Wednesday I had my first diabetic eye exam since living here (whoops!). A big thank you to my friend Rachel who was here at 8.20 with her kids to look after Sebastian. Thank you. This enabled me to trot of to my appointment. It went well, with no retinopathy detected. I was made to wait an awful long time. With this appointment I need special drops administered to my eyes to dilate the blood vessels. In the UK you then have your eyes photographed, and they build up a picture of your eyes over time. This makes it easier to see if there is any retinopathy developing. Not here. The delightful doctor looked in my eyes after the drops, saw no signs of retinopathy (this cannot be right, as a small amount had developed while I was pregnant with Seb, but had not got worse at my last 2 UK photographs). I found the whole experience unnerving and very subjective. Ok, this is an optometrist who is trained to look for retinopathy, but even still, what if he has a bad day and doesn't catch the signs???
Anywhoo, over the last few weeks Oliver's recurring ear infection has been getting worse. I called his doctor on Wednesday afternoon and was able to get an appointment for Thursday morning. Off we went, after dropping Isaac in Simpsonville for his holiday show rehearsal. The doctor was awesome as usual. We didn't have to wait longer than 5 minutes, result! She was very good, had a good look in his ear, prescribed some drops, then referred us to the ENT specialists. They called on Thursday lunchtime, and Oliver has an appointment in January. Good job too, as the drops the doc prescribed (which cost 4 times more than the last lot) do not seem to be working at all....
Thursday afternoon I had a diabetic appointment. My nurse, Elaine, had to rearrange our last appointment as she was away, meaning I had not seen her for 5 months. I had blood tests done a few weeks ago. My cholesterol and kidney function are fine, though my thyroid is on the low side of low. She wants to retest in 3 months. I scared myself last night by looking up the symptoms of an under active thyroid, and I have about a quater of them. My hBA1c was 8.2, so a little high, but about the same as it was last time. She is quite happy, I just need to tweak some things and I should be able to get it in the 7's, my desired goal. I told her about my eye appointment, and how I was a little unhappy with it. I think they understood, particularly Michelle the health care assistant. Not sure they will, or can, do anything about it.
My greatest fear is that I keep having these subjective tests done. Get back to England to my first diabetic retinopathy eye exams. They take the photo and compare to their 3 year old + records! and find loads of retinopathy.....
Isaac had his holiday show on the Thursday night. It was at Simpsonville fine arts centre. Oliver had persuaded me to take him along. Isaac has been singing jingle bell rock for weeks! I am sick of hearing it.... We dropped Isaac in his room, and went to make ourselves comfy on the delightful wooden chairs. I let Oliver play iPod till it started. Typically it was a good show, with the toddler classroom starting, then on to the primary. Isaac did his usual of not singing, not doing any actions, and sitting right in the middle. Don't know if the boy gets stage fright or of he is just belligerent..... Oliver wanted to go straight after and I explained that we had to sit and watch the rest. He was not happy, and moaned for the rest of the evening. Particularly as I would not give him the iPod again, he was there to watch the show!
Friday morning was grandparents day at Isaac's school, and I went in place of the grandparents, with Seb in tow. It was lovely to see Isaac in his classroom environment. He even got muffins and juices for Sebastian and i. He did some work, but it was so hard for me. Sebastian wanted to be into everything,and copy what Isaac did, which was great. But Isaac knows how things work. He was lucky enough to attend preschool in the UK, which gave him a really good grounding (thank you Little Explorers!!). Seb was hard work, and unfortunately made the experience less enjoyable. I already had to stop by the office after to talk about Seb starting in January. It would seem they do not have space for him. I really appreciated her honesty. They will assess him in February for the primary classroom, Isaac's classrooms. I am more than happy with this.
Then I came home, and had an epithany.... All my boys have been exposed to a playgroup/ preschool environment before attending school. Sebastian has not. Even if he started in Isaac's classroom in August, although it is Montessori, it is structured and does not give him the chance to play and interact with children his own age. I think he needs a different kind of environment, something not so school like. I asked my subdivision Facebook friends of recommendations of preschools/day cares in the local area, and they have some back with some good suggestions. I spoke to my good friend Anna about her day care, and how BMW assist with this. Seb is 3 in January, once he is 3, BMW pay for him to be in preschool/daycare. I think for Sebastian's development (his talking and social skills), it will do him the world of good to be with kids his own age, and learn, on his own, how the world of a 3 year old works. I have come full circle from my discussion over the summer about having Seb at home. I do not feel like i can socialize him as well as being in an environment with kids his age regularly could. I love having him at home, but I am at the stage where I feel he needs more. Ok, he gets some from his brothers, and this is helping his speech a lot. But they are not his age. He needs to spend time with kids his age. He gets so excited when he knows he is going to see his friends Layla or Jack, and even when we go to Isaac's friends. He is quite a social boy, and the more he learns to foster those skills the better. Guess what I am spending most of January doing.....
Wow, this time next week we will be at my dads, in England. All the presents are wrapped, and 3/4 of the boys stuff is packed already. As much as I am not looking forward to the travelling, the journey to Charlotte, the waiting in the airport, the getting Seb to sleep on the plane, I am looking forward to what is on the other side of that 12 hours..... Seeing my parents, making it fun for the boys, seeing the inlaws and Jenny, Tony, Natalie and Tariq. Hope someone has the hard liquor prepared! I am looking forward to being in Littlehampton for a night. Seeing my friends, their kids (especially the new arrivals!), seeing the sea, and all the construction work going on at the seafront. I can't wait to take the kids to London. I may not like it, but I think they will love it.
Yozzers, sorry for the essay. I am 3 beers in. That might explain it, lol! I can't even be bothered now to waffled at you all about the Expat Blog competition that goes live for voting in 2 days time. If you have got this far you have done well!!!!
Check back in a couple of days for more info on the competition, and how you can help me win!
No comments:
Post a Comment