A Well Deserved Ice Cream

Poor Amelia was quite the trooper today, suffering through what turned out to be four and a half hours of doctor's appointments.

First up was her five year old well visit, which took an hour and a half. Her vision checked out at 20/30, a passing grade but something the doc will want to keep tabs on yearly to make sure she doesn't need glasses. (Mommy is slightly disappointed because she thought Amelia would look so adorable with glasses!)

Next up was her hearing test, which she failed miserably despite the nurse repeating it three times. This was no surprise to me as I had already brought her in a few weeks ago with my chief complaint being that she has been deaf as a stone since her last ear infection in December. The failed hearing test earned her a referral to an ENT and the observation that her ears are still full of fluid, the probable cause of the abysmal hearing. 

On the height and weight front Amelia checked in at 35.6lbs and 43 3/4 inches tall. The height needs to go with the caveat that I think it was artificially inflated by her pony tail, despite them measuring her twice ;-) This would put her at almost the 90th percentile for height but only the 30th percentile for weight and puts her solidly in the "underweight" category except that again I think they measured her an inch too tall. At any rate, the doctor said that he thought she just had a high metabolism and was genetically destined to be tall and skinny and that as long as she wasn't having chronic diarrhea or anything, he wasn't too concerned about her weight, even though he did acknowledge that she hasn't gained an ounce (ok really she technically has gained 2 ounces) since her 4 year check up. 

On the immunization front Amelia had to have FOUR shots to be kindergarten ready, which she bore much more bravely than I did at that age -- I told her the story of how I hid under the exam table and kicked the doctor in the face when it was time for shots at MY five year check up. Since Amelia knew she couldn't top that, she bore the shots without incident ;-)

After her well visit we met Mandy and the kids at Panera Bread for lunch, and then Amelia and I went to her next appointment at the allergist. Kudos to Mandy for taking Charlie home (the kids were off school today for a teacher work day) so that he didn't have to suffer through the three hour allergy appointment!

After the said three hours Amelia was pronounced allergy free -- or at least with a 95% certainty -- she was tested for penicillin as well as some typical airborne allergies like pollen and dog, to see if that could explain the chronic fluid in her ears. 

She still has to go back next Friday for an oral challenge, where they dose her with amoxycilin just to be sure, but it looks like she'll be in the clear. 

The allergist was very impressed with Amelia, who gave her a medical history, the reason  for her visit, etc, to the point where the doctor turned to me and said "wow you could've just dropped her off, apparently I don't need you here

 at all!"

Amelia was quite the trooper through the 3 hours & 2 rounds of skin testing (where they basically make you itch like crazy and don't let you scratch.) When we were finally done the doctor complimented me on what a "lovely personality" Amelia has, at which point Amelia had a total meltdown the minute the doctor shut the door behind her ;-)

Here's to hoping we don't have to do another stint of doctor's appointments like that in a while!