Thursday, August 14, 2008

Another Appointment

Anna is pissed off. PISSED OFF. And I can't blame her.

She had two appointments this morning. The Ultrasound and Catheter Training. The Ultrasound was scheduled for 10:00. We checked in by 9:45. They did not take us until 10:17. I made the mistake of not bringing her shoes with us. We managed to keep her off of the floor for those 32 minutes.

The ultrasound technician was a man with some type of accent. Russian perhaps. He begins by explaining to us that Anna is going to cry and we should just let her cry because he is not hurting her. OooooKay. I explain TO HIM that between Anna and her two identical sisters (yes, two) we have been through at least ten ultrasounds during the past year. I am an educated person and I realize that he is not going to be hurting her with the ultrasound wand. She's an infant and she's pissed off.

Anna screamed through images of both kidneys (front and back), her bladder and I caught a glimpse of the tube that empties the fluid from her brain into her abdominal cavity. As with all ultrasounds, we were told that the results would be given to her urologist. Of course, she doesn't have an appointment with her urologist until Who Knows When. I would like to know the results now.

After making our way through the mini-city of the hospital, we arrive for Catheter Training. The nurse is paged. It would be too much to ask for her to be WAITING for US. Instead, we wait for more than half an hour. Note to self: walking infants always need shoes when leaving the house. Anna is now walking around the waiting room in her socks and playing with all the germ-ridden toys.

Here's the thing with cathing Anna - Rich and I don't believe it is necessary but if a urologist with One Of The Best Hospitals In The Country says that we need to, we will. For now. The purpose of cathing a baby is to drain all the urine from her bladder so that it does not cause an infection. As far as I know, the only basis for believing that she isn't emptying her bladder are the results of the Urotorture Study done back in May. We were told then that it appeared that she may not be fully emptying her bladder but that also could have been because of the unusual circumstances of the study. She was laying down. She was pissed off. She had a catheter in her.

We survived Catheter Training but Anna is pissed off at all medical professionals now. And we've run into a little snafu with cathing her. The nurse classified Anna as "very active." She has full control and movement of her legs. She can walk. Most infants and toddlers with Spina Bifida do not and can not. The snafu? It is impossible for one person alone to cath her and maintain a sterile environment.

So as it stands right now, we are going to be cathing her approximately three or four times a day. The nurse will need to request the services of a visiting nurse from our insurance company to assist Grammy when she is alone watching the girls. Between the three of us, we have decided to keep a log so that we can have discussions regarding our detailed observations. We suspect that we will never catch much urine when we cath her.

Guess what happened when the nurse cathed Anna? Hardly any urine drained into the bag. Told you so.

And I'm considering throwing those socks away. Hospital waiting room floors. Oh, YUCK.

3 comments:

Danielle said...

Hi Sarah,

Just wanted to de-lurk, and tell you what a fantastic blog you have here!

I live over in Australia, and every morning, I check my email, and come over here to check your blog. Your great sense of humour, together with your fantastic style of writing, and gorgeous girls continously keeps me coming back!

I just wanted to tell you your girls are absolutely beautiful.... and not just the "cute" factor of three identical little girls; each one on their own is just a doll!

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for sharing your family's journey with me, and hope you continue to do so! I am sure you never thought you could touch someone on the other side of the world, but that is what you have done!

Thanks again,

Danielle.

Sarah said...

Thank you so much, Danielle, for the great comment. It made my day.

Are you from Brisbane? I've noticed that location on the LiveFeed.

My husband visited Australia a VERY long time ago. He really enjoyed it - said it was a beautiful country and that people are very friendly.

Danielle said...

We are about an hour from Brisbane, on the Gold Coast, so yes, that would be me I would say!

Australia IS a beautiful country, and the people are (on the whole) very friendly. If you and your husband and girls ever plan to come, you have a place to stay! Your girls would have a ball playing with my girls! They seem to have the same adventurous personalities.

I am glad I made your day, cause your great sense of humour so often makes mine!