Endoscopy

Before his surgery, holding tight to a dog that Aunt Millie gave him at Easter.

We arrived at Molly's house at 9:30 last night. It took us 2.5 hours to drive there. Ian watched silly songs for the first 30 minutes and then slept the rest of the way.
He woke up when I laid him in the pack and play, but he only cried for a couple of minutes. He slept really well, even when Molly's 8 month old was crying at 3am. Although their guest bed was really comfortable, I didn't get much sleep. I woke Ian up at 5:45 so I could change his diaper prior to our departure. Our trip to the surgery center was 45 minutes long. We arrived at 6:45, he was taken to the OR at 7:30, the doctor gave me a report (complete with pictures) at 7:50, and we were on our way back home by 9:35. The doctor said everything looked normal, and he'll call us with the biopsy results next week. Ian woke up in a more agitated mood than he did in October, but he calmed down once they let me give him some milk. He slept the first 2 hours of our trip home. I think he would have continued to sleep, but my car needed gas. Since he woke up, I took him in to change his diaper and to buy him some more milk and myself a Subway sub for lunch. We picked Nadia up at Sarah's house at 12:30pm. She enjoyed spending the morning there.

The anesthesiologist said she had a hard time getting a catheter through his nose. She also noted that he is a mouth breather. She said that his difficulty breathing through his nose could be causing part of his swallowing and feeding issues. The allergist had said the same thing to me (also in light of his enlarged tonsils). The doctor today said that we need to see an ENT ASAP. She said if we couldn't get an appointment for sometime this month, to call her and she would personally get us an appt. The reason she wants it done ASAP is because if she's right and Ian needs nose surgery, she thinks they could operate on his nose at the same time as his urological surgery (June 6). I feel like every time we go to one doctor we end up with a referral to see another specialist. It's starting to feel never ending.

I thought I was only making one trip to Philly this month, but I'll be making another one on the 31st. I never dreamed each doctor appointment would involve 6 hours of driving. One consolation is that CHOP has an excellent reputation. In the first 5 months of 2011 Ian will have seen a pediatrician, psychologist, urologist, dietician, speech therapist, occupational therapist, allergist, radiologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, anesthesiologist, and otolaryngologist. Thankfully Nadia and Paul haven't had any doctor appts yet this year, and I've only had one. Ian has enough for all of us!