Dr. Buck was his usual wonderful self. Of course, I brag on him because he is very modest, yet exceedingly intelligent and a very gentle person. Sam loves him too. He kept saying, "Bucky Buck today?" this morning before we left.
I realized that I don't have any photos of Dr. Buck, so I grabbed my camera as I was leaving this morning. I thought I'd give you a run down of a typical appointment. It's a bit boring, but Here are some photographs to help you enjoy it more.
When we first get there, the nurse comes out to get us and takes us back to get weighed, measured and a blood pressure check. Sam was 24.8 pounds (with a wet diaper), which I was thrilled about since he was down to 23 at his pedi's office three weeks ago. He is about 32 inches tall (if I remember correctly) and his blood pressure was perfect.
Then, we go into a room where Sam gets these cold and gooey stickers put all over him for an ECG. Two on his legs, some on his shoulders and some on his chest. He usually reacts pretty quickly to the coldness of them, but was preoccupied with the crayons I had given him to be too upset. He is an odd creature. Sam always gets very still when they do anything on his chest. I wonder why.
Next, we wait for Dr. Buck to come in. Just like most doctor's appointments. During this time, I usually try to get all the gooey stuff off of his body. You can see the leads we took off on the chair behind him. We had so much gooey stuff everywhere today - it just wouldn't come off. That's when Dr. Buck arrived to save the day.
He helped us out with some alcohol wipes and sacrificed his own fingers to pull the gook off of Sam's chest. It was a mess. Here is Dr. Buck with Sam - you can see how comfy Sam is in his arms. I'd like to say that Dr. Buck has a special place in his heart for Sam too.
Next, we hold a magnetic device connected to a laptop of sorts up to Sam's defibrillator. It gives Dr. Buck all of the information about what has happened since our last "interrogation" and tells us whether or not he has had any "events." Sam has not.
His pacemaker was used 9% of the time, which is an acceptable amount. All that really means is that his heart rate went below 60 beats per minute 9% of the time since our last visit. Probably while he was sleeping. It's apparently more common in Brugada patients to have episodes or "events" while they are sleeping, which is why Dr. Buck set the pacemaker to work below 60 bpm.
Dr. Buck also tested the sensitivity of the device. He told me that it didn't start "over-sensing" until he programmed it to four times the sensitivity level. That's great news - it means that we have it set to a fine sensitivity level and are safe from it over-sensing the way it did when it was first implanted a year ago (please see August 2008 for more details on our story).
But, here's the big news of the day. I asked Dr. Buck about all the bruises Sam gets around his defibrillator on his belly. If you look at the above photo, you can tell how large it still is in his tiny body. It really sticks out on one corner.
Dr. Buck surprised me by telling me we shouldn't let Sam crawl down the stairs backwards or slide down the slide on his belly. Or any of the numerous other activities he does on his belly. The real issue is a hard surface pressing against it and breaking one of the leads. That could be a potentially dangerous situation.
Oh, and eventually we'll have to prevent him from going down the Tower of Terror and other similar rides, but I think we're okay for now.
In the mean time, we're still keeping him out of the church nursery and other daycare-type facilities, where he would be exposed to germs. But, we're free to allow him to interact with other children as much as possible, in order for him to develop properly. Because he has a condition that is exacerbated by fever, it is important for him to not be put in a "petri dish" (as Bill and I call nurseries) for now.
On a final note, I wanted to show you a picture of our friend Athalia today at Target. She came with us, even though she's been deathly ill with her pregnancy. Her child is causing her some grief with constant nausea, and I was so grateful that she agreed to come anyway. I guess I hadn't really thought it through, so thank goodness she didn't vomit at all during our trip. I had a great time with her. Without further adieu, I give you: Athalia at Target.
I remember feeling like this.
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