Brooklynn's 18 month appointment

Today I took Brooklynn for her 18 month appointment. We met a new pediatrician today! Some of you may not know but we had A LOT of drama with our last doctor's office - long story short - their old doctor left (like went to Wisconsin) told me she would follow up on Brooklynn's sleep study, and never knew if she did. Month later, we had no more information on her sleep study than when we started. So, since it took a month to get "we don't know what to tell you - call the pulmonologist office and ask your questions" and "we will refer you to a second opinion if you want but we have no other advice because we can't find her study" I was done.

SO we switched to my sister's doctor's office. And so far, I am very happy. We saw Dr. G. I told the office to give us some extra time as her history is pretty complex...and the doctor spent probably 30+ minutes going over her history, looking through her medical record, and examining her. She was 29 pounds, 33 inches long, and her head size was 21 3/4 inches (1/2 and inch more and her head size will be unplottable on the growth chart!) She could hear a murmur (which was to be expected), and said that she looks pretty good health wise.

I brought up my concerns about the sleep study and the interpretation. Pretty much, she agreed with me that she felt the apneas we discounted (her biggest concern was the obstructive sleep apneas, even though there were 2-3 that were listed, her concern was that it might be more than that on another night). She said her tonsils are very large, and she wouldn't be surprised if she had them removed at 2 years of age. She said she was not sure how to interpret the central apneas, but she was a little concerned that she dropped her saturations to the mid to upper 80's and the pulmonologist who interpreted it did not make any comment on that in his impression - just in the study itself. And she was healthy. So she agreed that when she is sick that these might be more significant, and that from one sleep study to the next there could be significant changes.

So her recommendation is to go to another hospital to have another sleep study done. She was a little concerned that the only thing that came of her sleep study based on the interpretation was periodic limb movement disorder. So we will be referred to another hospital and have another study done probably within the month.

It felt nice to have my concerns addressed (FINALLY after 3 months of waiting since the sleep study was completed), and that we are FINALLY going to be doing something about it! She said they really odn't get concerned unless sleep apneas last for 20+ seconds, which makes me feel a little better as well. Her concerns were more for her oxygen saturations and the obstructive apneas.

She said she saw the asthma action plan, and thinks it is okay for now - but is assuming that once winter comes, we will be upping her medications to more than once a day. I also said that I was nervous because both winters of B's life she has been hospitalized with RSV, and she answered that with she should have outgrown that possibility, or let's hope. So that was reassuring...at least a little.

Other than that the doctor summarized Brooklynn's medical history in a sentence "She is the sickest healthy kid I have ever seen". She also said if I have to make appointments for Brooklynn, to just go ahead and request more time - because she will need it.

On a VERY positive note - NO SHOTS!!! So this evening, we have a happy happy child :)