An Important Apointment
We met with the pulmonologist today for a check-up on Micah's respiratory health and lockdown prognosis. Because absolutely everything in the body is connected to everything else, Micah gets a pretty thorough check-up wherever he goes.
Since it's always the "big issue," we discussed Micah's growth. The pulmonologist was pleased with Micah's improvement in size since our last visit in March. But, he wants Micah to be bigger (so, there's another player on the nutritionist's team) -- his goal for Micah is to be on the charts for his actual age by his second birthday. After asking how tall Micah's daddy is, he settled for the 5th percentile! Ha! (See, that's funny because Jared is a short 5'5".) He also posited an interesting theory that Micah may be slow to gain weight not just because he's crazy-active but because he may be using more energy just to breathe. Because he was so premature and needed breathing support, Micah's lungs are small, premature, and damaged -- not what you'd call the best combination. After a thousand questions, the pulmonologist listened to Micah's lungs and said, "Huh." (a positive "huh") and kept listening up and down around Micah's chest and back. Then he said, "He sounds good. He's actually breathing easily." TA DA! HA, HA, HA!! Take that! Yeee-ah! We have really worked hard at keeping Micah away from cooties. Ask any number of friends at church who have been told a little too curtly that "you're dirty" or a simple, firm "nope" as they reach for my buddy. We've had only one cold to deal with, which was last February, and for two nights, I stayed up with Micah. That's it. Don't get me wrong; I cried and was terrified and exhausted. But, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. For all of our hard work, Micah's doing pretty darn fabulous right now. Nevertheless, he is still a child of damaged, premature lungs and we're back on lockdown this RSV (respiratory syncytial virus - google that) from October thru April, but we're free to do anything outside that we want to do and I can continue taking Micah to the grocery store and Target as long as I continue to sanitize the buggy and not let him touch anything or anyone while we're there. Yes, it's possible. (It was a long appointment) We learned all about the flu vaccines Micah needs this year (in October, as I understand it). Instead of two flu shots like last year, this year Micah will get the one standard flu shot (and Mommy and Daddy will, too) AND he'll get the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine. Micah's pediatrician is at a significant practice near Scottish Rite and Northside hospitals and a large number of the partners there are infectious disease specialists. Since Micah is a priority for the shots, I have no worries that he'll get what he needs. Bonus, we have a back-up: in the event that there is some delay and/ or lack of vaccines at our pediatrician, we can simply call up our pulmonologist for whatever we need. In the next couple of weeks Micah will go to the pediatrician for his 15-month check-up (and get more vaccines there).* I'll be talking with the pediatrician about Micah's growth and development and see if she has the same opinion as the nutritionist. So far, she's been very pleased --impressed, even -- with Micah's progress. Fingers-crossed, she'll agree with Micah's parents that he's doing all he can do and we are, too, and things will have to work themselves out. I simply can't make the kid gain weight. I have no control over that. *For anyone who may be tempted to shame us or give us two cents on your vaccine-autism theories, don't. We are aware that it sounds like a lot, but we've got this covered. We're fine here, thoroughly read-up and satisfied and guarded by fabulous medical professionals on every side. Thanks for the concern.
