Tag Archives: not biking

To the doctor, again

Our current pediatrician practices out of an office that’s about seven miles away.  Due to timing, distance, and route options, we have never made the trip by bicycle.  Every time we take G to this doctor, we pass by a pediatric practice that is less than two miles from us, an easy and lovely bike ride.

I really like our pediatrician (and I’m hesitant to change horses midstream), but if someone had told me back in December that we would be making six visits in just over four months (including four visits in the last 5 weeks alone), I might have switched to  the closer practice!

Our mid-April visit (trip 3 of 6 in 2015) resulted in an allergy diagnosis.  Claritin seemed to clear up those symptoms, and we enjoyed a week or so of health, and then a cough popped up, followed by a fever and a pneumonia diagnosis (trip 4 of 6).  The antibiotic seemed to really do its job — the fever disappeared almost immediately (surprisingly quickly, according to the doctor) and the cough was knocked way back . . . for awhile.

Last Wednesday (10 days after the diagnosis), we went back for a standard follow-up (trip 5 of 6) to make sure that his lungs were clear.  They were, and there had been no recurrence of fever, but I had a nagging feeling even then that his cough was headed in the wrong direction.

He had a lot of nasal drainage and a clearly worsening cough over the weekend, and then on Sunday afternoon, he spiked a fever again.  So yesterday we headed to the doctor YET AGAIN (trip 6 of 6), concerned about antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

The doctor took a really good listen to G’s lungs, and, despite the coughing, said his lungs still sounded clear.  The doctor’s best guess is that G now has a respiratory virus of some type.  This means no antibiotics, which is a good thing (in terms of antibiotic resistance and not having to deal with the side effects of another drug), but it also means no quick fix.

I’m hoping that this virus resolves quickly, with no secondary infections, so we can have a reprieve from the all-too-familiar drive to the doctor (and also a reprieve from sleepless nights — SO tired).

In the meantime, I’m torn, but I may investigate the closer pediatric practice.  We actually interviewed one doctor there before G was born.  We weren’t impressed with this individual (felt rushed and unimportant during the consultation), but there are other providers in the practice.  Trading a twenty-five minute car ride for a twelve-minute bike trip is tempting.

What would you do?

 

 

Car-tunes

So one thing that I find kind-of sort-of maybe not so bad about a car commute?  The radio.  At home radio listening revolves almost exclusively around NPR, so I only listen to other stations when I’m in the car, which, up until six months ago, was almost never.  I lost touch with the latest pop music (maybe not a huge loss?).  Biking is plenty of fun without the radio.

I fall into the “channel surfer” category when it comes to the radio.  I flip channels during commercials, DJ blathering, songs I dislike, and songs that clash with my mood.  That adds up to a lot of channel surfing.  Total radio ADD.  I imagine being in the car with me would be QUITE annoying.  Sometimes I manage to annoy myself, and I just have to pull the plug.

Anyhow, I have a couple of favorites at the moment.  While driving home the other night, I heard all three of them back-to-back!  Yeah, that was a good drive.  Without further ado, my top three, in no particular order:

  • All the Right Moves – OneRepublic
  • Breakeven – The Script
  • Young Forever (i.e., the Forever Young Remix) – Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson

No doubt that I’ll tire of these and move on to other songs of the moment before too long.