After being in Madison all day Friday, September 29th, we had a full medical day scheduled at our local hospital for that next Monday, October 2nd.

I would like to know who is in charge of our calendar!

Honestly, all of these routine check-ups fall in the same month whether we like it or not!

First up was Tate for his routine eye exam.

He sees the eye doctor yearly because of his VP shunt.

We have to wait about 30 minutes after they put the drops in Tate’s eyes until his eyes are dilated enough for the doctor to exam them.

Tate and Eliza both are used to waiting rooms, and I usually read to them to pass the time.

Tate’s eye exam went well, and we will go back in one year.

After the eye doctor we headed over to imaging to get those x-rays that the neurosurgeon in Madison wanted.

I bet you think it is that simple, right?

Of course they did not have the orders, and so I spent the next 30 minutes on the phone trying to get the orders faxed to the imaging department so we could get them done.

We waited another 30 or so minutes for that fax to show up, and when it didn’t, we headed out to pick up Eliza.

Addie Mae was meeting me half way between Twin Oaks and the hospital so that Eliza did not have to sit through the whole morning of Tate’s appointments.

We headed back to imaging for Tate and Eliza both to have a renal ultrasound, which they have every six months.

This ultrasound is to check on the health of their bladder and kidneys – because spina bifida can do some not so good things to the bladder and kidneys.

They both have their favorite waiting rooms, and this is one of them!

After the ultrasounds were finished, we sat in the waiting room again, holding the pager to our ears like a phone as we pretended to talk to people and order hamburgers, fries and milkshakes from who knows where!

Long medical days may get to you this way, you know.

There was a sweet lady sitting across the room from us who got up and approached our giggling selves.

And she said, “You have such beautiful children! Are they ‘real’ brother and sister?”

I have to admit, I never have a plan for questions like these – and I should.

I knew what she meant, and I knew she did not mean to cause any problems.

I smiled and simply said “Well, they are now!”

UGH.

It took about one half of a second for the questions to start flying from Tate and Eliza.

“Why did she ask if we were real?”

“Aren’t we brother and sister?”

“What did you mean when you answered her, Mommy?”

Made the time in the waiting room seem to stand still.

Finally, Tate’s name was called to get those x-rays.

And there was another medical day in the books!

Spending a day like this with two brave and strong heroes of mine is inspirational, really!

I had never made a picture in my mind what doctor appointments would be like once Eliza and then Tate were home from China.

We just kind of learn as we go, and roll with everything that is asked of them.

We have such an amazing team of doctors, nurses, and medical professionals that help our two precious cherubs and we are just SO thankful for their care.

The lady in charge of our calendar scheduled another HUGE medical day just two days after this one, since we were on a roll and all!

It will be the next post, and it is a story just FULL of gratitude.

After I returned home from Illinois, we hit the ground running with a string of big medical appointments.

First up was a full day in Madison at the American Family Children’s Hospital.

Tate and Eliza both had their neurosurgery check-ups, which are yearly right now, even though these appointments were only nine months from our last appointments last December.

We purposed the appointments a few months early this way to avoid traveling in December, and I am SO glad we did!

With all that we have going on right now, I have to admit I do not think I prepped these two precious cherubs enough for this day.

I think I only started the big talks of all that was going to happen the night before the appointments.

Based on how things went with Tate, I regret this very much!

Addie Mae had to work on this day, so we took the middle boys with us.

It gave us a great reason to make a day of it and eat lunch out and then visit the zoo!

First up at UW was for Tate to have a quick brain MRI.

We do not have the option for this type of MRI locally, so that is why our insurance pays for us to have them in Madison.

The neurosurgeon was just checking on Tate’s VP shunt, even though there were no concerns.

Off Blake and Tate went to MRI!

It was about two seconds later I heard Tate screaming.

Then Blake came out with Tate because Tate was saying he needed to use the bathroom.

At that point I went and tried to calm Tate down, but he was beside himself.

So both Blake and I went into the MRI room, and unfortunately we had to hold Tate down while they strapped him to the table.

It broke my heart to see him so upset!

Tate held tightly to my hands as they rolled him into the machine, and I laid in the machine as much as I could so I could reach him.

He stopped crying once the noise started.

The whole thing took about fifteen minutes, but my perspective as the Mama was that it seemed a whole lot longer!

Once we were done there, we headed upstairs to check in for Tate and Eliza’s appointments with the neurosurgeon.

We all squeezed into the exam room together!

The neurosurgeon examined both Tate and Eliza, told us that Tate’s MRI looked perfect, and then gave us a picture of the prognosis for these two precious ones.

Eliza’s prognosis includes NO MORE (!!!!) MRI’s, and a space of one year before her next check-up.

After that one year check-up, the doctor said he will space check-ups either with a space of two years between them or possibly we could be on a “call if you need me” basis.

That is AMAZING!!!

Eliza’s type of spina bifida should only require the one surgery she had right after she came home from China, Lord willing!

Tate’s prognosis is more involved, and will probably include several surgeries someday – the unknown is when.

The neurosurgeon explained all of the unknowns – literally “unknown” even with all of the MRI’s, CT scans, and x-rays – and how he really does not know what he will do until he sees Tate’s split and malformed spinal cord with his own eyes.

These kinds of conversations make Blake and my heads spin – but are also the ones that get us on our knees, because we know who is the One True Healer!

So thankful to let the Lord carry that load, and to have such peace as we trust in Him!

Just look at these two precious gifts from Him!!!

The neurosurgeon wanted a couple more pictures of Tate’s full shunt system, including all of the tubing, in the form of x-rays, so we got the orders for those to be done another day at our local hospital, because insurance makes us do things this way.

We then checked out, and headed to find some lunch!

Chipotle is a favorite and gluten-free, so we headed there!

It was such a BEAUTIFUL day.

There is a free little zoo in Madison, and we knew visiting it would be the perfect end to a big medical day.

And it was!

That post will be up next!!