What kind of label is "Failure to Thrive?" They may as well call it "Crappy Mom Disease," or how about "Your Mommy needs to find a new day job Syndrome."
They are just words I know, but I can't tell you how my heart sank when the nurse came back in the room with 4 pages worth of test orders, and FTT scribbled in dark black letters at the top of each page, describing a "diagnosis." I know I'm not the world's best mother, but I thought I was pretty good at keeping my kids healthy and getting them to grow properly.
Now for the past two days, poor Ava has been poked, prodded, and stuck to determine if there is a medical reason she is so small. You should have seen the poor phlebotomist about wet herself today when she realized the patient she called was a 13lb. 1 year old, and her orders were for 22 vials of blood. (this on top of the blood already taken for allergy testing just a week ago.--Bless that wonderful lady who finagled with the Lab several times how to overlap testing to utilize what little blood they could get from her. Only one more stick tomorrow.)
Of course we want to make sure she's healthy and there are no underlying medical conditions, but the process is a bit traumatic and disheartening.
And I really wish they could come up with a better term in describing her. Maybe, "Skinny Minnie Syndrome" or "Hypochubbs" or "Noassatall." They would be greatly prefered, as I myself do not see a child who is failing to thrive.
Posts
5 comments:
I thought Noassatall was what they prescribe...man, that girl is almost like my newborns!
I am with you. I think FTT is a horrible term; really, what happened to bedside manner.
I love "Noassatall" and the others aren't bad. The next time your doctor calls it failure to thrive you should politely ask him to call it Noassatall.
She looks happy, hope nothing bad comes back on the tests. My niece was FTT and was so tiny for forever. She is three now and still small, but really quite normal, healthy, and happy.
I know you are a wonderful mom. I don't think you could not be. Take care and don't be too hard on yourself.
You are the most interesting blog writer I know! Even with a subject that is sensitive, you can make it humorous as you share your feelings with the rest of us. Maybe you are the next Erma Bombeck.
Years ago, I remember how devastated I was when I found out the schools had put "at risk" labels on my older three boys school records. Other than their tendency to break other children's toys, they were not "at risk". You know that you are wonderful and caring parents, so don't let this get you down.
WOW! What a rough process. If it makes you feel any better, my cousin has a 19 lb 2 1/2 year old little girl. :) She says the doctors give her a hard time every time she is there, but I don't think they have gone as far as the FTT diagnosis. That must be hard!
I know the feeling of Crappy Mom Syndrome. Katie weighed less @ 6 months than she did @ 4, and MAN did they make me feel about this big over that. It probably didn't help that I had no clue until they put her on the scale. So I had Clueless Mom Syndrome too.
The doctor had his pen out to write "FTT" on her chart when she pulled out of it. She's okay now, if that gives you any hope!
Post a Comment