My toughest moment so far as a parent
Jun 10 '04
The Bottom Line My child was sick, I didn't know what was wrong, and I had to deal with an incompetent doctor.
This is my contribution to my Write Off Celebrating Parenthood
I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 7 1/2 month old son. Needless to say there are multiple ups and downs and ins and outs when raising children.
I'm choosing to write on my toughest moment so far as a parent.
When my daughter was 11 weeks old, my husband had a friend over to watch the SuperBowl. During the game, I fed the baby and when I was getting her ready for bed, I realized she felt "hot and clammy". She began to get very fussy and could not be soothed. I took her temperature and it was 102. Shortly there after, the baby began to vomit. I'm not talking spit up either - full fledged projectile vomit. As a first time parent with a new baby, I was very alarmed. My husband and his friend went to get Pedialyte, while I attempted to soothe the baby and keep her clean. Over the next several hours, I could not get her to keep any fluids down, and by 5 AM I was on the phone with the pediatrician. She had not had a wet diaper all night and was very lethargic. I was advised to take her to the ER immediately. While waiting to be treated in the ER and trying to contact my husband at work to update him, I had the worst experience with the attending physician. They did not have a pediatric doctor on duty at the hospital at the time. My daughter's temperature had reached 104 and the only thing we had received so far was a Tylenol suppository. When I asked the doctor what he planned to do, his reply was to give the Tylenol time to work and then try to feed her - and he walked out. A nurse came in, as I sat on the side of the bed cradling my daughter and crying. I asked her if this is the way they would normally treat an 11 week old child that had been vomiting almost continuously for 10 hours, and still had not urinated? Wasn't she dehydrating? Shouldn't she receive some type of tests or fluids or something? ?The nurse went back out to get the doctor, who then returned with a completely different attitude. When he walked in his first words were "I need to apologize to you. I looked at her chart wrong and thought it said she was 11 months old, not 11 weeks old..........." I'm not exactly sure what he said after that because I could hear nothing over my own screams - "You can't LOOK at this child and tell she isn't 11 months old?" I insisted they get a pediatrician in there immediately and for this man to go away and take his hands off my child. I'm quite sure I called him an incompetent something during all of this, too. Meanwhile, I managed to contact my husband who was able to leave work so he could join me at the hospital.
One of the pediatricians from the group we saw arrived at the hospital, ordered that she be admitted and then the proper testing and IV Fluid treatment began. Believe it or not, this part was actually a relief. At least something was finally being done to take care of her.
As it turns out, she had a very bad case of rotavirus. The vomiting turned into bright yellow fluid along with equally bright yellow diarrhea that was uncontrollable and almost constant for the first 2 days. She ended up with IV catheters in both hands and also in her head. Finally, after 3 days of treatment, her fever was gone and she was able to keep down some liquids. We spent 4 days and nights in the hospital before she was discharged and another week at home dealing with occasional vomiting and diarrhea - which led to a nasty red oozing diaper rash, too. When I took her to the doctor for a checkup the week after she was discharged from the hospital, she had lost almost 1 1/2 pounds, but was given an "AOK" that the virus was cleared and she was well on the road to recovery.
I realize that many parents deal with a lot tougher situations and more serious illnesses than a virus. I feel for and offer prayers and comforting thoughts for anyone that must go through trying and difficult times on a continuous basis. My episode my seem trivial compared to others. But this was, by far, the most trying thing I have been through as a parent. Not only did I have to see my baby sick and feel helpless, I had to deal with a doctor that could not tell the difference between an 11 month old and an 11 week old. I tried complaining and was only told that they "were sorry - he misread the chart". Maybe it was just me being an overly concerned new parent at the time, but even I can look at an 11 week old baby and know it isn't 11 months old - unless there are more serious problems involved - and then I would at least pay attention to that!
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mommykd
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Member: Lisa
Location: Georgia
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