"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Good News and Bad News

The good news is Connie can no longer be called "four eyes." He was cleared from wearing glasses today. The eye doctor said that he is right on the borderline of needing them and he told Greg that if you asked twenty-five doctors, half would say he should wear them and half would say don't worry about it. He is not cross-eyed. He is not bumping into things. These are symptoms he told Greg to look for as reasons to come back in for a check-up. Otherwise, they'll wait to check him again until next June! I knew it. God is correcting his vision and we are so thankful.

The bad news is that he is still quite fussy. He was high maintenance all day and didn't even enjoy PT the way he usually does. Ms. Deb even noted that his endurance was down some from his normal level. He seems quite tired (hmmm. Could that be because he was up from 12am on?) and yet is having trouble sleeping. He had two more bouts of diarrhea today but his appetite did pick up some.

The other bad news is that we're still in limbo with the vaccine for RSV, Synagis. I got two calls tonight from our home health care company that sends the nurse to administer the injections asking me to get involved with the insurance company. They said that while they hate to have to do it, sometimes getting the parents to join the fight is the only way to get an answer from them in a more timely fashion. They have tried pleading with Cigna all about how he is a high risk kiddo and needs his dose and to please put a rush on the review, but it is going nowhere. So tomorrow, I'll be calling Cigna back yet again. I almost have the 800 number memorized I've had to call it so much already this fall! I will say this much; their automated phone system is much more user-friendly than Anthem's.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Another Bug

Connie woke up in the wee hours of the morning today absolutely on fire. I have never felt him so hot. The reading on the thermometer that I took under his arm was 102.22. His face and arms were bright red and you could feel the heat through his pajamas. He shows no other symptoms other than poor appetite and fussiness. I called the pediatrician's exchange and the nurses from Children's said that unless he was having high fevers for more than 72 hours or unless it reached 105, then he was probably just fighting some sort of virus. I think we found out tonight what sort of virus it is. He had a VERY loose stool so there must be something enteral going on. That and I think his throat must be sore because yogurt and milk or water are just about the only things we have been able to get in him. Today his eyes were starting to do that sunken in thing but they said as long as he has one wet diaper every 12 hours he's not dehydrated. For now we're just treating him with tylenol. His fever did break after about two hours last night because he woke up again in a pool of sweat. After some clean sheets and snuggling with Mommy (he was mad at Daddy for taking his temp again) he went back to sleep until 5:45. Man, this daylight savings thing is killing us with their early risings. I'm up anyway getting ready for work. But the getting ready for work is much harder when they are awake! He didn't have a fever all day today. I gave him some more tylenol before bed since fevers tend to come back in the evening.

He's been approved for Synagis and was supposed to get his November shots on Monday, but all of a sudden the insurance company is questioning whether they'll cover the home health care nurse to actually give the shot. This is getting so ridiculous. Ever since we switched to Cigna (their premium plan, mind you), we've had nothing but headaches with insurance. First they wouldn't cover his new dose of Enalapril b/c they said he shouldn't need that much. Then they wouldn't cover Mary Kathleen's last dermatology appointment. Then the trouble with getting the Synagis vaccine for RSV and the latest today was a bill from the ped for his last two appointments and the follow up on Mookie's ears for a total of $750 that they refused to pay! I've gotten it all worked out, it is just really time consuming and frustrating to get bills for every single medical thing we've had the last two months.

Connie is going to the eye doctor tomorrow morning to try and figure out why he won't wear glasses anymore. I think it is because God has healed his eyesight and he can't see anymore looking through the lenses. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's not a comfort thing b/c we had the glasses adjusted again at the optometrist and they fit well.

Today we heard lots and lots of talking. Now that he's gotten this gross motor thing down I think he's really going to take off with speech. He's been calling, "Beeeellle" (our dog) and whenever the phone rings he says, "Heh oh" and then when he plays with the phone he says, "Haaaah" and "Baaah". He's pretty mad that we've packed up half the toys and there is virtually nothing left upstairs to play with. We haven't been playing much downstairs either b/c Greg is still painting the shelves that line the back wall. We've put our house on the market (bad time, we know). It is a good time to buy though and we've got our eye on a bigger house that's at a great price. We don't have to move, we'd just like to take advantage of the opportunity to get a lot more house for not a lot more money. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we try to keep the house in "show" condition (not likely) with a dog and two small children. I'm worried about getting a call to leave when Connie's just gone down for a nap and all of the other inconveniences that go along with selling and buying a house.

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to update tomorrow after his eye appointment and PT appointment. Sooner if anything further develops with this fever situation.