Mommy says I am going to see Dr.Buck today for my 12 month well child visit (whatever that means). I do not mind going to the doctor. There are lots of fun toys in the waiting area that I was just recently allowed to play with. Up until now mommy has always brought a toy for me in my bag so that I wouldn't care about the other stuff because mommy says it is too dirty with germs. Now I can and do protest loudly until I manage to wiggle enough to maneuver myself out of my mommy's arms and onto the floor. I just wish she would stop following me around wiping me and everything I want to play with down. It's so embarrassing......
Will there be any shots involved in this visit?
After a little pep talk from mom, I think I am ready to go.........
My well child check up didn't go so well after all. After examining my ears, Dr.Buck discovered that both of them were infected. My left ear was the worst it has ever been. This is very disheartening news. My 6th infection in 6 months and now Dr.Buck says it is time to see a pediatric ENT. I only had to get one shot (the pneumococcal vaccine) because mommy and daddy decided to wait on my MMR and varicella until I am a little older. That wasn't so bad, but Dr.Buck was concerned that I seem to have lost some weight since my 9 month check up. I was holding steady at almost 23lbs and now I am weighing in at 20lbs 1.4 oz. Given that I eat my own food plus whatever mommy is having (my appetite is insatiable), It didn't seem to make sense that I went from being in the 55th percentile for weight to the 24th. Dr.Buck asked mommy to take me to the lab for some blood work. The gentleman at the lab had a hard time finding a suitable vein in my arm , so another man came over to help. They found a very small vein in my right arm and decided to give it a shot. Both of the big guys held my arm while mommy held the rest of me in her lap. It was really awful:( They used the smallest needle they could, but they didn't hit the vein when they poked me the first time and had to fish around with it in my arm until the blood finally started flowing. Mommy says it wasn't a good stick to begin with because my arm started to bruise pretty quickly.
It was a rough morning, but the day wasn't over yet. I was exhausted and by the time we made it to the apartment wanted nothing more than to sleep in my crib. Mommy laid me down to nap and shortly thereafter received a phone call from Dr.Buck with the lab results. She stated there were a few abnormalities and it looked as if I had a kidney disease called renal tubular acidosis. She asked if mommy could bring me back to the office as soon as I woke up to collect a urine specimen. Luckily, I was asleep for this part because mommy was a mess of emotions. Daddy came home to go back to the office with us. The nurse put a urine bag on me and the wait was on. They gave me a juice box (which I slurped up like I was dying of thirst) and some water. Finally at 5pm I cooperated and the specimen barely made it to the lab before they closed. Within a couple of hours we had the results, which were normal, but Dr.Buck wanted me to go to Methodist Children's Hospital in the San Antonio medical center the next day for some follow up blood work. Mommy and daddy are praying that the first sample was just bad because of the hard time they had getting it from me and that the results may be a mistake.
