In Which We Go To The Doctor And I Get Used To Juggling More Balls

Ellen had her first appointment with the orthopedic doc today.  It was the same doctor who did Jer's skin graft and the repair of one of the bones in his foot after he got blown up, so that was neat.  And one of the other orthopods, who's a family friend, popped in to say hello too.  Ellen got to learn a few fancy words for various bones in the feet to impress Jer with, and she also got to see x-rays of her spine and legs.  So as far as doctor's appointments go, this was a pretty good one.

Ellen had a double tendon release done a number of years ago and also exercises a lot, and as a result she's relatively flexible and can walk, but does so in what the doctor called crouch gate.  This is very common in people who have cerebral palsy-- especially those who have had her particular surgery.  There's not a lot that can be done for it (and she generally gets around pretty well), but we're going to try some physical therapy to see if we can improve her walking a bit and help her with her balance.  Overall they were pleased with how she's doing though, and told us to come back in six months to a year.  Now we just need to get her in for her follow-up with her primary care manager, and then to an eye doctor and a dentist, and she'll be done with appointments for a while.

Connor had a couple of seizures today-- he seems to have settled into a pattern where he's having up to three a day.  Since he's breathing well through them and they don't seem to be having the kind of effect that the earlier types of seizures had, we'll live with that for now.  If they start getting worse or affecting him a lot more, it will be time to put in another call to the doctor. 

The little guy is due for a dental appointment, so I got that set up.  It's been interesting figuring out how to schedule appointments for two kids not because there are so many more of them, but because I now have to factor in the other child's school schedule when I'm figuring out when I can bring a kid in.  The two kids have different start and finish times for school, so it's proving to be a bit of a challenge!  So far so good, though-- I haven't managed to schedule two appointments on the same day at different hospitals or anything yet. 

As long as I can keep straight which kid needs to be where, I'll be fine!

~Jess