Flu Shot Appointment

CHECK!  We are all vaccinated. Whew!  While Arnie had to deal with some resistance at our clinic on Friday, he dealt with it beautifully so I didn’t have to.  What a guy!

At the appointment Monday evening Dr. Friedman wanted us to check with Dr. Heller to see if she felt Olivia should receive the adult dose of the pneumonia vaccine (”Pneumovax”) at her 2 year checkup.  Dr. Friedman was pleased we are doing the Drug Trial for RSV prevention (”Numax”).   We requested and received a refill on Olivia’s amoxicillan prescription.

A 44 year old “single ventricle”

While waiting for our appointment in the doctor’s office Monday evening, we ran into a woman who is 44 years old and has a similar anatomy to Olivia’s!  She was there with her teenage daughter. She overheard us talking to another woman about Olivia and commented for us to “not worry because she’ll grow up to be an old lady”.  We knew immediately this woman had some insider’s knowledge since normally we deal with shock, horror and / or sympathy when people find out about her.  She looked very healthy and couldn’t even remember what surgeries she’s had - it’s been that long!  And she has been pregnant 5 times!! It’s possible!

“Olivia, what does a doggy say?”

We were in the waiting room at Dr. Friedman’s office and they had on the 101 Dalmations movie.  I said to Olivia “what does a doggy say?” And she responded with “woo! Woo!”  Close enough for me!

A year ago today

A year ago today Olivia had her first cardiac cath at CCMC.

That’s all for now. I hope all is well with everyone!  Next update will be after Olivia’s first Numax vaccination on Monday, October 24. Hopefully Arnie takes good notes so I can get all the information documented here.

Another fall, another go around regarding RSV prevention.  While I don’t want to wish away Olivia’s toddlerhood, I look forward to the day when she’s old enough to not need these shots.

When we last covered this topic I was in the process of getting Dr. Friedman’s office involved in getting Olivia’s synagis.  I have spoken with both nurses, BC/BS of IL (insurance) and Professional Health Care (pharmacy providing the Synagis).  Long story short, Professional Home will not be shipping synagis until the last week of October. Hmm, if I can get the same (or better) drugs for free via CCMC for the same timeframe - I’d rather go with FREE.  Saving the insurance company approximately $10,000 in drug costs and myself about $1200.

I spoke with Renee Richard today. She’s the nurse in charge of the RSV drug trial at CCMC. She is getting her supply by October 19.  Arnie was already taking a half day on Monday, October 24 so we scheduled Olivia’s first appointment for that afternoon.  I’ll  be so relieved when we finally have the first dose in her.

Flu Shots

By Monday evening the entire Belfonti household (minus the cats) will have been given their flu shots.  Arnie and I have appointments at a local grocery store for Friday, October 14. And Olivia and Maddie are scheduled for Monday, October 17 at Dr. Friedman’s office.

Olivia had her second flu shot today. No weight was taken.

Happy New Year!

Once again, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated!  No news is good news for the Belfonti’s and we’re happy to be living a normal life again.

Olivia had her flu shot on her 6 month birthday, which was Wednesday.  She weighs 14 lbs, 13 oz! One ounce shy of doubling her birth weight. She’s in the 25th percentile but Dr. Friedman isn’t concerned because she looks great.  For those who like to keep track - in 29 days she gained 1 lb, 3 oz.  Definitely not too shabby for a heart baby!

Olivia is sitting up unassisted!  She still wobbles when reaching for items out of her reach and tumbles over but if she’s just sitting - she does a fantastic job!

We’re still waking up between one and two times a night.  Dr. Friedman recommended a book for us to read and suggested we start giving her watered down formula when she does wake up at night to try and convince her body that nighttime is not for food but for sleep.

Olivia is still wearing 3-6 month clothing and has grown out of the size 1-2 pampers and now is wearing the size 2’s.  She’s our chunky monkey with cheeks that were made for kissing

I forgot to mention this before, but I sent another picture and letter to Dr. Roque at UCONN Medical Center.  It wasn’t mean this time around, I just bragged about how wonderful Olivia is doing.  It was sent right around Christmas, after her Glenn.

Monday is Olivia’s synagis shot and I’ll update again after that VNA appointment.

Or how the government affected our family:

Dr. Friedman has been very insistent that everyone in our family who is in close contact with Olivia needs to be vaccinated for the flu.  Arnie and I were lucky enough to get to a clinic the day they announced the shortage of flu shots.  Maddie has an appointment with Dr. Friedman on Monday evening for her shot.

Yesterday I received an email from Dr. Friedman.  The government had confiscated all their private insurance patient’s supply of flu shots. If we had medicare or medicaid they would be able to give her a shot (ARGH). But other than that we had to hope we could find one elsewhere.  I spent the better half of yesterday afternoon on the phone with our care manager, Jean trying to find a flu shot clinic that would administer a shot to Maddie.  I was getting borderline hysterical..

Jean was awesome. She is so resourceful and keeps me calm when I’m ready to pass out from fear and hysterics.  She went so far as to call the Director Of Health in our town to see if he could help us. He gave us the names of three pediatricians in town who had the vaccine and suggested we have Dr. Friedman’s office call one of these doctors to see if they would give us a dose for Maddie.

I called Gloria and gave her the information. They were going to call around for us.

Not 10 minutes later Gloria called me back. The government decided to release the private insurance patients supply to the doctors and they are getting their vaccines in within 2 - 3 business days!  We scheduled an appointment for Monday, October 25th.

While I was on the phone about the flu shots, Dr. Friedman picked up the phone to talk.  She wanted to make sure I understood she does NOT want Olivia in her office during flu season.    We rescheduled her 4 month checkup from December 1 to November 10th so we can hopefully avoid the entire winter flu season in the office.  She told me she is planning on setting up special “checkup” hours in the morning where no one who is sick is allowed in the office in order to keep the babies healthy.