No one enjoys waiting for a medical appointment - let alone one of those "Big" appointments where some tough conversations need to happen. Claire has been losing weight for the past few months, and the doctors just don't understand. At our last nutrition appointment we were advised that we had "tried every nutritional option" and we needed to begin considering "alternative options". Translation: we were back to square one of considering a GI tube...and the doctor was 1.5 hours late for our appointment.
Let me just say - I love this doctor. He came out to tell me he was working some difficult cases, and he had not forgotten about us. He anticipated our appointment taking a bit longer as well.
Until we put Claire on the scale.
She gained 1.6 pounds since last month - more than she typically gains in an entire year.
We all stood there staring at the scale. "Am I in the right room???" joked the doctor.
Totally not how we thought the day would go. So, we went through our typical routine, and we sat there going over every detail since our last visit, and we decided that it was the combination of meds, coconut oil, emulsified oil, and dietary supplement that she gets at least 3-5 times each day. Her body has finally healed enough and we have just the right balance...for now.
But....the story gets better:
When we decided to move to a prescription for the emulsified oil, the doctor needed to consult with the nutritionist, so he went down the hall to her office and said, "Hey, I have a question about Claire Godinez." As they began talking, the pediatric metabolic geneticist poked her head around the door and asked, "Are you talking about Claire Godinez from Tripler?? (military hospital in Hawaii). Our doctor only knew that we had come from Louisiana, so he came back to the room and asked, "Hey...weird question, but were you ever in Hawaii?"
"Yeah. When Claire was 8 months old. We joined Patrick on his 'deployment' so Claire could get different medical care."
"Well, you're never going to believe this, but Janet is here."
In walked our Hawaiian miracle doctor. When Shreveport had written off Claire and made a grim prognosis, she was the first who gave us a glimmer of hope. She was the doctor who insisted on additional testing, coordinated meetings with other doctors, and quickly ruled out the horrible, scary things that LSU doctors had diagnosed.
In the midst of my minor meltdown, I asked how she possibly recognized Claire's name from a simple passing comment.
"You're not really a family that someone forgets," she joked.
Nope. Not today. And luckily, it was for a good reason. You never know when your path may cross with someone from the past, and you never know when Claire might surprise us all.
Here is the full story from our visit in Hawaii:
http://patrickmelissaandfamily.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-christmas-story-little-late.html
