Today was a long, long day.
I called Primary Children's Hospital to schedule an appointment with the pediatric GI the ER gave me the name of. Turns out, she's completely booked out and they told me they could put me on a wait list. Um...no. Other option would be to see someone else in the clinic. Okay, good, let's do that. Oh, well, the soonest we can get you in is June 8th. And...face palm. She even told me that if we GO BACK to the ER or if we go back to our physician and they feel like she needs to be seen sooner the dr can call them and they'll try to get her in sooner. On the bright side, they did put me on their cancellation list so if someone cancels they can call and get us in sooner.
First dr. appointment of the day was with Dr. Garg at the Budge Clinic. Dr. Visick (who has consulted with Dr. Sandgren about Samantha) was booked until Wednesday, so I told them just to schedule me with whoever had an appointment available. Lucky for me, I like Dr. Garg (and her husband is a GI here in the valley). Dr. Garg is stumped. She said that she can figure out different diagnosis that would fit the stomach pain, etc. but not one that would fit the stomach pain and the fatigue. She did another urine sample (normal) and called the lab to see if they had enough blood left from Saturday's draw to run more lab work (yes). They are running labs for inflammatory bowel disease and vitamin D deficiency. I asked about B12 shots for energy. She said that unless she has specifically tested her for vitamin B deficiency she absolutely would not recommend the B12 shots. So, there goes that idea....She prescribed a probiotic for Sam as well. Turns out, the pharmacy called me and 1-my insurance won't cover that and 2-they don't have any in stock and would have to order it. So, I decided I'd just let her take the probiotic that Caleb got from the Wellness Clinic (not a prescription, don't freak out).
After our appointment with Dr. Garg, we had a little bit of time to run a couple errands. Mind you, I woke Sam up at 9 am and her appointment with Dr. Garg was at 11:15. It was after 12 when we left Dr. Garg. By this point, Sam was pretty pooped and ready for a nap. Lucky for me she kept moving and didn't fall asleep. She wasn't peppy, but she was awake and moving. It was an improvement and I'll take it. I think she may have just been overjoyed at escaping another blood draw!
We had our second appointment with Lindsey out at Cache Valley ENT. I took a copy of all the labs she's had done with me so they could look at the thyroid tests without having to re do them all. Lindsey looked at her thyroid numbers and told me fairly quickly she doesn't think it's her thyroid. She said that if the TSH was high and the hormone was low, she could give her Synthroid and it would level the two out. Since both of Sam's numbers are low, if they give her thyroid medication it will lower her numbers even more. Ok, that's a bust then. Lindsey said that her first thought is maybe she's got a sleep disorder. She's put in a referral to a pediatric sleep specialist in Ogden (Dr. Feffer) who's really good. We now have to wait to hear back from that office to schedule a sleep study for Sam. Lindsey also noticed that the blood work they did on Saturday had white blood cell counts that were higher than the previous draws. This particular white blood cell is one that responds to mold and allergic reactions. She said that with the recent moisture in the air the mold has been worse. I do know that Sam is VERY allergic to molds (thanks allergy testing five years ago). She wants to do a CT scan of Sam's sinus cavity (same thing we are doing with Brooke as a follow up from the dr. at the eye clinic to rule out other possible reasons for her headaches). The soonest we can get in for the CT is this Wednesday at 11. That means that the appointment I had scheduled for Caleb with the nutritionist is now pushed back another week or two. Oh well, this is currently taking presidence. She also recommended a round of antibiotics. Since Sam is allergic to Penicillan and Omnicef, it pretty much leaves us a Z pack. We did that once recently - about a week and a half ago. Mind you Sam did feel a little better when she first started taking it. So, she prescribed TWO Z Packs. Sam's suppose to take them back to back - take the first pack and as soon as it's done start the second pack. That's 3 Z packs in 3 weeks. The meds on this one stay in your system a good 10 days. That's a LOT of antibiotics. She was worried about giving her a different antibiotic because most antibiotics will cause stomach cramps/aches/pain. Since she did well with the Z pack we are hoping she will continue to do well on it now.
So, 6 hours and 2 drs and we've managed to:
*Do another urine sample and it's clear
*Order a FOURTH blood panel to check for inflammatory bowel disease & vitamin D deficiency
*Start a probiotic
*Schedule a CT Scan for her sinus cavity
*Waiting on a call to schedule a sleep study
*Started another antibiotic that's really a mega dose of antibiotics
Pretty sure my insurance is going to call me soon and just say, "Are you for real?" At least we've now met our deductible...
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