Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

Over the course of the last three weeks, Finn has had three doctor appointments.  His fourth and final appointment (at least for the month) is on Monday and is a standard clinic visit.  Until then, here's a brief recap of what's going on.

Dentist--Finn made his first visit to a dentist on May 16th.  I had been worried about one of his teeth in particular and all of his teeth in general.  He has four inhaled medications that can cause damage to his teeth and he is incredibly independent (translate that to mean that he won't allow me and Reid to help him with his toothbrushing).  Add in his apple juice addiction and we have a formula for disaster.  We found a fantastic dentist to take him to who really didn't want to make him too upset.  He did not get his teeth cleaned but I did hold him down while the dentist peeked in for a few minutes.  While Finn played in the waiting area the dentist and I discussed his findings.  The good news was that there were no cavities.  The bad news is that Finn is definitely "high risk" for dental problems.  (his diet, his medications, his habits--all not good)  Additionally, Finn knows quite a lot about doctors and has no desire to cooperate at this stage in his life.  So, the dentist decided to put him on a 3-month visit cycle until he can get Finn to trust him.  He also sent us home with brushes and fluoride packs and he taught me how to "paint" Finn's teeth.  He would like us to do it at least once a month to give his teeth as much protection as we can.  Seriously, I was very impressed with the dentist.

ENT--On May 21st, Finn had his first appointment with a pediatric ENT.  Well, technically we saw this doctor on April 20th for the first time at the exact same time that he removed Finn's adenoids.  The surgery was actually quite rushed as we were trying to get it done at the same time as Finn's bronchoscopy so that he wouldn't have to be put under multiple times.  So, thankfully, this doctor agreed to do the surgery without actually ever having seen Finn before.  So, this appointment was a post-op follow-up.  There were no problems to report and Finn passed inspection.  :)  The doctor did note that Finn's tonsils are "quite large already" and in his opinion will need to come out "in the near future".  He told us that once he starts having sleep apnea problems and more snoring it would be our sign to go ahead with a tonsillectomy.  He was actually going to let us go at that until I reminded him about our concerns about CF and Finn's frequent sinus issues.  At that point the doctor seemed to remember who he was dealing with and he told us to come back in 6 months (unless we have problems sooner).

GI--Remember how two and half years ago I commented that Finn was quite a "spitty baby"?  Well, that's never really changed.  Most kids with CF also have reflux issues (it's just part of the digestive problem package that accompanies CF) and so Finn has been on reflux meds since he was 3 weeks old.  Despite that, there are times when it seems he doesn't have reflux at all and then there are other times when I'm convinced he has reflux issues.  The last year or so things seem to have gotten worse. He will have weeks at a time when he does quite well, and then other weeks where he throws up nearly every day.  When we were visiting the kids' cousins in March is when it really hit me that I should say something to the doctor.  One night Finn got sick (his normal "reflux" not stomach bug sick).  The next morning I was discussing it with my sister-in-law and her daughter joined in.  This 9 year-old niece of mine said, "I remember when Isaac threw up once."  Yep--Finn's cousin Isaac who is the exact same age has only ever thrown up once.  Yikes!  So, at our quarterly appointment in April I mentioned to Finn's CF doctor about his tummy problems.  She decided to increase his reflux meds and refer us to the GI doctor.  Her concern was that his dosage was so high that he needed to be seen by someone else.  Therefore, on Tuesday May 29th Finn saw the GI doctor.  Conveniently, he had a bad week last week, throwing up 4 times in 7 days.

The appointment was fairly typical--history, family history, etc.  After some time, the doctor concluded that there are 3 possibilities for Finn:
      1.  He has straight reflux and for whatever reason it's worse right now.
      2.  He has been on antibiotics so much that they have messed up his tummy.
      3.  Because of family history and the fact that thyroid problems, type 1 diabetes, and celiacs are all  
          genetically linked, Finn could have the bad luck of having CF and celiacs.

The plan for right now is to continue on his increased Prevacid dosing.  We also added an antibiotic that for some reason is supposed to help with the upset tummy from the other antibiotic.  (I've been hesitant on this one but it's only 7 days so we're trying it.)  The doctor also is having us double his probiotic dosage.  Finally, we are running blood work to test for celiacs and allergies.  Both the increased Prevacid and probiotic we are to continue indefinitely.  We are to go back at the end of the summer, unless we have another bad week.  At that point, she is wanting to do an endoscopy to check for signs of reflux or celiacs.  Personally, we would like to avoid this at all costs.  However, I feel that we really might be having reflux issues, so I don't know if our steps are going to help at all.  But we're going for it and I'm hoping it proves me wrong and works so that we don't have to do an endoscopy.

So, for now that's it.  As I said earlier, we have a clinic appointment on Monday.  I'm hoping that will go well and that the doctor will take Finn off of his antibiotics.  He could use a break.  And who am I kidding, I could use the break, too!