Okay, see, my husband is definitely more likely to race off to the doctor when one of the girls develops a cough or has a fever over 98.9 for more than an hour. He’s also more likely to be clutching his pearls and his smelling salts, should the trauma of a child with a cold get to be too much for him.
Me? I’m all, enhh, she’ll get over it.
And then? A week later, I give in, call the doctor, make an appointment, he takes her, pearl-clutching the whole way and off they go with a prescription in hand for an antibiotic to beat that nasty ear infection I said would go away on its own.
Don’t I feel bad? Yes, yes I do. I knew Alyssa wasn’t feeling well but I honestly thought it was a cold. Heck, I have the same cough, congestion and irritability but I’m not trucking myself off to the doctor at this point.
But I have to admit, Tom was right. She needed the doctor and the medicine and she’ll feel better in no time.
And for that, I’m glad.
It’s just that I’m so bad at figuring out when a doctor’s opinion is needed. Heck, when I broke my arm way back in 1993, I wasn’t sure I needed to see a doctor. Okay, so given I couldn’t actually see the swan-neck break that my arm was doing because I was wearing a coat that camouflaged my arm. And yes, dear sweet heaven it hurt so much I thought I was going to throw up, but I kind of thought that might pass.
Of course it didn’t and yes, I did have to see an orthopedic surgeon to set that break. But that’s just an example of how unsure I am of when I need to see a doctor.
One would think I’d choose to err on the side of wasting my and the doctor’s time but alas, I can’t bring myself to do that. So instead, my children suffer for a few extra days because I put it off, thinking they’ll surely beat this bug this time.
Yet I’m not actually beating myself up right now over this. We could have taken her to the doctor yesterday, sure we could have. But we didn’t and now, she’s at home with antibiotics coursing through her system, fighting off that nasty infection for her and she’ll get better. And maybe, just maybe, next time, I’ll heed Tom’s obviously superior instincts and head off to the doctor as soon as he says it’s necessary. I’m not one who can’t learn from her mistakes.
That’s not to say I don’t have to make them more than once to actually learn the lesson though. Just saying.
A mom, a dad and two daughters. We're living ordinary lives with a twist of 5p- (Cri du Chat) for spice. But we're about so much more than our younger daughter's genetic diagnosis.
2 comments:
Moms always know when a child is off-kilter... It has happened that I have taken a child in to see the doctor, and I was actually about a day too early, before the observable (to the doctor) symptoms showed up. Then I wound up going twice! After a few of these experiences, I began to wait a bit longer.
Have you seen this notice at doctor's offices lately:
"If you think you have the FLU, don't come here! We will be happy to discuss your symptoms over the phone."
I am the same way but so is Matt. I used to go right away but I've learned to wait a bit. Sometimes it backfires though! I hope she feels better soon.
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