After a weekend in the hospital...

errant_star · May 23, 2005

A bit of background first ...

My family including my mother and sister and her family have all been sick off and on with a cold since the beginning of February. My mother went to the hospital and two different doctors on different occasions and told them how long she'd been sick and that she cared for her grandchildren including a 10 month old baby and they just kept telling her that it was just a virus and there was nothing they could do and brushed her off.

So finally about 2 weeks ago I give in and take my 2 boys to the doctor and get the same brush off ... almost like I was wasting her time. So whatever, I trust what she said and just keep waiting for it to run its course. Then last thursday the baby starts running a fever and I can't get it to break ... I gave him 2 tepid baths, kept a wet cloth on his head, gave him infant tylenol and tried to keep him hydrated. Still the fever won't break so I take him into the doctor on Friday morning and she refers him to the pediatrician on call. So then I go to his office, he then sends us for chest xrays and bloodwork. I get that over and done with and then, after waiting in the doctors waiting room for 2 more hours while he was called away for an emergency c-section at the hospital, he takes one look at the xrays and sends us up to the hospital to be admitted because the baby has pneumonia.

So we get admitted, have an IV inserted and 3 more needles to have blood taken, and get settled in for the next 2 nights to have antibiotics given intraveneously. Not a fun 2 days with a 10 month old baby

The thing that gets me is that after all this and finding out about Keiffer my sister took my neice to the emergency room and she has pneumonia as well

... and all this could have been avoided if the doctors had only done more in the first place :grumpy:

So anyways that's my rant ... thanks for listening :meh:

Oh and the baby's home now and doing well .. thankfully

LilCujo · May 23, 2005

I am glad everyone is ok....stupid DR. makes you wonder how they get where they are sometimes.

Jeff Canes · May 23, 2005

That just awful, glade the baby is better, hope the other kids and Mom are fine too

terri · May 23, 2005

I'm so glad everyone is okay! It isn't typically hard to diagnose pneumonia, sometimes you can pick up telltale chest rattles through the stethoscope.

You weren't treated right, and I think the doctor should receive a letter from you to that effect. I've worked with so many wonderful docs, and the ones who suffer are with the HMO groups, who are run by suits who beat doctors into seeing as many patients as possible in an 8 hour day. It's too easy to overlook simple things and be rushed into the next room. Terrible. Write the doctor! They need to take back their profession. :soapbox:

ferny · May 24, 2005

I'm soooooooooooo glad that things are better now, Jen. :hug:: :thumbsup:

I've yet to hear a single good word for the doctors in Canada. It may just be that people only have reason to talk when things go wrong. But they don't seem the best.

It isn't typically hard to diagnose pneumonia, sometimes you can pick up telltale chest rattles through the stethoscope.

I was told it was pretty hard to diagnose it. I mean to know for sure that it is pneumonia and not something else. But... we both know you know a lot more than I do. :mrgreen:

errant_star · May 24, 2005

Thanks for your concern everyone ... the baby is fine and on an oral antibiotic for the next 6 days and I'm taking my other son in to get looked at as well.

It isn't typically hard to diagnose pneumonia, sometimes you can pick up telltale chest rattles through the stethoscope.

That's kind of what I thought ... but I am far from a medical professional. The thing that gets me though is even if there were no tell-tale chest rattles that once a doctor heard that a 10 month old baby had been sick on and off for more than 3 months they would figure something was wrong and order the chest xrays or do a swab or something not just brush off something that is obviously wrong.

Just frustrates me when the hospital and the IV and everything else could have been avoided for my baby! It was incredibly difficult to restrain him while he screamed and kicked while they searched around for a vein for the IV and then again for the 3 vials of blood they had to take. It wasn't easy as a mom to watch.

Alison · May 24, 2005

I'm so glad he's okay now, and I would have been upset also. There is nothing worse that having to see your child sick.

Big Mike · May 24, 2005

ferny said:
I've yet to hear a single good word for the doctors in Canada. It may just be that people only have reason to talk when things go wrong. But they don't seem the best.

That's the bad part of somewhat free healthcare...it always seems to be underfunded. The best doctors leave the country to work because they can make 4-5 times as much money in the US. A lot of the ones we do have, have come here from other countries and have to work within the limitations of the system.

Of course, you are right, you only ever hear about the bad experiences...there are lots of great doctors & health care workers in Canada.

ShutteredEye · May 24, 2005

Certainly not defending these docs, cause it sounds like they dropped the ball, but....

You can have pneumonia for months and not realize it--not every case puts you flat on your back. More commonly known as walking pneumonia.

photong · May 24, 2005

same thing happened to my kid sister. she spent like 5 or 6 days in the hospital. i think mom had it too (or something really bad) but she refused to go. man she scared me.

lukily i never caught it. my immune system is really good to me. thankfully i never catch anything like that or the flu. just 2 or 3 colds a year.