The season of giving

Posted on December 15, 2010 by wagfarms

We are sitting here in Rochester, xrays yesterday, an appointment or two this morning, more this afternoon. While watching a commercial in our hotel room (Boss Man and George were both snoozing), a thought crossed my mind.

It wasn’t just a thought, though, it’s become an obsession of mine…and I’m wondering what it would take to put it into action.

I was watching a re-run of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on CMT when a commercial came on. It showed a poor kitty with a cast and a forlorn looking puppy, claiming to need your money to have a happy Christmas. And it bugged me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the need for shelters and places that will take care of animals that have nowhere else to go. I fully support each and every person donating time and supplies and funds to local shelters, where they can see their money doing good work.

My issue is with organizations, such as HSUS, who spend a majority of their money on other things, such as lobbying, rather than actual care of animals.

Why is it bugging me?

Here I am, sitting in one of the highest regarded care-centers in the world. I’m trusting them with my 19-month-old son’s future, and the physician (who is respected in her field of practice across the world) looks me in the eye and says, “Your son, he puzzles me. I have no answers.”

And I wonder to myself, how could the funds that HSUS is wasting on high-rises and pension plans change that answer?

I watched the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode. It was about a child with cancer, who makes bracelets to help raise funds for cancer research.

Here, in the middle of the episode, runs a commercial to “help” animals by donating money every month to an organization that does very little to help any true hands-on facility. They want you to look at these poor kitties and poor puppies and feel guilty for spending a holiday warm and comfy, when they don’t have such luxuries. But all it did was make me mad.

Here, during a show that told the story of children that may not see Christmas, that may have to spend their holiday in the confines of a hospital room, they want you to send money to lobbyists? Gives you the warm fuzzies, eh?

We continue our appointments this afternoon, with the next on the list being a neurologist. I don’t know where we will go from here, but I’m almost certain that we will be fortunate enough to leave here in the next day or so. We may not have answers, but we will be home and we will be together for the holiday.

If you must give money to animals, and wish to do so every month, please, consider your local animal shelter. At least you’ll know where your money is going.

And if you feel even more giving, perhaps donate your funds to medical research. Some families are not going to be as lucky as we are. But if enough money is donated, maybe there will be fewer I-don’t-knows and more here’s-our-plans.

That’s my Christmas wish.

Sure is Monday

Posted on December 7, 2010 by wagfarms

Yep, Monday reared her ugly head. Went to have Eli’s pre-appointment blood work drawn, and decided to kill two birds with one stone and take Evan in to have him checked over. (We’ve spent a lot of time on antibiotics lately, 5 days of amoxicillin, 5 days of zithromax.)

The tests came back and Evan has strep. Woohoo! We won the jackpot! Ten days of augmentin! Yippee! If that doesn’t give him a flaming case of antibiotic butt, nothing will. Yogurt, here we come. (Normally meds don’t make you jump for joy, but when you can’t do anything else, you might as well celebrate…right???)

Eli has a double ear infection. No big deal, since he’s not symptomatic, but we’ll have to watch it. (Much like our animals, I don’t give my kids antibiotics for no reason.) But the fluids could be part of the reason that he doesn’t talk. Sooooo…just because it’s Monday, we got to discuss surgery. Not just one, but two! YAY!

If Evan’s meds don’t work this time (or he isn’t successful in the self-tonsil removal), we’re probably looking at having his tonsils removed sooner rather than later. Since the doctors and insurance companies seem to have a thing going, I’m guessing it will be right after the first of the year. But since we never have any problem with meeting our deductible anyway, I figure, the sooner, the better. (And, by the way, I LOVE telling the office that we have no copay for visits…”Sure, go ahead, schedule 14 follow-up appointments, schedule away my dear!”) Just kidding…kinda.

And in 3 months if he happens to check and Eli is having an infection, or fluid build up, in his ears, we will schedule tubes, health permitting. *sigh* poor kid, can’t catch a break. But out of the last 10 times his ears have been checked, 8 times he has had infections, or fluid. He has only passed one out of three tympanograms, so I guess that’s enough proof for me. Plus the doctor hopes that it may be the key to getting his words to come out. And I’d love to hear “Mama” again! (I’ve heard it once, at a Farm Bureau YF&R meeting, of all things!)

Oh, on a positive note, I got to talk to two lovely ladies about the Humane Society of the United States while picking up my wreath from the local crisis center for their fundraiser. I know of one organization that’ll be short some funds this next month! Woohoo! And, donations are now being DIRECTLY given to a local shelter.

See, Mondays aren’t ALL bad…just mostly! 😉

Quiet week

Posted on October 10, 2010 by wagfarms

Sorry about the quiet week. I didn’t intend to be silent this week, but Mommy duties were hot and heavy. I don’t even know how to describe it all…it’s been…trying, to say the least.

To hit the highlights, we’ve been to the doctor 4 times, including an emergency trip to Mayo, which led to a doctor refusing to see us and a return trip home less than 12 hours later. My anger level hit a point so high, that I was tempted to actually physically assault a physician. And I think she could sense it, because she kept trying to talk to me and explain to me, “where they were coming from.” At that point I had to walk away.

So, to back up and retrace my steps, this is how the week went: George was vomitting excessively during the middle of the night, multiple days in a row. ER visits, tests, doctor appointments, etc., etc. No great improvements. New pediatrician decided that an emergency MRI was in order, waited at the hospital, got the all-clear. Two days later got a call back that MRI was not all clear. Need to be at Mayo ER in the morning for admission. Scramble, scramble, scramble. Leave for Rochester at 9 p.m. on Friday, arrive at 3:30 a.m. Saturday. Get to ER about 9 a.m., wait to see doctor, go through exam and told to go home and wait for appointment in two weeks.

Yep, I lost my cool a bit.

Now, to give the doc credit, we have known about George’s “gaps” in his white matter for a little while now. But the new report wasn’t worded the same way…and somehow the pediatrician here and the doctor there miscommunicated, leaving us with a lot of time, hours and money out the window. (By the way, did you know that we’re in the middle of soybean harvest here???)

The official findings read as such (and I will quote directly): “Abnormal white matter signal is identified in the paritrigonal occipital region bilaterally with a more focal 8 mm signal abnormality lateral to the atrium of the right lateral ventricle.” Going on to say: “Impression: Abnormal exam. Concern for dysmyelinating disorder or storage disease.”

There’s a lot of scary big words in there, and the age of internet doesn’t help much.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was relieved that George’s condition didn’t need hospitalization at the time…there’s been many times that that hasn’t been the case. But I didn’t appreciate the doctor’s implication that I didn’t do enough communicating to the physicians at Mayo. I also didn’t appreciate the remark that (and again, I will quote her), “We know there’s something in the brain that’s not supposed to be there, but we don’t know what it is. Since you’re already in the process of testing for it, we can’t do much more now. You have an appointment in a few weeks, we’ll see how things go from there.”

So, here we are, at home…which is a very comforting place to be. Unfortunately, my confidence in medicine, and in myself, has been shaken to the core this week. I balance a fine line the way it is, always wondering what is normal, what isn’t, when do I need to be worried, when are things just normal childhood stuff?

If anyone reading this is a neurologist, or knows of a great pediatric neurology center, or has connections to Mystery Diagnosis, please, drop me a line! 🙂

Hey, on a positive note, Big Bro aced both his spelling tests…ahhhh, a nice dose of normalcy. What a feeling!