Visiting Dr. Wendy

Let me start off by saying that I love Dr. Wendy.  We could not be blessed with a better pediatrician.  She listens, she knows our family, she genuinely cares about Sadie's welfare, and she gives me hugs at our appointments!!!

When Wendy walked in the room today the first thing I said was, "we have LOTS of good things to tell you!"  Her eyes lit up and she goes, "great, I want to hear ALL of them!"  And I knew she meant it.  Even though she was a half hour late getting to us, I knew it was because she spent this kind of time with all her patients, and I knew she wouldn't make us feel rushed even though we were probably the last appointment before her lunch break.

I told her about Sadie's new sleeping habits, we brought the Happy Chair, so I showed her that, and I proudly showed her Sadie's beautifully healed stoma (her gtube button hole).  It was such a great way to start off our doctor appointment, when so many times before it hasn't been this good.

Then I got down to the two major important things I wanted to talk to her about: the swallow study, and Sadie's eating/calorie intake.

I brought up the swallow study.  She said, "yeah, it looks like they want her to eat little bits throughout the day."  I said, "but she aspirated on the thicker consistency more than the thin one..."  She admitted she hadn't read that part.  I told her about my frustration and how they made me pull Sadie out of her routine and then expected her to act the same as she does at home.  I told her that I was disappointed in how bad the test made Sadie look, because I know she can eat better than that.  Then I said that our feeding therapist recommended another test in 3 months just to establish a history and some kind of baseline, but that I'm a little hesitant to do it again.  Wendy goes, "What is the swallow study helping us accomplish with Sadie?  Is it giving us any important information that is helping us further her development?"  The answer for both of us was no.  She told me she thinks we're at a critical point in Sadie's development and we shouldn't be putting LESS in Sadie's mouth and more in her tube...especially since she WANTS to eat.  I agreed.  We also agreed that since Sadie has never been sick with pneumonia (or really anything) and her lungs are perfectly clear everytime she checks them, she's not worried about what the swallow test says.  She even went so far as to tell me she doesn't care if we ever have another swallow study ever again.  Because Wendy knows that Sadie doesn't test well. On paper my child is a completely different person.

So, then I brought up that Sadie's been getting all her meals orally, except for first thing in the morning. We tube feed her before she wakes up to get her blood sugar up since she's been asleep all night.  I told her I pay attention to her protein amount, and her fluid amount, but I'm a little worried that she's not getting enough calories.  We looked at her weight from today, 27.3 pounds, on the growth chart.  She said she's still right there around the 50th percentile (although she's fallen a TINY bit below it) and that she's not concerned one bit about her weight right now.  We also talked that according to her height she should be in a little higher percentile, but that she's probably predisposed to be tall and skinny seeing as Brian and I are both just that.  I asked her about prescribing a calorie enhancer such as duocal, but she wasn't comfortable with that just because she doesn't know what all the options are out there for things like that and she wanted to make sure if we did get one that we got the right one for our situation.  We concluded on that front that we'll see GI in about 3 months and weight check again and then talk to Dr. Pasternak about that if we/he feel like Sadie could benefit from it.

But then here's the best part...

I told Wendy that since she and GI want Sadie weighed about every 3 months, that I figured I'd alternate between them, so I'd end up seeing each doctor every 6 months or so.  So she goes, "okay, so see Dr. Pasternak in about 3 months and then come back to me in 6 and we'll talk."  I said, "...in 6 months I'm going to be REALLY pregnant..."  She was like, "Oh!  Well, then come back after the baby is born and we won't worry about it too much..."  So, I asked her something I had thought about but hadn't planned on asking..."can we bring our new baby here to this clinic?"  She said for sure we could.  I said, "can the new baby see you or do we have to see a different doctor because you're special needs?" She told me she'd see both our kids and she'd do well checks together!!!

We made a plan that I'd call once the baby was born and make an appointment to weight check Sadie and have the new baby's first check up all at the same time!!  And now I don't have to worry about finding a new pediatrician, having 2 doctors to call/keep track of, etc.  And since Wendy already knows our family and we already love her, it'll work out perfectly!!!

Yay Dr. Wendy!

What about your kids's doctor?  Do you like him/her?  What is it about him/her that you like so much?  Would you recommend him/her to your friends?