Keeps the doctor away? Yes, I very much do wish. For healthy people, we sure have a lot of doctor appointments. Seriously, I am soooo sick of them, and they don't seem to be letting up anytime soon. In fact, I predict the situation will become worse.
Reason #1 for dr. appointments- pregnancy. Ok, this one I saw coming. I still hate having to go into the dr every week, be weighed, measured and pee in a cup, and then wait for the dr to tell me that everything looks great and I can go home. However, I do it, one because I know it means I only have a few more weeks lefts and two, because in the slight chance that something does go wrong, I'd like to know.
Reason #2- Kennady's stupid diaper rash. If you can even call it that, because she's been completely diaper free for almost a month now. We are now at the point where it's probably localized eczema or something. Who knows. Maybe the pediatric dermatologist, who we will be seeing a month from now. Apparently it's a highly sought after specialty. Until then Kennady will just scratch her bum until it bleeds.
Reason #3- When we got Kennady's rash looked at, we found out she had another UTI. Uhg. Yes, it's so fun to get a urine sample from a 2 year old. So our dr recommended a renal ultrasound and VCUG. It didn't sound like a big deal to me, ultrasounds are easy peasy. I was told the VCUG involved a catheter. Not fun. But I also thought that catheters in little kids were needles they stuck into their bladders. Apparently, not for this test. And they don't use sedation, and it requires 30-45 minutes of X-raying, while the catheter is in and they have to pee on a table. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like about the most traumatizing thing you can do to a recently potty trained toddler. Heck, that sounds traumatizing for an adult. I'm 100% positive that I do not want to start over at square one, again, potty training this kid. Oh, and by the way, I can't be in the room when they do it because I'm pregnant. Mixed feelings about that, because I'm not sure I could handle it anyways.
If the test finds reflux, where urine backs up into the kidneys, they don't do anything about it, except put the kid on low-dose antibiotics forever, or until they outgrow it. Which means more VCUGs in the future. Not sure I like the idea, and the effectiveness of the antibiotics preventing UTIs, which may or may not scar the kidneys, is in question. Every thing I find about the VCUG say the pros outweigh the cons, but none of the pro/con lists take into account how traumatizing it is for a toddler. It seems a bit overkill to me, but, what do I know, I'm just a mom.
Yeah, I learned all this via the internet. (And, no, not Wikipedia, I'm pretty proficient in valid internet research and try to stick to the medical journals... but if you want to cry as a mother (ok, maybe only if you are pregnant) then Google VCUGs on toddlers and read some of the mothers' accounts of the experience). I think I'm looking for a new pediatrician.
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