A trip to the paediatrician

Yesterday,  Jack and I were at our local hospital as he had a paediatric appointment.  When I picked him up from school he was threatening a seizure but he waited til we arrived at the entrance to the hospital to take one.

I quickly dealt with it but he was quite sleepy after.  We didn't have long to wait before we were seen.  It wasn't our usual doctor as he retired but I did know this doctor so it wasn't too bad. He asked about the curve in Jack's back, asking did I think it had gotten worse.  It doesn't seem any worse to me but then he showed me the x rays from 2 years ago and I was quite shocked to be honest.

Jack's spine twists one way, straightens for a bit, then twists the other way.  Most unusual apparently but that didn't surprise me in the least as with Jack, nothing is ever straight forward. The doc then showed me a front view of the top half of his spine, taken about 6 months ago, when he had a chest infection and they were looking at his lungs.  It just looked just as horrible from the front.  He suggested that Jack get a x ray of his spine at our next appointment in 6 months time to just see if things are actually worse.

source

He also referred us to another doc to discuss the results of Jack's HP test as it wasn't his particular area of speciality.  Jack is on meds for reflux but he doesn't really have a lot of it.  What he does have is reflux, brought on by a seizure and he then ends up swallowing half of what he brings up thereby aspirating it into his lungs. It's a constant battle to keep his lungs clear and not easy to do either as he fights me if I use the breathing mask.  Who needs to go to the gym when Jackyboy is around!  In fact, I do often wonder why I am not remotely thin!!!! 

I took the opportunity whilst there to show him the infection around Jack's peg site.  It's pretty red and raw and no amount of sudocrem is shifting it. Turns out it's a fungal infection so he wrote out a prescription for me.  While he was doing that, he was leaning on some hospital notes.  The physiotherapist, Liz, who was also there commented that "they were all Jack's notes".  I couldn't believe it cos there was a hell of a lot of them.  I said "I wish I could get a photo of that" and she replied "why not? You got your camera?".  "Yes, I do actually" I replied, causing her to laugh.  So I whisked it out and took this picture.

Jack's medical notes

The nurse even gave me a tape measure and his notes are 8 inches high!!!!!  Thirteen years worth. Nearly.

That would take some amount of reading don't you think? I was a bit blown away by the scale of them!

The doc made us laugh when he commented that "most women would tell you Jack, that 8 inches is good!" When it was time to go, the physio, Liz, gave me a big hug cos I had just mentioned that her referral for Jack to attend the hospice, had been accepted. She is such a lovely lady.

You don't normally gets hugs on the NHS!!!