Heather R.'s Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 11/30/01 -------------------- 10/25/01 6/21/01 5/10/01 4/8/01 3/30/01 3/23/01 3/15/01 3/7/01 2/27/01 2/20/01 2/12/01 1/29/01 1/17/01 1/1/01 12/27/00 12/19/00 12/1/00 11/13/00 -------------------- Heather R.'s Introduction

February 27, 2001

I’ve got some news on Ivan, and wanted to update everyone.

Ivan wasn’t scheduled for his doctor’s appointment until Monday the 26th. I felt terrible. I didn’t want to wait that long to see the doctor; I wanted answers now. Ivan had been running a slight fever for the past 8 days, but I thought it was due to the fact that hi molars – all four of them – were coming in. Tuesday, though, Ivan’s fever went up and stayed up. It would go up to 104.6, and then we’d be able to bring it down for a few hours with Tylenol, and then back up again it would shoot.

As far as I was concerned, that was it. We were seeing Dr. C. that day, and that was all there was to it. I called our pediatrician’s office and prepared myself to do battle with the office nurse – an older woman who seemed more suited for the military than a doctor’s office. I steeled myself against her gritty greeting, and as I mentally went over my best arguments, I started crying. Bawling is probably a more appropriate word.

In one long rush I explained the behavior, the fever, the lack of talking, everything. I implored her; Ivan must see the doctor today. There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. I could hear the commando nurse breathing, and knew – just knew – that she was about to shoot me down. Then she cleared her throat. When she talked I could hardly recognized the voice. “Sweetie,” she said, “can you be here by 9:15?”

We were there by 8:52 and were rushed right in. The nurse took Ivan’s temperature – it was 105.1. “That can’t be right,” she said. She took it again. Same thing. She called Dr. C. over and showed her the thermometer. The doctor looked at us and then at Ivan, and quickly ushered us into the first available room. Within minutes she had made a diagnosis.

Tonsillitis, and a pretty bad case at that. I caught a glimpse of Ivan’s tonsils as the Doc pushed his tongue out of the way. They were swollen, covered with blisters and looked horrible. No wonder he hadn’t been eating.

Dr. C. decided that Ivan needed medication pronto. Within minutes, the nurse had brought in an anti-biotic cocktail, complete with complimentary syringe and needle (paper umbrella NOT included). While we were waiting for the shot to be administered, Dr. C. looked over the list of our concerns with Ivan. For the nest 10 minutes, she played with Ivan a bit, watched us hold him, and saw how he interacted with us.

Now, let me digress here. I had been worried that Ivan was autistic. I hadn’t said anything in my last post because the idea terrified me. I’ve always held the idea of my kids leading full and happy lives as the core of my parenting beliefs, and autism threatened that in a way I wasn’t ready to even discuss. Give me anything else, but please, please let Ivan’s mind function normally. Luckily for us, we didn’t have to deal with that possibility – Dr. C. assured us that Ivan was very likely not autistic.

However, it seemed that he did have trouble hearing things, and our list of symptoms seemed to second that diagnosis. So, the Doctor gave us the name of the best Audiologist in the area. He’ll have his hearing tested March 13th. It is possible that Ivan is just extremely stubborn and is ignoring us – our Doctor said she’s seen that a few times as well.

It’s now been nearly a week, and I have noticed that Ivan appears to hear only a little. He actually slept through all four fire alarms blaring one evening after a burned dinner incident. It could be he’s a deep sleeper, but I really have my doubts. I can tell he hears some things, but other things he just seems to miss.

I’ve had some time to think about all of this, and I am surprised at how easily I’ve handled this. Once we knew he wasn’t autistic, things seemed to brighten for me. Hearing loss, I can deal with.

John and I have had a few conversations about the possibility of hearing aids, or sigh language. We are decidedly in favor of sign language, but it will all depend on Ivan. And who knows, maybe he’s just one stubborn little guy who can block out everything.

Thanks for the messages I’ve received in my feedback area. It means a lot to me to know that there are others out there rooting for Ivan.

I’ll update soon!

-heather