Children's Hospital

I just realized this morning when I went to update the blog about Landon that I never posted after our "adventure" on Friday afternoon at Children's Hospital. I put some photos and some info up on Facebook, but forgot about the blog. So here goes....

On Friday afternoon we (Shannon, Landon and I) headed down to Children's Hospital in Dallas so that Landon could be seen in their infectious disease clinic. Landon's pediatrician was hoping they might have some answers to this periodic fever syndrome. Our appointment was at 2:00, and the hospital is about 45 minutes away (without Dallas traffic). So we knew this was going to be a time consuming trip. Well, we had no idea that we wouldn't leave the hospital until 5:40. We were there almost 4 hours. What an afternoon. There was a lot of waiting, but believe it or not we were actually meeting with doctors and such for a lot of that time. They gave us a lot of attention - it was nice.

Landon saw 2 different doctors; since Children's is a teaching hospital this happens quite often. We liked both of the doctors we saw, but it was clear who was the 1st year fellows doctor and which one was more experienced. But they both did a great job and we were glad to get two different perspectives and get double checked and double checked again.

Just getting to the clinic was a feat. This place is HUGE!! We had to park in a parking garage, take an elevator to one of the sky bridges, connect to another sky bridge (which by the way has a Starbucks in it!!! - yes, we stopped.) and then to the Bright Building. We had to walk the whole length of this building to get to the elevator and then once we got to our floor we had to walk the whole distance again to get to the ID clinic. The lobby was pretty full of kids and parents waiting for the doctors. I felt kinda bad, but I wouldn't let Landon play with any of the toys or books in the waiting area. It's the infectious disease center.... plus, he had a whole back pack full of his own toys and books. I came prepared!

Once we were put in an exam room we had to do some waiting for a bit until the first doctor came in. He was a nice guy and asked a TON of questions. He had studied Landon's chart that had been faxed over from his pediatrician's office and then looked over the notes I had brought about dates, illnesses, and anything else I could think of. He examined Landon from head to toe (literally!). He listened to everything and pushed on his belly and abdomen. He looked him over pretty well.

Landon is checking out his "bracelet" while he waits.

After he left a second doctor came in, stating she had spoken with the first doctor, reviewed his notes and then she started from the top, reciting everything we had just told the first doctor, asking for corrections or additions as we felt they were needed. Again, TONS of questions, family history, family genealogy, all about out travels, our pets, our eating habits. They covered everything, from my pregnancy, to the birth, to current days. Then this doctor decided that labs were to be taken. She ordered Landon a throat swab and a nose swab (you'll remember Landon's total dislike of the throat swabs!)

Let me interject to say, that on the way to the hospital, when we were about 10 minutes away, Landon asked where we were going. When we told him we were going to see a doctor that was a friend of Dr. Newton (his pediatrician), he started crying, saying he didn't want a swab. He cried the rest of the way there, upset because he didn't want them to swab his throat. That is how much this kid HATES the swabs!

So, yes, now we have to have a swab of the throat, and now the nose!! So as soon as Landon heard that, he lost it.

This is Landon's reaction to hearing he's going to get a throat swab.

Shannon trying to talk to him about it.

She also ordered some blood work. This was at about 4:00. We've already been here about two hours. The doctors came in, and between the four of us (two doctors, Shannon and myself) we pinned Landon down and one of the doctors managed to get a swab down his throat. It breaks my heart when we have to do this, but I just wish Landon would not fight it so bad, it just makes it harder on him, thus making it harder on us! Then the nose swab - again, not a good thing....just something else for him to HATE later on. They did give him a Popsicle after all that! After the swabbing the doctors left and we waited for a while. This was probably the longest that we waited not hearing from anyone.

Photo by Landon...

At about 4:45 a nurse came in and told us we had to get to the blood lab right away, they were about to close. So we gathered our things that we managed to have strewn all around the room. We were making ourselves at home in this little room. The nurse walked, at a VERY quick pace, down several hallways, two different elevators, and several twists and turns until we made it to the lab at about 4:55. You know they were excited to see us, five minutes before they were to leave! Well, we ended up waiting in this waiting room for about 30 minutes for them to get ready for us. I'm not real sure what the hold up was, since we were the ONLY people in the room!! But they finally called us back and as soon as we walked into the lab and I asked Landon to sit in my lap, he started kicking and screaming. He knew what was about to happen. He started grabbing his arms (or his "elbow pits" as he calls them) and wouldn't let go. We managed to get him in my lap, and I had to cross my leg around his waist to hold him down. Meanwhile, Shannon is holding his body still and his right arm. I am grabbing his left arm and trying to hold it still while the nurse grabs his left wrist to hold it still. She gets the needle in fast and Landon is still kicking and screaming. I'm just trying to hold his arm still so we don't lose the vein and have to stick again like we did last time. Shannon is just talking to Landon and trying to console him. Landon eventually calms down enough that he relaxes a bit. They had to draw blood for over 2 minutes. That's a REALLY long time. They filled up 9 vials of blood. I was shocked at how much they had to take. After they were done, it was finally time for us to leave. We had to get directions on how to get back to the parking garage because we had no idea where we were at the time. They pointed us in the right direction and we headed home. Now we are in Friday afternoon traffic in Dallas as Landon sleeps in the back seat. Shannon and I discuss what the doctors had told us and share our thoughts about the long afternoon. It takes us about an hour and 15 minutes to get back to Frisco where we eat dinner at Landon's restaurant of choice, "The Barn" or La Hacienda Ranch. An exhausting afternoon, for everyone.