River, that's quite enough

In the last week, River has been to the doctor five times.

A few weeks ago, I discovered blood in his diaper. Again. Only, this time it wasn't in his poop. It was coming out of his urethra, and not just when he urinated.

This was on a Saturday afternoon. After all of the clinics, including urgent care, had closed for the weekend.

And then Gabriel remarked, Oh, he had some blood in his diaper when you were gone Thursday night. What ?!? After having the this-is-information-you-have-to-tell-me-right-away conversation, we decided not to take him to the E.R. because he didn't seem to be in any pain, he appeared to be urinating normally, and the blood was just small trickles.

Monday morning, I took him to see the pediatrician and she thought he just had a case of urethritis, which basically is a UTI.

The antibiotics seemed to take care of the problem, but then, last Thursday, the bleeding returned. We went back to the pediatrician, who referred us to a urologist.

Somewhere in the last few weeks, I began to entertain a niggling suspicion that there may be more behind his random bleeding episodes: the bloody stools, a persistent nosebleed a few months back, self-inflicted scratches on his ears that took days to stop bleeding, excessive bruises all over him now that he's getting mobile, and now, a bleeding penis. Could one kid really have all of these blood-related medical quirks and they really be just that - quirks?

My concerns concerned the doctor, who ordered some blood work.

Having to hold down a screaming baby while a technician draws blood is really.not.fun.

And then going back for a repeat test on Tuesday because they found a deficiency in his lab work? Also.not.fun.

We are waiting for the results, and when there is news to share, I will.

We also saw the urologist on Tuesday. He did not seem concerned about River's bleeding. If it is still bleeding a year from now, we should come back in for another visit, and then we'll see about investigating the issue a bit more. Seriously? Yes. $189 for such counsel, please.

He did mention that since River is scheduled to have surgery in his nether region (for a completely unrelated issue) down in Little Rock this coming September, we should ask that urologist to do a scope to rule out any kind of obstruction or other irritant that could be causing the bleeding.

For River, all of this hasn't seemed like such a big deal.

For me, I feel like I am hovering somewhere between anxiety overload and information avoidance, but, on the bright side, there is no better distraction than the daily antics of two little ones.

And now that River is crawling, he is all over the place. It is fun to watch him discover our home for himself.
We met with the orthotics (helmet) doctor today. River still hasn't quite maxed out the room for growth in his helmet, but he is within three millimeters of it. And his head looks awesome.

The doctor recommended that we continue to put his helmet on him for sleeping for the next three weeks, and then we're done. No follow-up visit unless we decide we need it.

At least there is one medical concern out of the way.