It's Been Awhile...

since I posted and since I had anything to post about!

But our wonderful pediatrician moved from Children's to Sharp and a whole slew of interesting developments have come about because of that.

1. I learned that not all healthcare networks are a hot mess like Children's. At Sharp, when I call they either help me themselves or transfer me to a real person. WOW! Also, our pediatrician apologized when we had to wait ten minutes because he had a two-year-old with a fractured arm ahead of us. This is the same man we used to wait 60 minutes for when the kids were well, 90 when they were sick. Again, WOW!!
2. The pediatrician noticed that we hadn't been to the ENT since Caleb was diagnosed at almost-four. He decided to refer us to see the ENT with Sharp. THEY called US to make the appointment once the referral was approved. Again, WOW!!
3. We saw the ENT today. We learned several things. We learned that Caleb's ear pits are actually cysts connected to the cartilage in his ears. Apparently, most people with ear pits have trouble with infections. Who knew? Also, he looked at Caleb and asked me if I was interested in knowing what caused his hearing loss. What an interesting question that nobody has ever asked me (well, at least not any medical professionals). Um, sure? But what difference does it make? Well, in fact it DOES make a difference because we would then know whether to anticipate a decline in his hearing later on, or whether he should avoid impact-prone sports to prevent further loss. Have we had a CT scan? Why no, we haven't. Have his kidneys been checked? Why no, they haven't. Has he had a blood test to determine whether he is a carrier of a gene that causes hearing loss in 20% of cases? Why no, he hasn't. What did the other ENT do? Why, she told us that once he had hearing aids we'd be able to rip up his IEP. Not so much!! So he scheduled a CT, ordered a urinalysis to check kidney function (which we were able to do on the way out), and said he'd rather hold off on the blood test since it is unlikely that Caleb's hearing loss is caused by that gene (he's probably in the 80%). Well. Just. WOW!!!

So it's likely that we will once again have some answers. Answers to questions we didn't even know to ask.  WOW!!