Welcome to part two of our ongoing series of the trials and tribulations of Gabriel.
So after our Chicken Pox scare over the summer, Anthony set up a wellness check with our normal Doctor. She has been out on Maternity leave and Anthony just wanted her to run her hands over Gabe to make sure he was ok.
When we got to the office, we found that our Doctor was still on leave and we would see the fill in Doctor. Anthony told her the story of the one day chicken pox and mentioned that at Gabe’s last SNAP checkup they said his iron was a bit low.
She did a full checkup and heard a heart murmur, which worried her… a lot. So it worried Anthony even more. She ordered some labs for Gabriel and since they could not do the tests in house at our clinic they sent us off to the big clinic in Oregon City.
Now Gabriel is a ward of the state and is covered via state insurance. After the adoption we will have the option to keep him on it until he is 18 or switch him to our own private insurance plan. At our drugstore and our home Doctor’s office we have NEVER had any issues. It’s only when we venture to new and larger sites the fact we are pre-adoptive parents shoots up red flags. Our run to the Oregon City clinic was not the exception.
First they wanted Anthony to prove family income. Then they said they needed DHS approval to see Gabriel. If you have read our other post about Elijah’s teeth you will know that Joshua nearly put his foot in someone’s tuckus the last time this happened. Anthony just kept repeating that the other clinic made the appointment, all forms should be on file, that his name is clearly listed as the foster parent on tab two of the computer files computer screen and refused to fill out anything. They relented and allowed us to have the blood drawn.
Now for Gabriel everything was great until the needle entered his arm. For the 2 mins it took to take 4 tubes of blood, he screamed and screamed and screamed. He has not forgiven anyone for this evil brought upon him.
It took two days for the same day results to come back. Gabe’s iron level was a bit low and some other parts of the results concerned the fill in Doctor as well. So she wanted to double check the results and asked for us to get a second lab done. Once again Gabe was fine until the needle entered his body, this time in the other arm.
Once home from the lab the clinic called and the Doctor wanted to see us. She did not have the labs back but wanted to hear his heart again. The nurse tried 3 times to take Gabes blood pressure, but each time he would scream (my thoughts, he thought he was getting another needle in the arm). With all the screaming, for some reason, his blood pressure was VERY high. This worried the Doctor even more. She made us wait as she called a cardiologist for a referral.
Once at home with a referral in hand the phone ran. It was the clinic again. They told us to take Gabriel to the emergency room at once, that the clinic had called and they were expecting us.
PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC
Now with in moments of this call. Joshua was in route to home to get the boys. Sam was notified that he needed to babysit until Joshua’s arrival. 2.7 minutes from the call Anthony and Gabriel were in the van speeding across town to the Children’s Hospital.
Within a few moments of arrival we are walked into a posh emergency room and two nurses are probing Gabriel. Anthony mentions the two shots and how he thought it might be adding to his stress levels if they check his pressure on his arm. So they switched to his ankle.
Pulse – Normal Pressure – Normal
45 mins later with 12+ stickers, Gabe was discharged from the hospital.
The Cardiologist
A week later we had our appointment with the cardiologist. The new Doctor listened to Gabe’s heart and they decided that he would do an ultrasound. Now this was a very emotional moment. They had Anthony lay down on a bed, lay back and then place Gabriel on his lap. On the wall was a big screen TV and they put Cars on for Gabe to watch.
They removed Gabe’s shirt and the Ultrasound tech placed a lubed up wand on Gabe’s chest. She worked a control panel right out of Star Wars, after a few moments and several buttons pushed, Gabe’s heart was on the screen above her control board.
As two adoptive parents of older children, seeing an ultrasound of our children is something we have never thought would happen. Nor the experience of hearing our unborn child’s heart beat. This was so very close to that experience, Anthony became very emotional on a whole new level other then worried about Gabe’s health.
After some beats and more clicks on the control board and about 5 mins of time the test was done. Gabriel’s heart is 100% normal. Kids get murmurs from time to time and there is nothing wrong.
The Results
Gabe is now on a low dose of Iron supplements and Anthony has lost about 10 years off his life due to the stress of it all. Grey hairs, check. Loss of sanity, check. Learning the in’s and outs of the Children’s Hospital, check. Still loving our children, check ++.