ISAIAH'S PNEUMONIA

My baby is finally better and yet I am still pissed at his doctor. The week of the bad ice storm when no one had power neither did any of the doctors but I was able to get Zay in on that Wednesday. Isaiah had been coughing terribly, gagging and puking on excess snot almost every morning for three months. He got his ears done in May and had not been sick since then until Labor day weekend which might I add was a record for him. Anyway he would cough really really bad I would give him a few breathing treatments and he would be better for about three or four days then it would return. So when I took him in the week of the storm I told the pediatrician who had already been told about Isaiah's situation that it had now lasted a little over three months and something needed to be done. Well he listened to his lungs and said, "He sounds good. He just has a virus!" My response was "the energizer cold virus because it has been over three months and he coughs to the point of puking up flemy snot EVERY morning no matter where he is! He can't possibly feel good and I am sick of cleaning snotty puke I would rather clean up hotdog/macaroni puke than that!!" He says "Well kids get 6 - 8 viruses a year." I said, "ALL in three months!! Could it possibly be an allergy of some type?" His response "Just a virus!" Needless to say I left pissed at being totally dismissed and tired of him acting like I am an idiot. It really pisses me off when doctors do that!! I am not the worry wart mother who takes her child in for every sneeze, sniffle, cough and fever!!! I learned very early on in the journey of motherhood that for the most part doctors won't do much for the common cold and fever because "coughing is good and helps breakup and get rid of the nastiness". I believe though there is a point where a little sleep would do everyone some good!! Besides the fact a "virus" shouldn't last three months without being looked into!! I know there are mothers out there that take their children to the doctor for every single little thing and expect some sort of medication to fix every little thing; however, I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE MOTHERS! My doctor should know this and I know he has tons of patients but he knows me because Isaiah has been a sicko so he could just look at the chart to figure out when I bring him in he is actually sick with something that REQUIRES medication!! I take care of the little things on my own and if I take my children to the doctor - they ARE sick!! Well I went with the doctors prognosis even though it went against my gut feeling! ONE week later I was working late so my mother brought the kids up to my work and my dad said "I think you need to take him back to the doctor listen to his breathing." In a way he sounded like he was gasping. I decided to take him to MedNow since they are close and have always figured out what is wrong and fixed it all the while acting like they actually care!! Well I go in and explain everything and he asks why I haven't taken him to his pediatrician because his oxygen level was bad enough to be admitted into the hospital. I explained I had one week prior and was basically ignored and told he had a virus but I also expressed my concern for the so-called "virus" lasting a little over three months with no concern from my pediatrician. I got "diarrhea of the mouth" and told the poor guy my concerns about him coughing, gagging and puking excess snot EVERY morning for months and my concerns about the doctor ignoring me then my whole speech about that came out. I really felt bad for the guy later but I explained it wasn't him I was mad at but I wanted tests run because something was wrong with my son!! He checked him over and said, "his lungs actually sound good but I am going to run some chest xrays because sometimes the worst sounding kids turn up nothing and the ones that sound okay end up having pneumonia!" He did chest xrays then came in the room and said Isaiah had bacterial pneumonia in his right lung and he was going to see if a breathing treatment would help his oxygen level before he went any further. The treatment brought the level up and he maintained it for awhile so the doctor said since I had a nebulizer at home he would let him go home so he wouldn't be in the hospital over the holidays. He prescribed breathing treatments every 4 hours, very strong antibiotics (which in turn caused diarrhea not good in the potty training phase - yippee!), and I had to do counts on his breathing and bring him back the next day to recheck his oxygen level. He said to take him to the ER if he got any worse otherwise have his chest xrays redone in 10 - 14 days either there or at his pediatrician. My poor baby boy had to do breathing treatments all the time even on Christmas he had to open presents then do a breathing treatment but at least he wasn't in the hospital!



This is where my conflict came: do I bring him back to Mednow who actually listened to me and took care of my son? OR do I go to the pediatrician and rub in into his face that he was wrong and from now on when I am concerned enough to bring my kid there he better act as if he cares and actually do his job? The doctor at MedNow said he had no way of knowing exactly how long Isaiah had pneumonia. He said he could of had it 24 hours, 2 weeks or 3 months but from the scenerio I had given he thinks he had it for quite awhile. He said he would probably do better because of the breathing treatments but would just get bad again because he was never given anything to get rid of the pneumonia! Nice I know! Why didn't his pediatrician listen to me? Well I finally decided to take him back to MedNow for the 2nd set of xrays since they were thorough and knew what was going on AND because a visit to the pediatrician would not have been pretty especially since I am still fuming mad just talking about it weeks later!! I still plan on having a talk with his pediatrician to let him know I don't appreciate being ignored especially since I am not one of those helpless, needy, worry-wart, drug seeking mothers! When I tell you something is wrong then something is wrong! At least try to get satisfaction by attempting to prove me wrong instead of pushing my intuition aside, ignoring my concerns, acting like I am the idiot while jeopardizing my son's health or I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!!! You may have more education than me but that doesn't mean you always use it so quit acting like an overpaid know-it-all idiot and start doing your job at least for the childrens' sake! Thanks guys sorry you had to read all that if you didn't stop half way through but I really needed that! Isaiah got his repeat xrays and they were clear!! He is feeling great not coughing, gagging or puking and that is not only a relief to momma who is always cleaning it but to Isaiah who was at the point of saying "momma I no want puke!" every single time he even coughed. Sad but true! My baby is back to his normal bad little self not that pneumonia stopped his ornery little butt from being bad!! Kids - gotta love 'em! Doctors - gotta watch 'em and keep them on their toes! Pray that next time I blog I am not in jail for assault or disturbing the peace at a local doctor's office hehehehe!!