Last Joint Appointment

Ian and Nadia had their second joint "well child" doctor appointments today. Last June this happened for Ian's 6 month/ Nadia's 2 year, and today it was for Ian's 18 month/ Nadia's 3 year. For about 2 weeks she's exactly twice as old as he is (18 vs. 36 months old). From now on his well child visits will be in December, so their appointments won't be joint any more. We were there for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Our visit included Nadia's first vision and hearing tests. She didn't seem to understand how to do the hearing test. The nurse wanted her to raise her hand when she heard a beep in one ear. The vision test she did well the first few rows, but I never see her squint so I think it was more about her age than a vision problem as to why she didn't come out as 20/20. It was also her first time having her b/p checked since she was in the NICU. Her b/p was fine. She's 36 inches tall, which I already knew from her visits to Knoebels. Her weight with a shirt, skirt, and bathing suit on was 34 lbs. This put her at the 26th percentile for height and 80th percentile for weight, which naturally gave her a high BMI. I'm going to be more restrictive regarding how many times a week I let her have a treat (ex. a cookie or a pudding or fruit snacks). Last night she surprised me by picking green beans over corn on the cob. Not that she likes green beans. She seems to have forgotten she LOVED corn on the cob the last 2 summers. She just assumes by default that she doesn't like foods that aren't sweets. Sigh.

Ian received 2 immunizations today, and the doctor gave me orders (at my request) for blood work to test him for various allergies. Since we were already at the doctor's office so long today, I decided to take him to the lab at the hospital another day this week when we're headed to the pool. They weighed him with a wet diaper and clothes on, and he weighed a little over 25lbs, which would put him at the 35th percentile. However I'm guessing he's closer to the 25th percentile (where he's been for the past 6 months) if he was weighed with only a dry diaper on. They said he grew 2 inches in the past 3 months and that his head circumference grew 1cm (to 48cm), which puts him at the 54th percentile. His length had been at the 33rd percentile at 12 months and 18th percentile at 15 months. Today he was up to the 36th percentile. It makes me think the length measurement at 15 months probably wasn't totally accurate. Nadia's last immunization was at 18 months, but her first several appointments were at a different clinic. It turns out Ian will have one more at 2 years before he gets a break from getting shots for a few years.

This afternoon the mail carrier brought us three packages - all for Ian. One was his room darkening shade. I hope that helps because I'm not crazy about him waking up at 5:30 every morning. In fact getting up that early for the last few weeks plus all the festivities this past birthday weekend had pooped me out to the point that I went to bed at 8pm last night, right after I put Nadia to bed. Another was his Prevacid (shipped from England). I saw on the paperwork that his GI doctor already gave them a refill. Had I known that, I would have ordered 6 months worth at once because that would have been cheaper than 2 separate orders. However, I am grateful to know that it will be easy to get the refill in 3 months. The third package was the Singulair from Merck. YAHOOOOOOOOOO! They sent (for FREE) 3 month's worth. PTL! He had gone without for one week as we had used all of the free samples the Allergist gave us.

I actually had called Merck this morning and they said it was in the mail. I had the Rx with me and was going to fill it at Walmart today if I didn't get good news from them that it was en route. The Allergist's office called this morning to say that our insurance company has asked them for additional information regarding Ian's need for EleCare. I'm still praying they'll agree to cover it as it costs us at least $200 a month. I also called AstraZeneca to check on the status of our application. They said we were deemed ineligible! I wrote a letter to appeal (as they told me to) as their denial was based on last year's income even though I had submitted documentation from my university that I'm on unpaid leave, and this year we'll make less than half of what we made last year. I faxed the letter today and called in his 3rd refill at Walmart (it's $175 per box). I'm praying we'll start getting some free before I need to get his 4th box. It's frustrating because I started the application process for both meds on the same day. If one had been slower than the other, I wish it had been the other way around as Singulair is MUCH cheaper than Pulmicort. I am grateful though that we have enough Prevacid and Singulair on hand now for 3 months, and I'll be able to get 6 more months of Singulair for free with just a simple phone call. Whew. Hopefully soon I'll be able to say the same about the Pulmicort. I really, really, really, really wish PSU offered Rx drug coverage for their grad students. I'd gladly give up the vision and dental insurance in exhange for Rx drug coverage!!!