YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!

Yesterday we had another post-op appointment with Aiden's plastic surgeon, Dr. Martin. This is at least his 4th or 5th post-op appointment since his surgery 10 months ago. I wasn't really sure that we NEEDED to go but decided it would be a good opportunity to ask him about the tooth that I feel has grown out in the lip tissue. We had him prescreened by the school of dentistry and they had scheduled him for a full exam at the end of this month to discuss the treatment for the entrapped tooth. I wasn't super comfortable talking to someone new and really wanted Dr. Martin's opinion since they would be cutting into his work that had been done on Aiden during his Oct 1st surgery.

When we got to the waiting room for his 3:30 appointment I knew we were in for a wait due to the sheer number of people in the room. I overheard one of the receptionists tell a patient (who had a 2:00 appointment) that it would be about 30 minutes more before she would be seen. This prompted me to ask my receptionist how far behind Dr. Martin was seeing his patients. She called back there and then gave me the answer that he was "slightly behind schedule." HMMM..... slightly behind? 2 1/2 hours behind?? Which is it??

Aiden and Daddy-O waited patiently while I was sent over to the registration office to verify our insurance and then back to the check-in line. The run around had begun already.

Once he was all checked in we start to take turns running around after little guy. He had lots of energy and did not want to sit around waiting for the nurse to call him. He made several laps around the lobby, checked out the elevators, said hello and thank you to everyone in the waiting room, banged his head on every glass panel, attempted to open every office door, banged his fists on every empty chair, convinced another little kid to hand over his cookie for him to eat, and created havoc with every potted plant along the way. All that work makes a little man thirsty.

And all that waiting makes for a grouchy man too. Can you blame the guy?

We were FINALLY called back to a room at 6:30!!!! 3+ hours later!! This was even after a few patients got up and walked out because they were tired of waiting. We thought about doing the same thing but had already invested so much time that we hated to walk away.

Once in the room Aiden had to explore his surroundings. First he had to check out the handsome little guy in the mirror.

Then he had to figure out how the table worked.

Followed by a discovery of the noisy table paper. That stuff is heaven to a bored and crazy 17 month old.

Discovering the doctor's ROLLING chair provided entertainment for a few more minutes.

But in all honesty, he was just done and wanted to go home!

Time to bust out the blanket before he had a total meltdown. By this point we had fed him every last reserve of food in the diaper bag, had two stinky diapers, and gone through two sippy cups of liquid.

We could finally hear Dr. Martin coming so we placed him on the table and got ready for a lightening fast appointment after a 3 1/2 hour wait.Dr. Martin came in super apologetic for the long wait, the longest wait in his entire career. He had gotten called in on a lot of trauma cases that morning that just set his entire schedule into chaos. He asked Aiden how he was doing and the response elicited a laugh from all three adults in the room. Aiden said, "I wanna go bye bye." in the cutest baby talk that even Dr. Martin chuckled and asked if he had heard him correctly. He replied with, "I don't blame you little buddy, I wanna go home too." He checked out Aiden's mouth and then we discussed our concerns.

As far as the tooth goes: he doesn't want to do anything to it now but wants to monitor it every two months until it breaks through. Great, more appointments, more co-pays, and worst of all more waiting. If it does not break through then he would have to sedate Aiden and make a small incision to help the tooth come through. He said the odds of that being the course of treatment is very small and our last resort. He does not feel like we need to go to the dental appointment since they should really only be seeing him for cleanings. Here is to hoping that that tooth decides to make it's entrance soon so we can avoid more appointments.

As far as the scar goes: he is of course impressed with his work and sees no real issues that will need to be dealt with in the future.

As far as his nose goes: he loves the symmetry and says we are now at the point of the waiting game to see how it grows along with his face in the next 3-4 years.

So now we wait two months, go back on Oct 6th and hope in the meantime that his tooth breaks through on it's own. Really, that for a 3 1/2 hour wait???

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!

By the time we picked up a quick bite to eat, picked up the kiddos from my best friend's, picked up some itching cream for Andrew (whole other side story), got home, ate, and got ready for bed it was already 8:30. So much for getting back into a school time routine.

****Andrew's itching: Next Monday Andrew will have a scratch allergy test done to see if his allergies have progressed at all and help the doctor determine the right course of treatment for his allergies since his current meds are not keeping him balanced. Due to this upcoming test Andrew had to stop taking his antihystamine so they can get an accurate reading. This has sent him into an itching tail spin, starting with his back, moving to his shoulders, arms and thighs, and then on to hands, feet, eyes and head. He is miserable!!! I have a call into the doctor to see if there is anything topical we can do for him and in the meantime he is spending a lot of time in the bathtub with 2 ounces of baking soda which gives him relief at the time but no long term relief the minute he gets out. Boy is it going to be a long week till his appointment next Monday at 8:30. Any anti-itching suggestions that don't involve antihystamines?