Can we just have a little normal?

So the urodynamics testing today sucked. Bad. It was nearly as bad as his EMG and I was solo. Round 1: The nurses drained his bladder and drained 120 ccs of fluid. They then filled his bladder with saline to see how long it would take him to pee. Meanwhile, he is screaming is head off. It didn't hurt, just uncomfortable. They got it up to 240ccs before they gave up. They said he had high pressures in his bladder. He pooped at the very end...just enough to keep them on their toes. Round 2: Ultra sound of his bladder and kidneys. This went quite well. We end up with the same radiology tech the once every few months we go...I think we're on first name basis now. She remembers Spencer because he is the "short bowel intussesption kid"....he had a intussesption resolve itself on ultrasound once...pretty rare. Our peds thought it was the greatest thing ever...anyhow, Spencer mellowed out and watched some Diego. At least it wasn't Sesame Street. Round 3: This time we were in the xray room. His bladder was filled up with contrast and another catheter was inserted. They filled him up to capacity, 250ccs (super bladder!), and he started to pee in spurts. Then they broke out the warm water. After not doing anything for a few minutes, he caught them off guard and peed like mad all over the side of the xray machine. The doctor and nurse doing the test must really love their jobs....anyhow, his bladder shape is good, and he is voiding all the way, but they suspect he is borderline neurogenic bladder. At this point, we don't know what this means for Spencer. All signs point to him having the tethered spinal cord. I suspect we'll be going into surgery for it...and soon. I'm waiting for urology to get the results and we'll go from there. I'm also paranoid about Spencer's teeth. He has some buildup on a few teeth which is fairly new. Kids with Ohdo have a lot of teeth problems. Hopefully I can get him back in the dentist and soon, so they can assure me I'm just paranoid.

Surgery Sealed with a Kiss

This morning Spencer had his ENT followup...also known as the Snot Doc. For those who don't follow our medical lives too closely, we have more than doctor for each part of his body. We have three ear doctors...an ENT, an otologist, and an audiologist, aka, Snot Doc, Fancy Eye Doc, and Dr Tommy. Anyhow, the last time we went to see Dr Tommy, he told us that Spencer's ear tubes were going out. We followed up with Snot Doc a month ago, who confirmed his ear tubes had bit the dust, and said he had fluid in his ears. She wanted to see us back in a month to make sure he still needed more tubes, since that's the protocol. Keep in mind my child had a submucosal cleft palate, which will cause him sinus and ear issues until the end of time, but whatever...we drove six hours today to humor her. Since the kid has had three ear infections in the past 4 weeks, we knew we were getting new ear tubes added onto his testical surgery next month. She even though our peds idea of permanent ear tubes was a good one. She also added that she wanted to do a superior anoedictomy (I'm butchering the spelling and I'm too lazy to google it). Basically he's having a small portion of his aneoids removed to help him breathe better and it should help his apnea. We have to keep his tonsils and the rest of his aneoids because he has a split uvula (the thingie that hangs down in the back of your throat), because of his cleft palate. While I think his uvula is an awesome addition to his anamolies he's going to show off at a drunken frat party in college, it's pretty useless otherwise. This additional surgery shouldn't cause any pain but it means he'll be in the hospital over night. He is also getting a repeat ABR done while he is under....for those who don't speak deaf, it's a hearing test. Spencer and Jimmy are both sick, which is kind of miserable, but at least I got to call into work and spend some quality time with little man. While waiting for the doctor to come in, I grabbed Spencer out of his stroller because he was getting antsy. He kind of wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a kiss on the cheek...the first time he's done it unprompted. Either that or he snotted me enough for me to think it was a kiss...either way, I'm considering it an offering of gratitude. I asked him if he kissed me and then he licked my face. I think he's just sharing his germs to bring me down. He's already brought down the jimmy, now the mighty has to fall.