FIVE DOCTORS

In two weeks time, Team Lindsay has seen a general practicioner, a dermatologist, a dentist, a urologist, and a cardiologist... Some visits were planned, some were not.

Our first planned visit was the dermatologist. At 35 and 37 years old, neither of us have ever been to a dermatologist to have all our many spots checked out, so we figured we were well past due. The doc told me that he's never seen someone with so many moles not have a single one that is irregular. Glad to be in the minority on that one, even if he did just call me "moley". He found one suspicious spot on Jay, but pathology cleared the biopsy. We don't have to go back for a year unless something new pops up that worries us. Minds are now at ease.

James has been SO GOOD at school (and at home) since he started kindergarten (not that he wasn't good all summer, but we worried, since he had a rough start last fall when classes changed and grew in size) that we wanted to reward him. He's been wanting a Flash costume (because he's "Fast like Flash!") for many months now. Cora has been good at school too (just not at home...), and her obsession with Elsa is never-ever-ending, especially after getting to wear Addy's Elsa costume while in California, so we tracked down an Elsa nightgown - it's soft and has snowflakes AND a picture of Elsa embroidered on it, so she LOVES it, and it's durable and washable, so WE love it too.

Our first unplanned visit was for Jay to see the on-station doctor here at work to get a spider bite checked out... He was "smoking out" the shed on Saturday (and working in the yard) so that he can do a roof repair (had to clear out the raccoons and other random animals first), and we're guessing a spider fell down from the ceiling during the smoking and bite his inner arm. He said it felt like a bee sting, but he never saw anything. No symptoms. Then he woke up Sunday morning with a raging red rash centered around a black necrosis spot... not good. So Sunday was a "lay around and don't get your heart-rate up so we don't have to go spend $75 on an ER copay" kinda day. Luckily, Benadryl helped the itching a bit and he never got feverish or nauseous or anything else, the rash didn't spread, and there was no sign of infection. Monday morning he went straight in to see the doc at work, and he was picking up a prednisone prescription by lunch. The doc said it looks like a Brown Recluse bite. It's days later now, and Jay is healing from that, but the prednisone has potentially caused some other issues...

I told her that the sun was making her hair glow and she struck a pose and said "No mama, that's just my magic."

Also on Monday, after a 3-month waiting period, Cora finally got in to see a pediatric urologist to discuss her looooong streak of accidents (which had miraculously ended during our trip to California and continued successfully over the past month of our return home, but we sure weren't going to cancel an appointment that took that long to get). I figured they would do an ultrasound, maybe bloodwork, etc., but it was just a simple urinalysis (which we'd already had done multiple times by her pediatrician and our general practitioner over the past 1.5 years to rule out infections) and lots of talking. The urinalysis was clear, as usual. They determined that Cora needs to alter her technique (wide legs vs. legs together) in order to completely empty her bladder, and to prevent "backflow" from going elsewhere, only to trickle out later. They also recommended some dietary changes (no more Sprite or lemonade splurges, no more chocolate or chocolate milk, to name a few - she won't be pleased) and a more strict bathroom routine (as in, taking her religiously every 1-2 hours, which we tried way back when this all started and had zero success with). I suppose we'll just have to see how it goes. If this doesn't solve it (or should I say, if the problem returns, since she's been absolutely AWESOME about not having accidents for the past month), then we'll have to look for other causes (small bladder, loose sphincter, etc.) She goes back for a recheck in 6 weeks.

Next up was the dentist. This was not a stellar visit for Jay and I... Watch out runners - apparently regularly eating Gu and ShotBloks and all the concentrated sugars they contain can wreak some havoc with your teeth. Jay NEVER gets cavities, but since his return to running this spring/summer, he got one. And I received a VERY long lecture from both the hygienist and the dentist about not wearing my night guard, which they made me a year ago to combat teeth grinding (since I had almost half a dozen hairline fractures in my molars at that time). I have zero symptoms of teeth grinding/clenching (no jaw pain) when I'm awake (other than those fractured teeth...), so I figured it was maybe just a fluke at the time (perhaps just stressed about something), since I have never in my life had another dentist tell me that I grind my teeth (and I've seen a LOT of different dentists with all the moving around I've done since college - Dr. Chaney is our newest, we've been there for a year now, and he is by far our favorite - he's the 4th dentist we've seen just since moving to Mississippi). Well, I noticed a couple months ago that I had a sharp spot on an upper left molar (and figured it was one of my old fillings coming out and needing to be replaced), then two weeks ago I felt another sharp spot on the other side of my mouth (and figured it was the same thing). Nope. Apparently I cracked the filling on the left and CRACKED MY TOOTH on the right. Now I'm the 35-year-old that has to go to bed with a mouth guard for her busted teeth and a heating pad for her busted leg and back (for the behind-the-knee soreness I've had for months and can't seem to eliminate, and the off and on sciatic pain I get, especially after running long miles). Needless to say, Jay had to return for his filling the next day, and I go back next week to take care of my two cracks... 

Christina found this pajama top in a bag of hand-me-downs she got for Will and set it aside for James because she knows he's currently obsessed with Skylanders. He was SO HAPPY when I gave it to him! He went on and on about how "VERY nice" it was of "Miss Christina" to find that shirt for him because he loves Skylanders and "Wow, look at all the badges on here!" and "Hey, I don't have THOSE two guys... Mama, can we get more Skylanders guys?!"

After the dentist, Jay had an appointment with his cardiologist that he scheduled as quickly as he could after feeling absolutely terrible during his run Tuesday morning. His heart has been feeling "off" since the Hill Climb, and the prednisone is likely not helping. They did a stress test that he passed with flying colors, followed by an x-ray that came back clear. The next day he had an echocardiogram, but he's still awaiting the results from that. Since he wasn't cleared by his doctor to run, and didn't feel like he should anyway, he's tried to take it easy this week (not that easy to do though when you're coaching two soccer teams!) Please keep your fingers crossed that all is well with him, but that they figure out some cause for his "off" feeling so he can fix it.

  

Somehow, James has escaped the doctor this paycheck, but his time is coming... He gets to go to the dentist with Cora early next month for their semi-annual cleanings. And hopefully won't need any visits anywhere in the meantime, though he has had a cold for the past week... or maybe it's just allergies like Cora and I had for the past two weeks... unless we had colds too, then just passed them to James. In that case, watch out Jay, because you're probably next.