Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Light Headed College Dude

Yesterday, I accompanied Nathan to the doctor. Before we left the house, I asked him if he'd eaten anything yet. (Unlike his mother who is loathe to miss even one meal, Nathan sometimes "forgets" to eat.)

As it turns out, in the the traditional manner of An Official College Student On An Official College Break, he had slept in late and not eaten a thing. I quickly foisted a bowl of vanilla yogurt on him and we took off out the door.

Everything went along pretty fine and dandy till they had to draw blood to check his thyroid levels. After just a moment or two he said in a shaky voice, "I feel sort of light headed." (I guess that will teach him to eat a decent meal before having blood drawn!)

That nurse had him flat on his back in a matter of seconds, which wasn't overly surprising. However, what was a bit surprising was to be pressed into active nursing duty myself. My medical mission was to stand at the end of the bed and place each of his big ol' feet on each of my not-so-big shoulders. And then hold them that way. For about fifteen minutes.

I must say, it was a unique experience. But hey, I'm a mom. It's all in my line of work.

The nurse put cool cloths on his neck and forehead, took his pulse several times (it was weak and thready) took his blood pressure (it was 80 over 40), called the doctor back in, hovered over him, asked me if my shoulders were getting tired, and in general was an efficient and caring person to have in the room with my non-eating, near-fainting College Dude.

With Nathan's permission, here are a couple of photos from his happy doctor visit.

Laid flat out. (The nurse had finally given me permission to lower his legs.)

Sitting up after a while, to see how he felt.

As he regaled the family with his whole dramatic medical story at the dinner table, Sarah (our intrepid cancer survivor and medical procedure veteran) listened to him with the greatest of interest. When he was finally done, she fixed him with a sisterly gaze and said, "You just couldn't stand the heat, huh?"

We ALL got a good laugh out of that one. Score for Sarah!

His blood work will be back Wednesday; they'll compare this thyroid panel with the one done six weeks ago and make a decision where to go from there as far as medication or treatment. Of course, since he'll be back in Florida by then, we'll have to engage in some interstate medical maneuverings, but that's nothing we can't handle.

Today one of the things on the Smith Family Schedule is to take down the Christmas tree and get all the seasonal stuff packed away. And on that subject, I really think we need to start a new tradition of having sugar cookies and egg nog when we take tree down as WELL as when we put it up.

It only seems right. I mean after all, Nathan has to recover his strength from his medical trauma. And I have to recover my strength from being his official leg lifter.

Yup. The votes are in. There are cookies in my future.

6 Had Something To Say (Just click here!):

Anonymous said...

It's putting away all the Christmas stuff day at my house. Always a bummer. Putting it up is so much more fun. Have a good day and I hope you can find a spot for all of it.

lesley said...

These kids! Both my boys would 'forget to eat' when in their late teens. They just didn't think about it. Like it didn't matter. Imagine! :)
They were each so painfully thin that it was a bit worrisome. The doctor put Jimmy on Periactin for a month. He said, it has a side effect of increasing appetite, so Jimmy should gain weight, if he was a healthy child...and he did. He gained 10 pounds in a month from just eating. So they took him off it and told him to EAT!
Four year later, I was back to the doc with John, same problem, same solution, same outcome. Same 10 pounds gained. Same instructions from the doc: Eat!!
Jimmy is a whopping 180 pounds now at 6 ft tall. Yay! John is finally filling out now at 21 years old. Nathan reminds me so much of my thin boys. Hopefully the thyroid issue will be a non-issue.
Oh, oddly enough, Jimmy has an irregular pulse when he sleeps. He's had it since he was young. How do I know this? I used to check his pulse when he had a fever and sleeping, rather than take his temperature which would wake him up. So they did a sleeping EKG and said it was fine-

What is it with these kids? How can they forget to eat? I wish I had that problem.

Karo said...

"Just couldn't stand the heat..." Now that had me cracking up this morning. :) Oh, and like Lesley, I too wish I had the problem of "forgetting" to eat now and then. Ha!
Karo

Beverly said...

College boys and food! Oh my, I could go on and on about that!

I hope the results give some answers and help Nathan feel better!

Anonymous said...

Becky, does he have HYPOthyroidism or HYPERthyroidism? Because HYPER can cause irregular heartbeats. Just lettin' ya know. One time I got stuck in a heart arrhythmia and had to go the ER and one of the first things they did was draw blood to check my thyroid levels.

Ann Martin said...

Got my tree down on Monday. I was going to leave it up until "Old Christmas" Wednesday but started taking the wreaths off the doors and the decorations off the tree Monday. The plan was to leave the prelit tree up but after all that I just took it down, too. That the latest I have left mine up--usually all Christmas gone by New Year's Day. That was always my New Year's Eve project--taking all decorations in the house down and packing up. Of course, the outside lights are still up but turned off. That's Jim's job. Hope Nathan's tests turn out fine for him. Would have liked to have seen you with his feet on your shoulders. Enjoy the cookies and egg nog today.