Doctors Appointments Coming Up

I thought I would share the upcoming appointments Mason has at the moment.  It is something that changes each month, you just never know what may be added.  I never would have imagined so many appointments for just one child.  This list doesn’t include the well checkups, dental visits, allergist appointments, and eye appointments that crop up with my other 6 children.  I seriously wish there was a 12 passenger van that got better gas mileage – we spend a lot on gas getting to these appointments…LOL.

Orthopedics – This is to check his clubfeet and see how he’s doing with the brace.  I’ll be talking with Dr. K about the next step and if he has any idea how soon we’ll move Mason to just wearing the brace for sleep (12-14 hours instead of 23 per day). 

Orthotist/Protestician – This is to check Mason’s foot brace itself and adjust it.  We’re still trying to get his heel to stay down in the shoes well.  It’s better but not perfect.

Physical Therapy – Right now we’re working on a few things.  Head and neck strength and flexibility is the most important at the moment.  We’re also working with his legs to get them to stretch completely straight.  While 98% of the physical therapy is done by my husband and I, we have a physical therapist come into the home for checkups, ideas, and more help.  She is coming monthly right now, that will increase drastically when he’s older and we’re working on mobility.

Urology – Mason’s first urodynamics study is this month.  The test helps determine how his bladder is functioning and will help us see if he needs any medications to help protect his kidneys.

Ultrasounds – Two are scheduled.  One is a brain ultrasound to check on Mason’s shunt and how his ventricles are doing fluid wise.  The other is a renal ultrasound to check bladder/bowel/kidneys/etc.

Developmental Pediatric Opthomologist – This appointment got scheduled for next month.  We’ll check his vision as I explained in yesterday’s post.

Myelo Clinic – This is the grandmother of all appointments and we’ll spend most of a Friday seeing 10-12 specialists, going over test results, having more physical and occupational therapists advise us, etc.  You can read about his first Myelo clinic here.  He’ll see all those doctors and more this time around.

Regular old pediatrician – Mason still has well-baby checkups and vaccinations.  With the possibility that he could need surgery at a moments notice in case of shunt failure we are trying to keep his vaccines current and on time, in an effort to avoid compounding things with some of those nasty illnesses.

Life’s never boring around here!