I have three children, Linda is 6, Danae is 5 (11 months apart) (bravery or insanity?) Eric is 3. Danae and Eric were both preemies, Danae at 34 weeks and Eric at 33. With Eric's pregnancy, I became a gestational diabetic and had PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension). Eric was born a good weight, he was always fussy, very very colicky spent most nights awake, he would cry from 4-10pm almost every day, I breastfed so I didn't consider any food allergies, I went to school when Eric was 5 month old, and formulas came into play. He had a rough go of it, he had constant throwing up, exorcist like projectile with the milk based formula, and the soy formula gave him rashes.
Besides being diagnosed with asthma, and severe GERD, no major anything. Noone tested for allergies.He was screened by early intervention at 13-14 months and found to have a 23% adaptive delay, not enough to qualify for the program. About 15 months of age, he started having diarrhea everyday throwing up every meal, his dr at the time said it was a virus, I went to his office in a month period no less than 5-6 times, three ER visits later, the month is gone and Eric still has same symptoms, but now is dehydrated, and is admitted to Miami Childrens hospital. Because of the months worth of diarrhea and projectile throw up, what started as a virus had eaten the lining of his intestine taking all the natural floura and causing him to malabsorb the fat from his foods. Still no allergy testing. He is now diagnosed with Eczema this time around, and his GERD medications are changed and he is put on lactinex to replace the floura two weeks later we go home.
Eric goes on, we now have a mobile child, he started walking around 15-16 months and still no talking, although in the hospital records they do breifly mention his tongue being too big, macroglossia, they call it. Eric is a climber , and a runner, we often have to chase him and he doesnt really care where he is running into. I take Danae one Saturday to the pediatrician because she has strep throat and leave Eric with my grandmother, walking out of the doctors office, I get a call Eric was playing "ghost" and jumping in her bed, had fallen and was screaming, I take Eric to the pediatricians office who thankfully has a after hours office, they tape up his finger and send us on our way. Monday we follow up with the regular dr get xrays, turns out sometime when he fell he somehow broke his thumb.
Things go on, Eric is now 2 1/2 I lose my job, so we decide to move to Orlando, it takes about a months to get a job, Eric goes into daycare #1, about three weeks in the complaints begin first Eric is running out of the room, and he seems to have picked one girl to pick on, he bites her a couple of days in a row and they tell me he cant come back, onto daycare #2, he goes a total of three days to this daycare after they are forewarned, that he is indeed a climber, he tried to jump their fence into an empty lot, they are a small daycare, I thought it would be easier for him and them, nope he is kicked out there too, onto daycare #3, APS we'll call it, he did really good at first, a few incidents including him not wanting to nap, running into a shelf cause he was running and tripped on the mat. Six stitches. Well as happens the staff changed, his regular teacher left, he was gone two weeks after she was, the routine changed, and he couldnt deal. Onto daycare #4, TK- He was there from 10-3 to 11-26. He kept running out of classroom so according to them they couldn't guarantee his safety so he has to go, daycare director is a child behavior specialist, suggests evaluation and maybe a home daycare with smaller classes. Onto daycare excuse me, homecare #5 which lasts all of one day, the morning he was fine, afternoon he became aggressive and started hitting her, she said thankyou but no, dont pay me for today just dont bring him back. We took him to early intervention program for a prelim screening, his hearing checks out and so does his vision. We get another new pediatrician who listens better than the previous ones, says maybe the misbehavior is food allergy related. We now hav a new diagnosis, he is allergic to peanuts, walnuts, cows milk, egg whites, wheat, soy, corn, codfish. She doesnt want to make any behavior related diagnosis.
Luckily EI gave me referrals, I call one and start Eric with behavior therapy. Since the pediatrician thinks I guess she wants to look at me more than help Eric, I ask for albuterol refills and she tells me to come in, the kids has asthma forever you have it documented in records I brought you, Im not asking for kiddiecrack Im asking for a breathin medication. So here we are with pediatrician #2, who is by far a much better listener especially since now I have the behavior therapist to back it up. Us moms even when we are in the medical field we know nothing, ya know.
Early intervention had in November given us a February 26th appointment to do the full evaluation. We went in and I dont think they should evaluate the kids with parents in the room, I want you to understand what hes like with other people not with me, he knows Im safe. He is however evaluated and he does have a developmental delay, dont know how bad, and a speech delay, trust me if youre not in on what hes talking about you dont know what he is saying. Back to the pediatrician, for Danae's Adderall script, and the dr notices that Eric isnt really engaging her, and isnt making eye contact, I ask her at what age they can officially diagnose ADHD, she tells me he's too young for medication's, I tell her Im not asking for medications Im asking for a diagnosis, she looked and me with a smile and says I can tell you that right now, he has ADHD, but I think with his behavior you should consider ruling out a mild case of autism. EI schedules my staffing for March 13th, too late for Eric to stay in his daycare.
Today I also contacted a psychologist which United Healthcare previously said I didnt need, and they wouldnt cover because of his age, described things, and said she would work on the insurance, and would call me on Monday.
So far here are Erics diagnosis, He has Asthma, Eczema, GERD, Adaptive delay, ADHD, Developmental Delay, Speech Delay, a list of food allergies, outdoor allergies.
That is Erics story, I took a breath, it didnt help, I wont cry cause he'll only run more and run all over me. Now how many of you have the same or a similar story to tell. I am a medical assistant, but doctors think us moms we exaggerate things all the time. We are all a bunch of insane people. Hell, I know Im getting there.