Panic at the Pediatrician's

The past week and a half or so has been really tough. It started last week, when Max seemed to be a little more fussy and preferring to nurse on one side. Last Friday he was crying like crazy in the middle of the day, completely out of character for him, and I called the doctor and got him in immediately.

I had to change his doctor from Dr. Stowe to the Tomball office because The Woodlands is too far to go for a spontaneous acute visit. I should never have done that.

Dr. Sufferidge said Max had an ear infection in his right ear. That was strange, because with his side preference it should have been the left. She kept rechecking like she wasn't sure, then she wrote a prescription for antibiotics. She remarked that his anterior fontanel was small and his head long. I asked her if she thought there was a problem. She couldn't decide, and at first said she'd send us to a specialist, then said we'd remeasure his head in one month. She said for us to come back with him the next day.

I gave Max the antibiotic, and an hour later he had an episode of projectile vomiting the likes of which I had never seen before, or ever saw again. Although his fussiness improved that night, I took him back the next day (Saturday) because of the reaction to the antibiotic, and because I wanted the opinion of a different doctor.

Dr. Fowler was on on Saturday, and she looked at him and declared that he did NOT have an ear infection after all, and that we should stop the antibiotic. Okaaay ... I asked what she thought of his head and his fontanel, and she said we should get a stat x-ray in case the skull bones had fused prematurely. This is called craniosynostosis.

Craniosynostosis is repaired by surgery on the skull. I read up about it immediately, and spent the whole weekend in panic, so upset I could barely function. On one hand, I was worried that I'd stirred up this intervention for nothing. Maybe his head was okay, but because of my persistent questioning we would now have skull x-rays, which would of course probably be inadequate ... then he would have to be sedated for a head CT, then see a pediatric neurosurgeon who would be eager to operate and practice his technique and pad his pocket. Maybe the sides of his head are a little flat since he never lies on his back (he's always either facing

me to nurse, or being held upright). On the other hand, I was also terrified he might have a potentially disabling or disfiguring disorder.

Monday I took Max in for his x-ray, then left a message on the ped's

answering machine that my whole life hung in the balance awaiting the result, so they would call ASAP. They did call a couple of hours later. His x-rays were normal. When informed of this, my voice broke and I think I reacted like someone who just won a million dollars.

Here I am, someone who has been reading How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, and I still got sucked into giving my son unnecessary medicine (causing him to vomit profusely) and unnecessary radiation for his little developing brain. I feel deeply regretful and sick about it to the point that it's hard for me to even write this.

To top it all off, Gabe came down with 102 degrees fever on Wednesday night. He said he was cold, but that was his only complaint. Thankfully he never looked or acted sick and is now better. It's been a real strain trying to quarantine him and separate the two kids in such a small house. Now we just have to hope that Max doesn't come down with it.

Well, a few other things have happened over the last couple of weeks. Both Gabe and I got haircuts, and I finally got my hair highlighted for the first time in a year and a half! It's not the best job ever done on my hair, but I feel like a whole new person. Dan got his weird foot glove shoes (see pic) that he's been excited about.

Also it's been so dry lately that our pond (which sometimes approaches our doorstep during flood season) is nearly completely dry. It was taken over by some beautiful but overly aggressive water lilies which choked out all the other life inside. So Dad has cut all the tall grass around it and partially scraped out the bottom. Below are some pics of Mom and Dad clearing the dry pond.