Smart...Doctor?

Olivia's first two years of life really tested my faith in the medical profession.

Her first four months were tough enough, with several doctors in the same practice telling me that there was nothing at all wrong with my scrawny, screechy baby, that she didn't really cry more than other babies, she was just louder. And her lack of significant weight gain wasn't really anythign to worry about.

I was told over and over again that 'she'll catch up.' She didn't. She couldn't.

When she finally developed a dry, raspy cough at four months old, one of the doctors in the pediatrics practice started to believe that there might be something to my claim that Olivia was in pain. She (the doctor) prescribed Zantac and the change in Olivia over the next couple of months was AMAZING. She stopped fighting feeding. She still cried more than her older sister had at that age, but she was no longer either screaming, sleeping (rarely) or spitting up her food. We could actually put her down for longer than three minutes without her having a fit.

But still, the doctors didn't take my concerns about Olivia's lack of head control when she was eight months old seriously. Again, I heard, 'she's just a little behind. She'll catch up.'

I had to take her medical care into my own hands.

Don't get me wrong, I do actually like our primary pediatrician...for Alyssa. She's a typical kid, with typical problems (strep throat last year that he caught quickly and cured even faster.) but for a child like Olivia? I'm not sure he ever believed anything was truly wrong until the doctor at Riley gave us her diagnosis of 5p- Syndrome.

I actually mentioned the syndrome to him over a year before I asked for the referral to Riley Hospital for Children and the doctor actually said, "No. She doesn't have that. She's too pretty."

So you see, I'm not sure I trust many in the medical field.

But on Sunday, with feverish children in tow, I headed to Redimed, asking yet another doctor I'd never met to help me help my children.

And...wow. He...he was...smart.

He asked me if there were any medications that I'd been warned that Olivia should take due to her universal low muscle tone.

Those who know me probably know that i staret him, slack jawed, all "Duhhhhh?"

See, none of her doctors, not her primary pediatrian, not her geneticist (who has released O from her care), not her developmental pediatrician at Riley has ever told me that there were medications out there that doctors might prescribe a typical child that Olivia shouldn't take.

This doctor, Dr. M,this Redimed doctor, explained that there are medications on the market that have proven to affect the muscles and the nervous system in such a way that patients with low muscle tone shouldn't be given these medicines.

This doctor is not a pediatrician, he's not a neurologist, but he is smart. He paid attention in med school and he's continued to learn as he practices on real people.

Armed with this knowledge, be sure I'll be asking every single doctor that sees Olivia from this point on about those medications. I'll want a list, I'll want to know how each medicine she is given might affect her. If necessary, I'll ask for a referral to a neurologist so that we can make sure she's getting the absolute best care. It's what I do. I'm a mom.

While the last year has been quite, medically speaking, I learned a lot during Olivia's first two years. And the most important thing I learned is that if I have a concern or see a need that isn't being met, I have to speak up, I have to ask for the help we need because while doctors want to help (I have to believe that), they're human, and they can't see every issue, every possibility, every need. For the fifteen minutes they might see a patient, we parents are with our children all the time. We see the issues, we feel the concerns, we research the possibilities. So we have to ask for more, demand more as necessary. And that's what I'll continue to do for both of my girls.