Henry weighed 12 lbs 2 ozs today. He was 11 lbs 15.5 ozs yesterday. I did some tummy time with Henry yesterday morning. He wasn't thrilled and protested by falling asleep on his stomach on the floor. My mom came over around 11AM yesterday and stayed through the afternoon. I had some data analysis to complete for a meeting with the National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES) team. I had my first conference call with them last week. There's a meeting every Wednesday afternoon. And then we are having another Friday morning. After the meeting Wednesday afternoon, I rushed to school to meet with a job candidate for an assistant professor position in my department. We had a nice chat. Incidentally, she has a sister who had a micropreemie too (a boy who is now 7 and doing well).
My dad came over in the evening to help with Henry. Henry is a particularly good sleeper when his Grandpa is around. See Exhibit C (left).We went for a nice walk this morning. When we got back, I realized that the pulmonologist's office where Henry is supposed to get the Synagis shots never called us on Monday. Jeff and my dad had taken Henry for his appointment last Friday, only to be told that the shots weren't available. They didn't have the courtesy to call us the afternoon before and cancel the appointment. So Jeff and my dad wasted a trip out there (it's about 35 minutes away). They said they'd call Monday. And didn't. I called this morning and got some story about how the insurance company didn't approve of it yet (like they couldn't tell us that before we scheduled the appointment for the shot). I'm a bit peeved because RSV season started at the beginning of the month. By the time everything gets sorted out, it will be mid-month at the earliest. Micropreemies like Henry MUST get this shot. It is a monthly shot. And I'm teaching students who are already coughing and hacking in class around me. Apparently, Schaller Anderson (the insurance) wanted the pulmonologist to send a prescription for the shot, in addition to the standard paper work that every other insurance company in the country uses for the RSV shots (Synagis). I was a bit short with the person at the pulmonologist office because this should have been handled weeks ago. I also asked about the flu shot and if they could get one without Thimerisol. She said that they make one just for kids under four. Can we say "begging the question"? I said, "So it doesn't have Thimerisol in it?" She said, "No, it has it in it." I asked if they could order one without it (which I know is possible), and she said that they wouldn't do it. Lazy. Too much trouble to pick up a phone and place an order.
Then, I talked to Judith from the Blake Foundation. She said that Henry will have a new development case manager through the Division of Developmental Disabilities. DDD is picking up his case because of his "rough start." We meet with the new case manager on 11/19. I asked about the Physical Therapist (PT). She said it will have to be coordinated through DDD. I pointed out that she first mentioned getting an PT a month ago. By the time we see the person at DDD, another month will have passed. Isn't the point of "early intervention" to give kids these services early? She said that they have 45 days to file paper work and that's how long things take. Oh, and we won't be able to see Cuyler the OT until DDD approves. I think that it is fair to say that the early invention system bureaucracy is unimpressive to put it diplomatically (I have a bunch of other terms that describe it better, but they are the kinds of words not really appropriate for this forum).
I think that the term "profession" when it refers to people in medicine should often have quotations around it. Many medical offices don't strike me as professional. It angers me that people don't call back when they say that they will. It bothers me that many medical staff personnel are really, really lazy or downright incompetent. And if one isn't assertive, then bad things can happen to one's kids.
My mom came this afternoon. Mary Beckam from the NICU visited. She's with the NICU's developmental follow-up program. Mary was the nurse who got Henry moved from Pod 2 (loud pod) to Pod 4 (quiet pod). She went through the Denver Development Screening Test for Henry's corrected age with us. It was nice to see his corrected age being used. On the test that Judith gave a few weeks ago, they go by the kids' actual ages, which seems rather dumb to me (but I think that they do it to justify their program, so the kids end up looking worse than they are...which is OK by me...if it helps Henry get the services he needs). Anyway, Mary asked questions appropriate for Henry's corrected age. And he's doing OK so far. I told her that I thought his arms were a little weaker than they should be (not uncommon for preemies). She showed us some positioning techniques for his tummy time, which we hadn't seen before, so that was good. It was nice to see Mary again, and she'll be visiting us again in a month. We like Mary. The word professional can be used without quotation marks for her.
This evening was gorgeous. We ran into Hal and Paul on our walk. They commented on how Henry was looking around more than he was even last week. It's true. He's not just focusing on single objects. He's scanning his surroundings, which is fun to watch. When we got back to the house, we went out to the porch. Jeff had a glass of wine. I had a Vitamin water. And Henry had a nice bottle of breast milk. Henry was turning his head from side to side quite a bit (he must have heard me tell Mary that he rarely turns his head to the left side).
My dad came in the evening to hold his grandson. Henry fell asleep after having a bottle. He's still in his bassinet sound asleep. Once he is up, he's getting a bath.
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