Update and a Sandbox

Health Update:

I'll do this chronologically since that will probably help me ramble less.  You'll notice that the appointments are every other day, and that's because we go to school 2 days a week.  And since all the appointments started 4-22-09, we've been going to a doctor every non-school day for 2 weeks.  Can we say exhausted!!

Monday (4-27) - We visited the allergist, Dr. Fitzgerald, for allergy testing.  After making Lukas completely mad and uncomfortable we found he has no allergies.  Lukas was scheduled for a CT scan Wednesday to re-scan the sinuses, and compare to a scan he had done back in January.  She is also treating him for acid reflux because of his recurring (although I think it just one huge one that's never cleared out comepletely) sinus infections and bad asthma.  This treatment is a "treat it and see if it works" treatment since there is no reliable way to test for reflux.  She also ordered a blood immunity panel to be drawn.  She told us these usually come back normal, but "just in case" better to test it anyway.  We haven't done this yet since it's at a blood center because we just haven't had time.

Wednesday (4-29) - Lukas had a CT scan which confirmed that the huge sinus infection that was scanned back in January had gotten worse not better.  This was I think the most surprising news because this was the entire reason we had the adenoids taken out.  So, he apparently falls in that small percent that an adenoidectomy doesn't fix the problem.  He was then put on antibiotic for 30 days and told to see the ENT again.

Friday (5-1) - Lukas was screened for diabetes, which just means they did the quick test in the office to check his sugar level rather than the full tolerance test.  He does not have diabetes.  This was the expected result, but at this point we're not really ruling anything out.  We also did a general follow-up with our pediatrician's office so everyone was on the same page as far as what we'd done and where we were going.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you need a good pediatrician Dr. Debra Naylor at 18 and Under MD is fantastic.  There is one other doctor and a nurse practictioner on staff in addition to herself, and they are all wonderful.  They have been Lukas' advocates (and mine) without fail.  And as many times as I've been in (several of the questioning my own sanity) they've always answered questions and worked to find the answer (even when that meant sending us to another doctor) to his problems.  Ok, minor sidetrack.  This is not a "all hail Dr. Naylor" post, so back to the information.

Monday (5-4) - We visit the ENT, Dr. Murray, to revisit this huge sinus infection, and find out what to do next.  He showed us the CT scans, and in the parts that were supposed to be black (which was actually a fairly large section) there was no black at all.  So, needless to say Lukas' sinus infection is massive.  He extended Lukas' antibiotic from 30 days to 6 weeks, so we can say we gave him as much of a chance to get better as possible.  At the end of 6 weeks Lukas will have another CT scan to determine what to do next.  If the CT scan looks similar to the previous ones, then he will have sinus surgery because at that point it will be obvious that the infection will not clear on it's own without help.  If his scan is clear then we play the waiting game to see what he does.  If he continues to get sinus infections (especially if they are over the summer) then it will probably be sinus surgery.  I don't remember any other options being mentioned.

The number of breathing treatments we've had to give him has decreased, so thankfully whatever had hold of him has loosened it's grip.  :)  We see a new pulmonologist on 5-22-09.  

Sandbox: 

On another note, Lukas got into his sandbox the other day for the first time.  Here are some pictures of him playing, although after I took these he decided to really immerse himself in the sand experience.