Wednesday wasn’t much of a vacation day for Sarah. It started off with an 8:15 am appointment at the orthodontist. She needed to have the wire replaced on her braces, and have one of the brackets reattached. It came off while she was brushing her teeth. And they complain that she doesn’t brush well enough! I help her sometimes, but I think it’s important that she learn to do it for herself. Still, I don’t want her teeth to rot and fall out after we have paid so much to have them all straight and pretty, so I guess I will intervene more often.
Then, right after lunch, we headed over to the pediatrician. While she and Chris were at the zoo, he noticed her breathing really funny;hard, quick short breaths. He said it sounded like she had just run up a super steep hill, but actually, they were only walking on a pretty straight path. He wanted me to call the doctor right away to get her heart checked out. Luckily they were able to fit us in just a few days later, so we weren’t left wondering and worrying for long.
The dr. did an EKG of her heart, and then looked at with the ultrasound machine. The EKG looked pretty normal, but the ultrasound was a bit iffy. At first he thought the hole had gotten smaller, but then when he compared the measurements with those he had taken over a year ago, it was actually slightly larger. Also, he was able to do a rough estimate of how much pressure/blood was passing through the hole, and that also seemed to be increasing. Meaning the muscle around the hole is starting to deteriorate, and that COULD be the beginning of heart failure.
But why I love this doctor is because he is the first one to admit when he isn’t an expert in something. He said he would refer us to a cardiologist who would do another ultrasound, and give us a better diagnosis. I am not freaking out, but it did concern me that his attitude was much different than after the last exam. Then he was confident the hole was still insignificant, and there was no reason to see a specialist. It could still be nothing, but with all the other changes happening in her body, who knows?
Oh yes, and we had them give her a vision test. On Sunday I was in Primary and saw her leaning forward, straining to read the words on the poster for the new song they were learning. Even I, with my blurred vision and dark spot, could see it just fine, and she was really squinting and almost fell out of her chair, leaning over so far.
The doctor looked at the results and said, “Sarah, you are as blind as a mole.” (only in German, of course.) He asked us what the phrase is in English, and I told him it’s “blind as a bat”, which he thought was funny. And then he referred us to an optician, who would do a more thorough exam on her eyes, and give us a prescription for her glasses.
We got home and I called the hospital. We had asked Dr. K. to also remove her cast, but apparently he didn’t have the right equipment to cut it off. They said we could come down right away and they would have time to remove it for us. Great! So back in the car we went, and drove down the hill to the hospital. We sat in the waiting room for sooo long. I mean, I know long waits are common in some hospitals in the States, but the longest I have ever waited here before was 15 minutes.
So after 35 minutes, I went back to reception and informed them we were leaving and would be back when they actually had time for us. I wasn’t rude, just matter of fact. She very kindly called back to see how long it would be still, and they said 15 minutes. I sighed, but knew that Sarah really wanted her cast taken off that day. So we sat back down, and continued to read our books. When we finally got back there I was a bit miffed to see that we had been waiting for another guy to get his cast put on, a much longer process. But the kicker was, he had been in the waiting room when we first arrived, still waiting for his x-rays! Which is done by a different department and personnel. So they totally could have taken the 3 minutes to cut her cast off, and still helped him in a timely manner as well. No other patients went in or out during this time. I know, I was watching.
Then after all that time, the nurse wanted us to wait and have the doctor take a look at her arm again. I said no. They told us to come down, they had time for us, and then they left us sitting out there. We were not staying a minute longer. The cast had already been on for a week longer than they originally said it needed to stay on, so I didn’t think it was irresponsible on my part at all.
We finally got home an hour and 10 minutes after we left, and the hospital is literally 4 minutes from our house. What a crazy, doctor filled day we had. But Sarah was so patient and well behaved the WHOLE time. I gave her lots of compliments and hugs for her behavior, and to reassure her. The plus side was, that we got lots of alone time, just her and I, which doesn’t happen very often. That was very nice. My children are all so unique and different, and I enjoy having the opportunity to experience their individuality truly and fully.
Oh, as an aside, the nurse asked Sarah if she wanted to keep her cast. I was so proud when Sarah said no. The nurse even persisted, saying, “But it’s got so many pretty signature on it!” Sarah still said no. She knew we had pictures of it already, and you don’t need the actual object to remember it. Good girl! Some of Mama’s training is actually getting through.