Eighteen

18....the number of days since the last time we have seen "Dr. V." Dr. Sanjeev Vasistha, our pediatrician through ABC Peds, has been awesome. We don't go very long without seeing him, for awhile we were taking Liam in for weekly "ear checks." Between the normal daycare acquired illness, on top of his asthma and terrible ear infections, we are pretty much on a first name basis with everyone in the office. They all know Liam, and he knows them, it's sad when your baby is excited to play in the peds waiting room (but they do have some pretty awesome toys!)  I can remember the moment we decided to pick this doctor during our stay in the NICU. It was one of the nights right before Liam was released, and everything had happened so quickly we were scrambling since the original pediatrician we had picked would not be appropriate given Liam's medical condition. We were looking for a doctor that was part of a large practice with OUTSTANDING experience, with open availability and also affiliated though the Lehigh Valley Hospital... as Liam's prognosis was very unclear at the time. This particular night, we happened to speak with the nursing staff about suggestions, and they kindly paged the on call doctor, Dr. Killian. We were very surprised when Dr. Killian not only came during the night shift to come and have a conversation with us about this very important decision, but we were blown away by the fact that he gave us great information and also shared some very personal stories with us. Dr. Killian explained that the head cooling program was very important to him, I won't share the details, but in so many words he explained he knew EXACTLY what we were going through with our baby. As a mother, I cannot put a price on this conversation. Dr, Killian debriefed Liam's case for us from a doctors point of view, and then also from a parents point of view. As a doctor, he of course could not assure us Liam would be "okay"... but after sharing his experience from a parents point of view, he sure lifted our spirits. He also took the time to find out where we lived, and explained that ABC Peds, a large practice, had just opened up a new site with an excellent doctor right down the road from us. This information was priceless, since most practices affiliated with LVH had locations which were in Allentown, a bit of a drive for a doctor we would need to see so regularly. It is occurrences like these that remind me over and over, that although I will never understand it, everything worked out the way it was supposed to...

Liam took to Dr. V. very naturally, and I couldn't have been happier. Dr. V. had great experience, and I never disagreed with his calls. There was one time in particular that Dr. V. instructed us to take Liam to the ER for "fluids" as he had become dehydrated with his fever and stopped drinking. He called the ER to let them know we were on our way. After checking Liam out, the doctors explained to us that although Liam was on his way to being dehydrated, he wasn't "dry" enough to get an IV - we were sent home even though Liam still wasn't taking fluids. I remember the one doctor saying, "sometimes this happens, and when they get thirsty enough, they will drink." This upset me, I knew Liam was very sick and he wasn't going to start drinking. I KNOW MY SON! Liam waited days after he was born to take a bottle, and once he started nothing could slow him down, I knew something wasn't right ....The following day, Dr. V. found out what happened, and called the chief of the ER and explained he was very upset that his instructions were not followed. This is only one of the many reasons why I will always trust Dr. V.  That very night Liam stopped wetting diapers, and needless to say we ended up in the E.R., Liam needed 2 bags of fluid, and then also ended up getting an IV antibiotic for his ear infection.

I was really hoping that our visits to see Dr. V. would be getting spread out more, I thought we had Liam's asthma and ear infections under control. I guess I should have knocked on wood, because Liam ended up with conjunctivitis. As soon as my husband brought him through the door last night, I knew. I know my son, I don't care what is normal for other babies, eye buggies are not his thing, unless he has pink eye. Of course, as always with babies, its NEVER just pink eye...its always 3 different things at once. Liam went down in his crib before 8pm last night (early for him), after being very fussy, not eating, putting out wet green eye buggies and starting with a fever (only 100.5 at bedtime last night.) Sometime around 10, Liam started crying, and as he cried he became more upset then usual, and started screaming. We found him in his crib holding on, as if for dear life, and then we realized...his right eye was pasted shut. The poor little man was scared because he couldn't see at all out of that eye, it was so sad. Once I was able to wipe the nasty gook away, I could already see the puffiness starting- but little man was thankfully already fast asleep now that all was better with his eye. 

Of course this am, Liam's eye was pasted shut again when I went into check on him, I knew I had to call out of work. I couldn't be more lucky to have the job and manager I have. Family is priority, they have met my little man and fallen in love with him just like everyone else! They never give me trouble about taking off or making time up, they know I don't abuse the privilege and I have shown that I can handle making up the lost time. I was able to get Liam into see Dr. V. at 10:20 this morning. Of course, his temperature was a little elevated, 99.5, Liam's lungs were very congested even after getting his normal medication for asthma, and he had started with a runny nose. Dr. V. called in an eye drop for his pink eye, and I was to double Liam's normal asthma treatment in addition to giving him albuterol every 4-6 hours as needed for his upper respiratory infection. For the runny nose we do saline drops and suction 4 times a day. Dr. V. always makes sure to remind me, "one day it will all be better" ... I usually laugh when he tells me this not only because I am still waiting for "that day" when Liam's immune system can beat these little germs- but also because to me in a different sense everything IS already better....compared to what it could have been! Dr. V. has been great about always getting back to us when I have questions, even calling us himself! (Sometimes he even answers the phone at the office which REALLY throws me off!) I really appreciate this as a nurse, because many doctors I have worked with just relay information through their nurses and would NEVER pick up a ringing phone! Dr. V. "knows" my son, our visits never take long, he always remembers about his medical history (HUGE deal!), he always takes the time to hold him for a few minutes, and today he was explaining to the new nurse when Liam didn't flash one smile... "he is usually a very cheerful baby." These are the things that make me smile...as a mom, I couldn't feel better about the care my baby boy gets after all he has been through. At this point we don't even bother with follow ups, Dr. V. knows we will call if Liam doesn't improve. He did mention that I should call if the fever doesn't break over the weekend, even though Liam's ears look good today he would want to check them next week if the fever persisted, just to make sure.

So we got home, and Liam was very fussy. I put cartoons on and for awhile he just dozed on his plush puppy. He wasn't interested in food, water, or milk... I let him snack on bread, crackers, yogurt, applesauce, etc. I can't blame him after all his poor eye was so red (and then the other eye started- go figure)! I ran upstairs to grab the laundry and when I came downstairs my little man had thrown up all over himself! He hadn't even cried, he was perfectly happy, up walking around and playing. He actually seemed to feel better! I am praying this was a single occurrence, and we are not dealing with a GI bug! After he puked, Liam was tired and went down for a nap, which gave mommy time to blog!

I don't know when, but hopefully one day soon the number 18 will be much, much higher!!! Until then, here's to praying everyone in our house isn't puking at 3 am!

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