For Parents (Especially New Parents)

[Caria Knight]

Be weary of who you chose as your pediatrician. But most importantly ALWAYS go with your gut instinct. If you know something is wrong with your child and the doctor says s/he is fine, get a second opinion.

As some of you may have read, my son was just in the hospital for 5 days. He was there because of a sever viral infection but his stay was longer then expected because of his last pediatricians incompetence.

About 2 1/2 months ago he developed a cronic cough. We took him to the doctor and she diagnosed him with asmatic broncitus (sp?). He seemed to get better after a week but another week later he was still coughing and had vomited a few times. That time it was "just the flu". Two weeks later, he's still coughing and now says he has paper stuck in his nose. We looked and didn't see anything but took him to the doctor anyway. She found it shoved way up there and removed it. It was puss covered and bloody but she said he'd be fine and didn't need antibiotics. Two weeks after that he spiked a 104 fever, she saw him and said use motrin. The fever broke, the cough remained.

In almost 3 months he hasn't spent a full week in daycare because of him constantly being sick. I kept telling the doctor that there's something more and she kept saying it's just because of him starting daycare and building up immunities from the other kids germs. By this time I'm fed up and switch doctors. The new doctor sees him for the cough before receiving his file from the old and tries some asthma meds to help him breath. A week later (still before his file arrives) I rush him over to the new doctor and he's admitted to the hospital with a intestinal viral infection that he caught from a kid in his class.

At the hospital we discover something. He has a serious sinus infection. His little body has been fighting it since before the paper was removed from his nose. That is why his immune system has been so week and unable to fight off new illnesses.

So I warn you all now, be very causious of who you take your children to. And never, ever be intimidated into backing down when you know something is wrong. I learned this the hard way and unfortunitly it's my son who's suffering because of it.

 

[sabbathstorm]

We had a similar thing happen to us with our daughter, although not nearly as serious as your case Caria. She had a runny nose, cough, and a really terrible smell to her. No amount of bathing would clear up the smell. We took her to outpatients and they said she had an infection and prescribed antibiotics. She took those for a week and everything seemed better. Once she stopped them, the smell returned.

My partner decided to take her to outpatients again and had a different doctor. This doctor practically said she was neglected and should be bathed more often. It took a lot of self-restraint for him not to lash out at the doctor! She was sent home with nothing at all.

I had enough and took her back and thankfully met up with a wonderful doctor. He quickly realized what the problem was and referred her to a pediatrician immediately. She had a small piece of a sponge ball lodged in her nose and that's what was creating the smell. Luckily she didn't develop a serious infection.

As Caria said, be cautious and don't back down!