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January 7, 2010
End of story
I thought I had talked more about our dealings with Katie's stomach aches, but i can't find any reference to the GI doc, blood work and other labs, abdominal ultrasound or trying to get an appointment with a pediatric urologist. Damn Twitter and FaceBook and it's simple little updates!
This whole saga started with Katie's repeated complaints of stomach aches. To us, to her teachers, even to my dad when she spent time with him last summer. That touched off a flurry of appointments, tests and medication, starting with her pediatrician, and x-ray, and a prescription for a reflux medication. When that didn't work, we were sent to a pediatric gastroenterologist where she was swabbed, had vials of blood drawn, urine and stool samples taken, and eventually fasting ultrasound to look at her GI tract. All but the ultrasound returned (refreshingly) normal results. The US was a little more troubling. I was driving when the doctor called to tell me his concerns, and the notes I jotted on a scrap of paper while sitting at a derelict gas station say "bladder reflux" and "blunting on kidney." (There's also a note follow up after we see the urologist.) I'm not entirely sure what those notes mean (I get reflux, but what is blunting?), but from what he explained it sounded like she was probably fine, but if the abnormality was severe enough it could cause her problems later on in life. Sold! I'll get right on it.
It took a couple weeks to actually get an appointment. There were several calls that weren't returned, and apparently non-emergency cases were getting booked months out. By the end of October, I finally had an appointment scheduled for early January.
I pretty much put the whole thing out of my mind. I didn't really want to waste my worry on a possible maybe, and there wasn't anything I could do about it (whatever "it" was) anyway. By the first of the year, I'd forgotten all the details of this whole saga, and Katie hadn't mentioned a stomach ache in so long, I couldn't remember the last time she brought it up.
Which pretty much made me look like an idiot at yesterday's appointment. I couldn't remember dates or doctor's names, they were asking me questions about urination and bowel movements that I haven't had the answer to since Katie stopped doing them in her pants, and even those memories have faded. The PA asked tons of questions I barely had answers to, then laid Katie down for a quick ultrasound of her bladder, etc. In the middle, the doctor walked in, told me he had seen the previous US, and everything was fine. Just for kicks, he showed me her left kidney, measured the fluid spot, pronounced it no big deal, shook my hand and left. He was nice, answered the few questions I could come up with, came off as an expert and was still out the door in under 10 minutes.
Well, then.
I guess we're done.
Posted by me at January 7, 2010 9:59 PM