3 out of 4 of us are sick. Dylan has croup, Katie has a slight cough, and Sean came home from work today feeling like his head was a balloon. So far I am feeling fine--knock on wood--and thankfully so because I need to be well to take care of my loves.
I saw my new endocrinologist this afternoon and suddenly I feel like I have so much more control of my health. I'm feeling well on my new 150mg of Synthroid, my doctor actually looks at me instead of down at his computer, my bloodwork is coming back close to normal. Things on the cancer front are looking up.
The office is old and worn down, but friendly. My doctor has been practicing endocrinology and specializing in thryoid disorders for 32 years.
My old doctor would put his hands on my neck, talk to me for about two minutes, type away in his computer while I sat there, and then I'd leave. I spent two hours at my new doctor's office today, chatting with the nurse about kids and calcium and then sitting down with the doctor to talk about my entire medical history as he wrote it down and talked about reports out of the New Yorker. We chatted about different medical opinions on the treatability of Lyme disease, affects of tachy brady syndrome, the medical path we will be taking on my cancer journey. It felt more like I was sitting down with a colleague discussing health trivia than a doctor/patient visit. He was thorough and took the time to talk to me about any health concerns.
And then he did the coolest thing ever. While examining me--and I mean actually taking the time to examine my heart and lungs and throat--he had me drink water while pressing hard on my throat to see if he could feel any thyroid remnants when I swallowed. He couldn't, obviously, since I don't have a thyroid but I thought it was so cool that he took the time to evaluate me instead of just relying on my lab results.
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On the potty training front, Dylan is doing great! We have 1-2 accidents a day since starting to potty train on Friday and I've learned that he doesn't realize that he is wearing underwear instead of a diaper now and then so he goes and then acts shocked and sorry about wetting his pants. Poor kid. So I've been letting him run around the house naked all week and he has been awesome. We started a sticker reward chart and when he goes on the big boy potty 12 times he gets a prize.
Today he went twelve times on the potty just so that he could earn a prize before bedtime. Since he had earned his quota on Tuesday and Wednesday I took him to Target this morning for a special present: a giant truck. From now on he will be earning toys valued at about $1, but for the first reward we wanted to make it a huge incentive. Dylan likes nothing more than trucks. And so this morning as soon as we woke up we headed out the door where he purchased a car carrier--his third--complete with tiny monster trucks, street signs, and traffic cones.
This is what $19.99 worth of 2-year-old happiness looks like:
And here is what $0 of toddler happiness looks like:
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Everyone else is asleep. I'd better go put this cute little duckling to bed, too.
