catching up our Ped

Rhys has an appointment with his pediatrician last week. We haven't seen her in months, but she is back from maternity leave. She's been off for a good 6 months, I think, so I expected her to have her baby in early summer or something. But I found out that her daughter was born Sept 22nd! Her baby is only two months and she's back at work? Wow. (just so you know, in Canada, new mothers are entitled to a year off on paid maternity leave, based upon their position and hours worked previously. When I worked as a retail manager of Claire's before Abi was born, I was able to take the year off with 20% of my salary. It was nice. I'm sure some positions are different. but this is standard in Canada. I love that about here.)  I was wondering if she likes working that much, but my husband pointed out that it isn't easy to find another doctor to cover as locum. Which is true. Each visit we had was with a new doctor. But she managed to get those months covered, so I"m surprised that she didn't take more time off after her birth than before. But I guess that could be the way things worked out. Still, it kind of sucks to have to head back to work so soon after your baby has been born.

The appointment went well. I let her know about Rhys being in preschool, and we updated on his last appointment and with the dietician (who closed their file on him, woohoo!). I told her that R's teacher & I filled out ASQs for him and how she tried to get Langley CDC Support for us, but they suggested Sunnyhill, so our family doctor was putting in a referral for us there. (I brought the quizzes in with us, but she didn't look at them. Just noted the results as I told her.)

Dr T is doing a follow up on his iron levels (wee...what fun that will be!...likely for the dietician)  but said there isn't anything else to go over, so we don't need to see her again for six months!!! Woohoo!!!

Six months! That is great news!

But I wonder if I should be happy with that or not. Should I feel let down that she isn't "doing more" for him? But, really, I do think things are at an end for her. She has come to the end of her abilities; he's gained weight, he's doing well, things are in place for future needs, so what else is there? So I feel good about this.

Except during his physical check up, the student doctor who was in as well said that Rhys' heart sounded "loud" and "hard" and a few other medical words. Dr T listened to his chest and asked if it was a "thrum" she heard or the ...... (insert medical term here. I did recognize the term 'murmur" though, something he had as an infant) Then she said that if the student doctor heard something, then she should order a test! So Rhys gets to have a "10 Lead ECG". I don't know what she heard and I'm wishing I had asked now, but I'm not worried. I'm curious though. He's had a few ECGs before. What could possibly be different?

Oh! And guess what? He endured a chest cold in November that didn't get worse! I was so worried! He picked up a cough that hung in his chest just over the long weekend, just like last year! But he didn't spike a fever and he didn't get worse. So he didn't end up back at LMH with pneumonia (or something like it) What a relief! His cough lasted for about 10 days then went away! Hooray! And when he was coughing a bit during the appointment, neither Dr T, nor the student doctor, mentioned hearing anything in his lungs, so that was good as well. (but I also didn't ask)

So this is the on-going saga that is Rhys. He is fun and silly and very much a four year old (except that he is five and a half) Dr T told me that she didn't think that they'd be able to tell me at SunnyHill if Rhys will ever be able to catch up with his peers. And I find that disappointing. I would hope they'd be able to determine where he sits with his delayment and could venture an educated guess to the future. (even if it turns out false, like "he'll never walk again" and two years later is running in a marathon!)

Miss Harmony told me that the gap gets bigger the older they get. In delayment, in special needs, etc.  And that makes me sad. He is such a sweet boy and I hate the idea of his heart being broken because he isn't being included.