We're home. The doc has to hang on to the EFMP paperwork to get it all done. This is the guy who is ds's primary care doc and we saw him for the first time in the follow up from the walking pneumonia. At that time he ordered a pulmonary function test, like dsn had a few years ago, to check on the status of his lungs. I had never been called for an appointment, so he put a request in again.
Also, he started checking ds for Marfan's Syndrome. Last year the docs kept us there for an hour checking unusual things about him. So this time we knew what he was checking for. I've been asked about this since my kids were little. Apparently we have a few characteristics, but not enough. Marfan's is what docs think Abraham Lincoln had but now there is some dispute about it. Anyway it is something else to keep an eye on because there can be, well I forget what the doc called it, but heart related. Today the doc checked with his superior and came back to do one definitive test. He measured ds's arm span and compared that to his height. If his arm span was longer than his height, we'd have been referred to cardiology. But it's not, so I am to watch out for symptoms.
Then the pectus excavatum. That is a caving in chest, that gets much worse very quickly during puberty. At age 12, hmmmm.....
That is why we were there with the EFMP paperwork. The doc completes a write up on the seriousness of ds's condition, and that goes to the EFMP people. Then if dh gets an assignment, the EFMP people will check to see if the local base hospital would have the facilities to provide for care. In regards to pectus excavatum, when the time comes for surgery, our base hospital about 7 miles down the road is the only military hospital that will do the surgery for anyone USAF member in the entire world. So, the doc will recommend that we stay put. That doesn't guarantee anything. But I can also tell dh that a request to move to another base would not be in ds's best interests. ;)
The doc is also waiting on the pulmonary test to see where we are in lung function. He has my e-mail address and will contact me that way so I know when the paperwork is ready to pick up. Also he likes the idea of my having his e-mail address so that we can communicate as needed with the EFMP paperwork and any essential appointments. In his words, the Central Appointment Line is a bear.
Whew! So off to finish our little Thanksgiving dinner! DS is peeling potatoes now! He's been helping me all day and every time I take the turkey out to baste he ooh's and ahh's. And this year he thinks he'll actually eat the stuffing. We had the extra stuffing for lunch and he loved it...a first!
I am so thankful to be in our cozy little home, with my cozy little family...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! | 
• Nov. 21, 2007 - Happy Thanksgiving!
Ginny