Doctor appointments come in waves in our house. They seem to come in six month intervals- probably because I get my
mutant thyroid/goiter/Hoshimoto issue checked about that often. Thankfully, my doctor does her own ultrasounds at her office now, so I don't have to go through the whole outpatient radiology at a hospital drill. [For years, just to have a thyroid ultrasound performed, I had to go through the same registration process as someone having surgery-- and I wouldn't even find out the results until I talked to my doctor some time later. Unnecessarily stressful and inconvenient.]
Enough about my mutant glands--- but, if you are
interested, I'll elaborate here (otherwise, skip to the big print down below)---
When I was pregnant with Austin six and a half years ago, all of a sudden my neck swelled up all puffy and crazy. My OB sent me for an ultrasound which confirmed I had cysts in my thyroid, some solid and one partly with fluid (hence the large goiter). I had a terrible core biopsy at that time, which was inconclusive. (errr- It means they didn't get a good tissue sample, and the biopsy was an utter waste of time and pain.) Then, while Austin was in the NICU, I had a fine needle biopsy (no pain meds, but less unpleasant than the core biopsy), which confirmed that I did NOT have cancer. Whoo hoo! Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. There is always a chance of the cysts/nodules becoming cancerous, so I have to have ultrasounds performed regularly, along with a biopsy if there is significant growth. Long story short, in the past six years, I have had four biopsies done on my neck, all of which were negative for cancer. The latest one diagnosed me with Hoshimoto's Disease, which means that on top of becoming possibly cancerous, my thyroid is also going to start attacking itself at some point in the future. Thankfully, my thyroid has been working normally up to this point. I do have a checkup/ultrasound in two weeks, so we'll see what the doctor says then. I'm pretty much over the whole biopsy thing- meaning, I would rather have my thyroid removed surgically than to undergo another miserable neck biopsy. It's terrible- really. But, we'll see if I can convince my doctor of the surgical route if the cysts have grown enough for her to want a biopsy.
Basically, I have a thyroid issue that I have to get checked every six months.
Then, there is
David, who has been generally healthy except for the fact that he doesn't talk like he should. So, for the past seven or more months, he has been receiving in-home speech therapy once every week-- equaling more appointments to fit into the schedule. Now, we are also dealing with the school system, so there are additional evaluations and meetings to attend to get him qualified for speech through the public preschool system.
Of course, there is Austin who has a neurological condition that has to be checked every year or so via a sedated MRI at the Children's hospital. This is actually coming up in about a week. We are hoping the scan will show no worsening of the anatomy of his Chiari malformation- hence, no need for surgery at this time. Of course, with him being in school, there are also parent teacher conferences to schedule, testing, etc.
On top of all these things, there are dentist appointments and vision appointments to schedule, well visits and sick visits, etc. Of the lot of us, Joseph is the only one who isn't followed by some kind of specialist. He goes to the clinic at Walgreens when he has some kind of sickness (which is rare).
I did find a new pediatrician for the boys a few weeks ago. It's a small two doctor practice, and the doctor we saw is very nice. I think she will be perfect for our quirky little family :)
