Tag: medicine

Maxim’s upcoming surgery

Yesterday I briefly mentioned that Maxim is about to have a surgery.  That was very inconsiderate of me.  I got a lot of people worried without providing any details whatsoever.   And for this I want to apologize. Thank you all who called and wrote.

Here are some more details just to lift that burden of the unknown.  Maxim will undergo removal of the adenoids and a related clean-up.   We are arranging blood tests and paperwork, and if everything will go OK, he’ll be operated tomorrow (Friday).  The procedure is widely practiced and should take only about 20 minutes, but will require general anaesthetic.   He should be back home before the end of the same day.

We tried to avoid the surgery for as long as we could, hoping that the problem can be cured other ways.  Unfortunately, in his case, it can’t.  And pushing it further is getting dangerous for his health.  He has been sick pretty much every other week for the last 6 month or so.  More often than not he needed antibiotics treatment.  His immune system needs a break, as well as his ears, which suffered to the edge of degrading his hearing.

So, that’s how things are for now.  I’ll keep you posted on how it will go.

Once again, thank you all for calling and writing.  Your support is very much appreciated.

Daily del.icio.us bookmarks

Here are some parenting, and health and medicine related bookmarks. These all were found in the process of studing nuclear scans and their affect on the baby’s health.

Continue reading Daily del.icio.us bookmarks

The geekiest present ever

To celebrate Maxim’s 6 month birthday today, we gave him the geekiest present ever – the nuclear scan of his kidneys. That’s far from your average baby toys and clothes. The procedure involves some of the most advanced technology in the nuclear medicine. And there was more involvement in the process than just watching or laying in some scanning machine. The radioactive substance had to be physically injected into Maxim’s body two hours before the scan.

Anyway, both Olga and I were scared and worried getting him this present, but everything worked out good. The procedures weren’t painful or harmful in any way. Maxim didn’t even cry once during the long day. He was even happy with his present – he laughed and smiled often, touching the scanning machine and playing with the drain off his leg.

Olga and I got relaxed after we realized how simple the thing actually is. We made lots of jokes, calling Maxim names like “nuclebaby” and “chernokid”. Since all the radioactive stuff will come out via natural ways, we were kidding about “nuclear waste dump” in his dipers.

Gladly, we are back home. Maxim feels fine. And we are expecting the results of the scan in about one week time.

Visit to nephrologist

Today we went for a long awaited trip to Nicosia to see nephrologist and find out all we can about Maxim’s kidneys. The appointment was with Dr.Avraam in Makarious III hospital (enter Nicosia from the Limassol-Nicosia highway, turn left on the first traffic light, turn right on the second traffic light where there is a Marks & Spencer shop and Goody’s on the corner, just after passing McDonald’s. Then go straight for about 300-400 meters until there is a traffic light with the church on the corner. Turn left there and immediately go right into the hospital parking.)

Makarious III hospital is a huge thing I should tell you. And there is a lot of bearucracy going on. And many people from the staff don’t speak any English, so you better come earlier if you need to. We came about an hour earlier and we finished with everything just in time. From the lady who directed us towards “Go windows write” (which is reception that checks your medical card) through “You’ll have to pay” (which is a cashier where new medical cards are paid for) to “Wait here” (which is a long queueu to a couple of doctors in pediatric department).

I was surprised to see that there was no equipment in Dr.Avraam’s office what-so-ever. Not even a computer. No scanning devices. No testers nothing. He checked Maxim with his hands, looked all over him and said “It doesn’t look like anything serious.”. He said that it is probably an easy case of ectopic kidney. I was eased on one hand, but suspecious on the other. He added than “But you’ll have to make some more tests.” He made us an appointment for strghchojdzojdhzl-scopy in the 20s days of August. He said that this strghchojdzojdhzl-scopy test will show the exact positions of Maxim’s kidneys and how serious the whole situation is. Because of his poor English I didn’t understand the nature of the test. The only thing that I got was that it will happen in the Nuclear Medicine Laboratory. Sounds scary.

And so we came back – hot, tired, and in waiting for the end of August…