Best and Worst Wednesday {The Pulmonology Edition}

You know you have a large family when...

...your children feel sorry for families with only six or seven children.
...people ask if you're competing with the Duggars.
...even your friends aren't sure how many children you have.
...your family no longer fits in a 15 passenger van.
..complete strangers feel welcome to comment on your fertility and contraceptive methods.
...two of your daughters go for a walk...and get asked by a neighbor if they're foster kids.
...you have to carry three health insurance cards in your wallet- because that's how many it takes to fit everyone's name.
...you take the wrong child to the dentist...simply because your handwriting on the calendar was messy and both started with a "j".
...grocery shopping for 30 children and 12 adults for a two day camp constitutes a "small" shopping trip for you.
You find yourself relating some small incident to your husband and starting with the words, "Well, I only boiled twenty-six eggs for breakfast..."
...you buy a 40 pound box of bananas intending to make banana bread and freeze a bunch for smoothies...but your children eat them all first.
...you find an afternoon root canal relaxing.
...it takes you twenty-three minutes on the phone to schedule your children's dental appointments.
...you've given up on using your toaster entirely and make all of your toast under the broiler in you oven.
...you are seriously tempted by the stacking cribs you see at Goodwill for $19.99.
...you find yourself thinking, "Wow, the house is so quiet and peaceful with only nine children".
...you have enough children to constitute not one, but TWO large families.
...you have a laundry basket devoted entirely to lonely socks seeking their mate.
...when you got to buy your children those cool "spin toothbrushes" because you think they get their teeth so much cleaner...but the store doesn't carry enough styles/colors for your children to each have a different toothbrush.
...when you can't take all of your children to the doctor's office at the same time because the waiting room has only 10 seats.
...when you still have seven children that are required by law to sit in a carseat or booster seat.
...you call the doctor to get your children tetnus shots, and they tell you they don't have enough in the office and need to order more from the health department.
...you take up more than one entire pew in church.
...you take only half of your children to the library, and STILL get asked if they're all yours.
...you go to fill your children's flouride prescription at the phamacy and you clean them out of every pill they have...and it's still not enough.
...you spend sixty dollars on socks...and not everyone gets new socks.
...you go shopping at Costco and the cashier asks if you're having a soccer barbecue.

November 23, 2011

Chuck (40) and Apollo (16 months)

Best part of our visit to see the pulmonologist at Seattle Children's Hospital?

The doctor is ordering a bronchoscopy!

After six months of relfux medicine his stridor is cleared up (except for when he eats solid food), his voice is back to normal (so presumably his voice box and esophogus have been healed of the damage the relfuxed caused). And he said the bronchoscopy needs be done "sooner rather than later" but isn't an emergency.

Worst part?

He still works too hard to breath, retracts even when resting (it was visible while he was just sitting on my lap) and burns too many calories breathing. The doctor once again said his trachea is narrowed and it's equivalent to breathing through a straw.

Best part about Apollo's weight?

He's gained two pounds in the last four months and is back on the growth chart for the first time in 8 months! He is now in the 7th percentile. Last time he saw the pulmonologist he was in the .05 percent.

Worst part?

The thought of continuing the feeding struggles for another week/month/months is daunting. It is a full time job trying to get enough food into him for him not to be hungry. It's even worse trying to get enough food into him for him to grow. The pulmonologist said if it weren't for the high fat diet and our effort, he probably wouldn't be growing. AT. ALL.

Most Ironic part?

The pulmonologist is referring Apollo back to the ENT he saw in May to do the bronchoscopy. He said he could do the bronchoscopy, but he can't do the surgery to fix the problem. The ENT can do the bronchoscopy AND do the surgery to fix the problem. Hopefully this "referring" doesn't add too much time onto the whole process.

Best part about last night?

Apollo was only up once!

Worst part?

It's because he gorged himself on french fries and chicken nuggets on our way home from the hospital. Being confined to his carseat meant he could eat, slowly and had nothing else to do. So he ate for an hour and then slept a five hour stretch before he woke up hungry.

Fries and nuggets are obviously not an option for every night, so we continue to search for some elusive high fat food that he will actually eat before bed.

Feel free to join our Best and Worst Wednesday. No need to focus on pulmonology, any topic will do :) If your post on your blog, please link back to me here so we can all be together. If you don't have a blog, feel free to add your best and worst to the comments.

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Chuck (40) and Apollo (16 months)

Best part of our visit to see the pulmonologist at Seattle Children's Hospital?

The doctor is ordering a bronchoscopy!

Worst part?

Best part about Apollo's weight?

Worst part?

Most Ironic part?

Best part about last night?

Apollo was only up once!

Worst part?

Fries and nuggets are obviously not an option for every night, so we continue to search for some elusive high fat food that he will actually eat before bed.