Apparently we're on the same 6-month cycle with all her physicians! Every years it happen this way -- we'll go months without a single appointment at the main campus (we have two outpatient centers much closer where we schedule all therapies and blood tests, and I can sometimes see specialists there too). But every six months or so, within the space of 4-6 weeks, we'll have see every sub-specialty with offices only at the main campus, and get tests that can only be done there. This all happens, of course, on different days.
This week our itinerary is as follows:
- Monday: 4pm, power-wheelchair practice
- Tuesday: 12:45pm, cardiology checkup (no echo this time, just EKG)
- Thursday: 8:30am, feeding team height and weight check (hopefully fast!)
- Thursday: 1:00pm, I work in the office for the afternoon (back-to-back meetings)
- Friday: 12:45pm, urology testing (two tests, one round of labs)
Fortunately, it's the off-week for aquatic therapy and occupational therapy!
In the next several weeks, we'll see all her other doctors: neurology, opthamology, cerebral palsy clinic (multi-displinary team)... I hate for her to miss so much school more than I hate to drive all that way.
Probably the toughest appointments are those when I can't find someone to watch the other kids. It's nearly impossible to talk and listen to the doctors when I have a 1 1/2 year old climbing me like a tree and a 4-year-old driving cars along the walls complete with (loud) sound effects and a 6-year-old playing the classroom song at full blast on her Dynavox. However, I've finally gotten over being apologetic about it -- these people are used to kids and have learned to tune it out. Now if I can just tune it out without looking a negligent parent...
P.S. Today's cardiology appointment went really well. Elli looks good again (3 years since our last open-heart surgery!), so we'll go back for an echo in 6 months.
