Ryder's Day at Johns Hopkins

This morning I woke up in anticipation for a long day at Hopkins with Ryder. He had three appointments scheduled: Audiology at 9:30am, Abdominal Ultrasound at 11:30am, Opthamology at 2pm. We left the house at 8:20am so we could get to the parking garage and into the hospital by 9:15am. We got checked in with the Audiology department pretty quickly and then only had to wait for about 5 minutes before being called into the back. The woman was very nice and Ryder seemed to feel comfortable with her. At first, Ryder sat on my lap in the little booth while the Audiologist played various sounds with different tones and volumes. She watched for Ryder to react and look in the direction of the sound. After that she sat and talked with me for a few minutes and told me that he was testing within the normal limits, but a few of the tones were on the borderline. She then did two different tests where she placed an ear-piece into his ears and the computer created a graph. The first test showed that there was no fluid in his ears which showed that the hearing test was accurate. The second test was a more sophisticated test to check how well the hair cells of the inner ear are working. This test showed that his hair cells are working great. In the end, the audiologist said there might be a few letters that Ryder does not hear consistently which could be causing some of the concerns we have for him with his lack of responding when being talked to. However, since these tones were borderline (still in normal limits) they will not do anything at the moment. We were told if he gets worse (or even shows no improvement) in 6 months that we might consider getting him tested again to check for any decrease in hearing of those tones. So, we know Ryder can hear pretty well with the exception of a few letters once and a while. I am torn on these findings. I am glad he can hear! But I am not sure how I feel about the wait and see if he is really not hearing some letters once and a while...

While we were with the audiologist my cell phone was vibrating on and off. So as soon as we got out of the appointment I checked my phone to find I had 2 voice mails. The first was from Tracy and the second was from the Opthamology office saying they had to re-schedule Ryder's appointment because the doctor was sick today. UGH! I really think that they should factor in having a sick doctor and try to fit those patients in with other doctors because we already had to make special arrangements for today and now have to for another day as well. I called the office back because we could not do the time and day of the new appointment that they so graciously chose for us. I spent some time on the phone with them because they could only schedule for Mondays which is the day Ryder has his therapy class which I don't want him to miss if at all possible (we missed it today because I thought we would be going to all of his appointments so it was worth missing 1 week). After some back and forth we got a new appointment for Monday February 15 at 2:30pm. This will allow me to drop Zak off at daycare, make it to Ryder's therapy class and then to the appointment in time. The downfall is that I wouldn't make it back in time to pick Zak up from daycare so we have to work something out. After talking to Ben I think I will leave a spare car seat at daycare with Zak and then Ben will have to pick him up in the work truck on his way home. Of course, this has to be a secret since he is not supposed to have anybody else in his work truck AND the truck has no backseat which freaks me out! Thank goodness the drive is very short!

This change in plans definitely put me into a bad mood because I HATE plans changing plus I HATE having to come to Hopkins another day! We walked around for a bit and Ryder colored in his book for a bit then we headed to the Radiology department for the ultrasound. We got to that location in the hospital early, but they were able to bring us in the back and get him started pretty much as soon as we got there which was nice. The tech doing the ultrasound was so nice and Ryder liked that she had cartoons on the TV for him. She continually commented about how well Ryder was behaving and letting her get all of the pictures she needed. She then had him flip over and lay on his tummy so she could get good measurements of his kidneys. After about 45 minutes she was done and we headed to the car.

Once we got to the car I called Rich to let him know Ryder's last appointment had been cancelled so we were heading home. That is when he told me that they had an issue with the kerosene heater in the house so they had spent the morning letting Zak run around the play area at the mall. So Rich and Laura met me at the house to drop Zak off. Right now both boys are in the bedroom crying and whining, but I know they are tired. Rich said Zak did not sleep well last night and he sounds like he might be coming down with a cold or something. I am hoping they will both give in and fall asleep!

This afternoon I received a call from the MRI department at Hopkins to schedule Ryder's sedated MRI. I asked for a Monday so that Zak could go to daycare since I know I can't take him with us to the hospital for the MRI. Well, they had available appointments as early as next week, but the times would mean Ryder had to miss his class again. Since he missed the class this week I didn't want him to miss it next week also. And then he has the Opthamology appointment the following Monday. So the MRI is scheduled for Monday February 22 at 10:45am. He will need to be there at 9:45am so I will have time to get Zak to daycare and get us to the hospital. Then the person on the phone told me that Ryder would need to have a well check-up with the pediatrician before the MRI to say he was healthy enough to be sedated. So Ryder also had an appointment at the pediatrician on Tuesday February 16 for this.