Cooper-man

I kinda didn't want to write this post.  I'm a little bit of a private person when it comes to things of a difficult nature, but this is still my journal.  Here it goes.

About a week after Oliver was born, Cooper was at his regular well-child check with our new pediatrician, Dr. Beauchaine.  LOVE HER!!  As I had written at that time, Cooper was in the first percentile for height.  When Dr. B. walked into the room and saw where he was on the scale, she didn't believe it.  She said, "I have to see that one for myself."

So she took Cooper out to check his height.  Yep, still short.

As a precaution she decided to have us go and check Cooper's thyroid.  At Cooper's age the thyroid effects his growth.

We took Cooper in to the hospital to get his blood drawn.  Stephen carried that boy to the phlebotomist and held him as they drew his blood.  I had mixed feelings about the whole thing.  I really wanted to be there for my little boy, but I hate needles.  Stephen made the decision for me.  He took Cooper back and told me to stay with Maycee and Oliver.

When they emerged from the back room Cooper wasn't even crying.  And he was holding two new toys.  Stephen said that he flinched and then watched the needle.

At that point in time the test results said that Cooper's thyroid was fine, but there were some red flags that they wanted to look at again in about four months.

We were called by our doctors office in the beginning of March to go and have his blood drawn again.  We went in to get more blood taken on Thursday night, March 13th.  Dr. B. was out of the office, so I was called by a nurse with the results on Friday morning.  I was told that his thyroid was abnormal and I needed to get him on medication immediately.

Honestly, I felt like I needed to panic, but I still felt calm.  It was the weirdest thing.  I tend to be a bit of a panic-er.  Ask anyone.  I picked up Cooper's medication that afternoon and learned from the pharmacist that we had to give Cooper pills.  On an empty stomach.  First thing in the morning.  And he couldn't eat or drink anything, except water, for 30 to 45 minutes after taking his pill.  We were just leaving to my parents' house for my sister's mission farewell.

Saturday morning Cooper popped that pill in his mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed.

The next seven days, however, were a different story.  We learned that we could crush the pill and put it in a small spoonful of food.  But Cooper knew what I was doing every morning.  He didn't care what that pill was crushed in, he wasn't taking it.  He's stubborn like that.  Kinda like his mom.  After a week of me explaining every morning what was happening.  Then me having to sit on him to hold him down, pry open his mouth and force feed that thing to him, he just got it.  Every morning since, he pops that pill in his mouth, chews, swallows, then drinks water for 30 minutes until he can have his milk.

This past Wednesday, April 16th, we went in for Cooper's 2 year checkup.  Dr. B. said that we would go in to get his blood drawn again on April 28th and see how things were looking after being on the meds for about 6 weeks.  She also told me that they were also testing to see if he was allergic to gluten.

Again, in my head, I thought I should be alarmed, but I was still calm.

I really don't know what is going to happen, but I can honestly say that whatever it is, we will be able to handle it.