3 years ago we had our first appointment with Dr. Smith, and while I've lost count along the way, we can certainly say we've been frequent visitors over the years. Luckily, today's visit was a simple wellness exam. What a difference (and a surprise) it was to walk into that office today with my big boy, who was so willing to go along with everything and didn't put up a fuss at all. I was extremely proud of his behavior and maturity today. And a little sad to realize just how big he has gotten...
He stepped on the big boy scale and weighed 33.8 lbs fully dressed. He stood against the wall and was measured at 39" tall. They didn't do a head circumference measurement (I suppose it's not that important anymore?), but he came in at the 75th percentile for both weight and height. "Not too big, not small", as the good doc said.
He peed in a cup for the nurse. Happily. (He's very recently - like, in the past week or so - perfected the male art of peeing while standing. And he even remembers to lift the seat!) He had his blood pressure taken and just calmly waited for the numbers (100/68). (By the way, we have the class "pet" in our care this evening. Her name is Muffy. James decided she needed to sit up on the exam table with him because "She need to see Doctor Smith. 'Cause she have owies in her cheeks.")
Then we stripped him down for the usual full body exam. And all was well. (Though AGAIN, I had to correct Doctor Smith about trying to retract him, AS she was doing so, while I was praising James for being so good and not paying full attention to her. I really shouldn't have had to do that, and it made me pretty angry. She made my boy cry, whether in fear or pain, I don't know. I'm hoping fear over pain. Since we had JUST been teaching him how NOBODY should touch him there and he needs to tell Mama and Daddy if anyone ever does. And I heard about how "Doctor Smith touched my penis and gave me an owie" all the way home. Bad doctor!)
But back to good news. James wasn't due for any vaccinations and he got to avoid the blood draw, since he'd just had it done back in June (due to the Kawasaki's), and apparently they only require blood counts every other year. Unfortunately though, we discovered that his left ear is infected. Both ears have lost their tubes (as we already knew), and the left is completely gone, while the right is just sitting there waiting to fall out. It's not a bad infection (we caught it early), but infected none the less, so big boy is on a round of antibiotics. Poor buddy. Maybe that's why he's been waking at night (a VERY unusual event for him) for the past few nights. He never mentioned that his ear hurt, and since he hasn't had a cold or fever or any other symptom, we had no idea. Sure hope it heals quickly - we have big plans for a new adventure this weekend!
2 comments:
Oh that makes me nervous...since we're planning on leaving everything as is. Oh boy. I find myself saying that a lot these days.
I love Doctor Smith and think she's an excellent physician (she has treated James and Cora very well, especially through the scarier things of Kawasaki Disease and Cora's unknown infection at 7-weeks-old, where they were each hospitalized), but she's definitely an "old school" doctor. She's intelligent, she has a great bedside manner, and keeps current with the literature. But doesn't follow all of it. She's not "crunchy", that's for sure. She believes in CIO and not cosleeping and only breastfeeding through the first year. And retracting, apparently. Just do you own research, make your own decisions about what is right for your family, and be sure you tell her up front what you will and will not be doing with Seamus. I told Jay that if James gets an infection due to her messing with him, we WILL be finding a new pediatrician. She told me she didn't hurt him, but then she also told me that if he had pain while urinating over the next day or so, to use some vaseline. Um... if what she did wasn't suppose to cause pain, then WHY would he have pain while urinating? And then he DID have pain, for two potty trips after his doctor appointment. Insert ANGRY mama. Grrr!
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