came in the lump was about 90% of the size it would eventually become. They advised I take him in as a precaution so we grabbed my purse, both of our shoes, and loaded him into the ambulance.

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You’re Not Alone

June 18, 2016 By in Controversial Topics Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s been a rough week. There was so much violence and death reported on the news it’s difficult to even register the full gravity of it all. On top of that, loving parents on vacation with their son learned the hard way that, in Florida, deadly efficient predators lurk in water so shallow even adult fish would prefer not to swim there. Did I know that before this week? Yes, I did. Would I expect anyone else to know who doesn’t live in the areas these predators thrive? Absolutely not.

Next week we meet with therapists and a teacher from our state’s early intervention program to discuss our son’s progress and our goals for the next year. He was tested last week by neurology and the teacher. It was devastatingly obvious he’s behind. How far behind is difficult to discern. Neurology told us he’s performing between 18 and 24 months in general. The teacher gave no hints about what she thinks. We’ll find that out next week.

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