Moving to California, I had some ideas about how life was going to be. My firm conviction that Dash would be well here topped the list. As week four in California comes to a close, we're on sickness number three. As Petunia would say, "This is SO not cool."
The good news is that we've found a pediatrician here in whom I really have faith. He takes the time to listen to our concerns -- but, most importantly, he takes me seriously and doesn't condescend. He doesn't just say, "Kids get sick" -- he says, "Dash is sick a lot, and we're going to get to the bottom of this so that he can be well." That, IMHO, is East Coast/West Coast, at least in our experience. Dash had a ton of doctors back East, and, while I liked some of them as people, I never felt like they were invested in his wellness. They were just doing their job; no one looked me in the eye and told me that s/he was going to do whatever it takes to see my kid through to wellness. So again, I thank my lucky stars that we've landed here for a while. In my life, I've never said with conviction that I'm staying anyplace -- in fact, when my parents have hinted at moving closer to the grandkids, I always say "but we might not always be there." I've only been a Californian for a month, but I can say with firm conviction that I'm not leaving anytime soon, if ever. Even Petunia feels that way; she told us this weekend that she might want to go to Stanford (eek!).
In any event, our new doc ordered some serious testing for little Dash, the results of which will come in later this week. Instead of messing around doing guesswork-bloodwork, he ordered a genetic profile which screens for celiac disease (long suspected but never pinpointed as the source of Dash's issues), thyroid issues, and other big things. We'll know once and for all if he's celiac or not. We're also following up with an allergist, as our pediatrician wants him screened for allergic rhinitis. We may or may not get answers with regard to why he's always getting sick, but, at long last, we'll know that we've tried everything to figure it out. We just couldn't get there back East, but we'll be there within two months of being here. Maybe we just needed a fresh perspective. [And a note to friends back East: I'm not saying that docs there can't be great. We just never found the great ones -- or we found them and they weren't taking new patients.]
Regardless of Dash not being immediately well upon our arrival here, there is a huge up-side to being here -- namely that we don't stay cooped up with him. We all took a four-mile round-trip bike ride yesterday, partly on a very nice bike trail that we happened upon. Dash was stylin' in his trailer, pulled halfway by me and halfway by the Guv. Petunia lasted the whole trip on her own wheels. We were still able to get out and do something nice as a family without exposing other kids to Dash or vice versa. That makes my mood, having been up all night with a bootin' boy, a whole lot better!
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