Medical Conditions and Investigations

Forgot to mention that, directly after Leelo's EEG, I took him to his pediatrician to get his stinky gooey ear looked at. I figured we might as well go while the boy was already pissed off; no use busting up any potential later good moods (as an ear infection veteran, Leelo is terrfied of otoscopes).

And he did have an ear infection, in the ear that still has a tube in it. The other ear was just fine--so at this point the tube is letting infection in, probably from submerging his head while swimming/bathing. That tube is scheduled to be removed next month.

Good Dr. G, whom I adore, said that because we're trying to avoid antibiotics with Leelo, he'd prescribe ear drops instead. Bless him. That makes 15 antibiotic-free months for our boy.

I then made a last ditch effort to see if we'd be able to salvage our patient/doctor relationship by asking him if we needed to give our newborn a Hepatitis B vaccine at birth since I tested negative for Hep. B in June. (I am heavily researching vaccines at the moment, more on that later.) I told him that I'd thought the vaccine was being administered to newborns because mothers weren't always screened before delivery.

He said, no, actually, if a mother tests positive for Hep. B, then we'd give the infant the vaccine plus a dose of gamma globulin.

I nodded and said "okay," but hung my head to hide my teary eyes. That may very well be our last visit to his office, unless one of the kids gets sick in the next two months. Damn it all. He is such a good doctor, and his office has worked so hard to get us the five thousand referalls Leelo and Iz have needed.

Today I made it to the chiropractor, who saw my vaccine information book and was very excited to talk about it. He is very anti-vaccinations; he told me that he himself has never been vaccinated for anything, and neither has his two-year-old son. Hmm. I'm not totally against vaccinations, but am always interested in hearing peoples' experiences and decisions regarding them.

He was also happy to recommend his son's pediatrician. I'd heard about the pediatrician before, from my friend MB's research. Perhaps I'll interview her after all.

Then I went to my OB. She was entertaining as always, and gave me more information about the tubal ligation. I will be given a general, and will be out for one to three hours. I will see if Seymour can guard the baby from the vaccination squad during that time. The procedure will probably happen the day after the delivery, so no quick escape from the hospital for me. Rats.

My doctor also said that she'd try to sneak in another ultrasound during my next visit (her group has their own machine) to see if we can get this modest baby to give up the goods about his or her genitalia. I know it's silly, and doesn't give any solace to people like MB, Kevin, or Catherine Maurice, but I'd feel somewhat less worried about the autism likelihood if this baby is a girl.

That next visit will be in two weeks, BTW. I really do have preganancy amnesia--I thought I was only supposed to see her monthly until the last few weeks, and then it would be weekly.

Off to the beach tomorrow! Which reminds me, the wax was not so bad. Especially for someone who spent her formative years being ambushed by three brothers yelling "Odd or Even!"