TUESDAY:
First off, we went to see a dermatologist. It was a new doctor that was recommended to us by Dr. LaCroix. She wanted us to go see her because Landon had been having itchy patches on his knees and legs. We couldn't figure out if he was having an allergic reaction to something, it was his eczema, or something else we needed to worry about. I brought it up to Dr. LaCroix when we went for Landon and Sydney's appointment in July. She told us she thought it was just his eczema acting up, but wanted to make sure. She gave us a referral to this dermatologist and told us that if it didn't go away to go see her. She also gave us a medicated cream to put on it. We started with that and it cleared it up, but every time we would stop putting it on him, he would break out again. I decided that we should go just to make sure it wasn't something we needed to worry about.
I prepared Landon ahead of time and told him that we were going to see a doctor to look at the bumps on his knees and legs. He said he understood. When we got there, the lady wasn't very kid friendly. After making me feel a little silly for bringing him in, she wanted him up on the exam table and broke out the latex gloves, a Q-tip, and a huge light to take a look. Immediately, Landon started squirming and fidgeting. He wanted down from the table. There was no warming Landon up to it. I was pretty annoyed that I had to fight with Landon to get him to hold still. I don't like it when doctors don't even acknowledge the kid and then expect him to be good as gold. Ugh!
After looking at his legs, she told me exactly what Dr. LaCroix said. Needless to say, I don't think I want to go back unless we absolutely have to. She didn't give me (or Landon for that matter) a warm and fuzzy feeling. It was a complete waste of a morning.
WEDNESDAY:
We had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Quinlan. I guess you would call it a follow-up of the follow-up appointment for his tonsils. When Braydon took Landon for his follow-up a couple weeks after Landon's tonsillectomy there was still a lot of swelling in Landon's mouth. He still wasn't wanting to swallow very much and he wasn't drinking out of a straw like he was before the procedure. Dr. Quinlan wanted to see him again in a month or so to make sure he was making progress and not getting worse.
After insurance took it's time going though, we finally were able to get an appointment. Dr. Quinlan took a look at Landon and started talking to us about what the next steps were. Next stop is a sleep and swallow study to make sure he does okay with both. If Landon passes both, his trach will come out....like the next day!! I was in complete shock! I thought there would be a time period where we would cap it and make sure he was okay for a few weeks and then take it out. Apparently I was wrong...
I'm pretty sure Landon is going to do great during the day without the trach. He proved that to us a few Thanksgivings ago. If you don't remember that fiasco, click here. I'm more worried about when he's sleeping and when he gets sick. When Landon wakes up in the morning, he needs to be suctioned. It's just like when you aren't feeling well and you wake up with lots of phelm in your throat. He wakes up with that too. Sometimes, if his humidity collar (that goes over his trach when he sleeps) comes off, all that phelm can get dried out and clog up his trach. We go in and suction it out and he's okay again. There have been many mornings where Landon is up early and we think it's because his trach is blocked and he can't breathe very well...that's just speculation though. Hopefully, that isn't the case. Then the trach can come out. :)
Don't get me wrong...I'm really excited at the prospect of Landon being free of his trach. I can't wait to be able to travel with him without having to bring a million medical supplies and equipment with us. I'm excited to take him to the beach and let him play in the sand (which he can't do now). I can't wait to see how much he loves the waves hitting his feet. I can't wait to not have people stare at him like he has five heads when we take him to the store. It will be a great day. I just worry because I've never seen him without help breathing from some sort of tube. It's something you become accustom to but don't want to get used to.
THURSDAY:
Landon got to play with Kim (his speech therapist) this day. He has started to really like playing with Kim and enjoys going there and playing with numbers. Kim doesn't mind spending an hour of her week appeasing Landon with as many numbers as he wants as long as she gets what she wants too. Landon's learning a little give-and-take. :) He does really great for her and he's been so open to trying to say words. We've really had to watch what we say around him now because he is liking to repeat EVERYTHING we say. :)
TODAY:
Well, we finally made it to the dentist! I was really nervous to take Landon to the dentist because his teeth are not very pretty. :( He has a lot of rotting teeth and we knew it would be bad. Dr. LaCroix scolded me a couple of times for not taking him and I finally sucked it up and made an appointment. I prepared myself for what I knew he was going to say and we went for it.
The dentist, Dr. Kotil, was AMAZING!!! I couldn't have asked for a better dentist. He did so great easing Landon into the whole thing and spent the time to talk to him for a minute before he jumped into everything (unlike another doctor we know...ahem...see above). He showed Landon what he was going to do and told him that he was just going to count his teeth. That had Landon hooked. He was ready to do anything Dr. Kotil told him to do as long as it had to do with numbers. :)
Dr. Kotil took a look in his mouth and he told me what I already knew. We're going to have to put Landon under to do dental work on him. Landon's front bottom four teeth will have to come out and three top center teeth need to come out. All the rest can stay. We just have to be very good about brushing his teeth with the right things since Landon can't swish or spit liquid out. We can't use normal toothpaste because of that and so we have to do what we can to keep the other teeth as healthy as possible. He's also going to take x-rays of Landon's teeth so we will have a better idea of what to expect from his adult teeth.
So, as of right now, we don't have too much information as to what is going with Landon's teeth, but we'll keep you posted. They are going to schedule a time for all of this soon and let me know.
My nervousness with the dentist is gone. Thank goodness.
No comments:
Post a Comment