Friday afternoon my sister notices Sadie has a rash on her bottom while changing her diaper. She calls the rash to my attention and I immediately diagnose it as a yeast infection. I rummage through my drawers for the little tube of nystatin I have left from a previous episode. I notice the contents of the tube would barely last through the weekend. I decide to call her doctor and am informed that at 3pm Sadie's doctor is no longer available. I am quickly told there is no possible way to reach her now that she is no longer at the office.
Fine. I tell the receptionist I will call back Monday. She starts to tell me it's a bad idea and I should come in and see another doctor. Friday, 3pm, driving down to Sadie's doctor's office is a bad idea. It would take me an hour sitting in traffic. I wasn't interested. Then she proceeded to recommend I see the urgent care doctor ten minutes away from my house. I was intrigued. I didn't even know there was a pediatric doctor so close to my house. I agreed it was a good idea and made an appointment with their office. I left my sister to tend to the challahs baking and whisked Sadie off to the doctor's office. Of course Sadie throws a fit the moment they say her name. She freaks out at the weigh station (I can't blame her, I too would like to cling on to the nearest person and refuse to step on the scale whenever I go to the doctor's office). She wails and brightens to a lovely red color as the nurse checks her pulse and breathing. When the nurse finally leaves Sadie and I enjoy the calm. Then the door opens. An older female doctor opens the door. She holds on to the door and looks at me sideways. I immediately decide she is insane. I hold on to Sadie a little tighter. Telepathically I tell her to be strong, we're almost out of this hellhole. The doctor proceeds to inform me she is intentionally not making eye contact with Sadie. I don't see how looking at the both of us out of the corner of the eye is anything other than cause for alarm but I pretend to agree with her judgment. A few days earlier Sadie broke out in hives after getting store bought baba ganoush all over her stomach while eating shirtless. Although the hives went away, they left a large swath of small bumps as a parting gift. As the doctor is examining Sadie I explain to her the bumps. The doctor looks at the bumps, rubs Sadie's skin, looks at the diaper rash and informs me Sadie has strep and will need antibiotics. I immediately inform her Sadie has no such thing. The doctor finally makes eye contact. "Yes, she does have strep. I will take a culture, meanwhile here is a prescription for antibiotics, you will want to start her on it immediately." This is when I start to look at her all side-eyed. "Doctor, I will not be giving my child antibiotics without an official lab result. She doesn't have a sore throat. The bumps on her skin are from a previous allergic reaction. The rash on her bottom is yeast. I only need a prescription for nystatin. However, since you believe she has strep, I will pick up both medicines and wait to give her the antibiotics until Monday." I said the last part more for her comfort than out of any real fear that I may be wrong. She then informed me that on Saturday when I notice how much worse the rash had gotten I should start her on the antibiotics and start treating the strep. "Yes, yes." I agreed, anything to get out of there and end the debate. After arriving home with one bottle of antibiotics and one tube of nystatin, I rubbed the nystatin all over her bottom. A few hours later the rash was almost gone. I then spent the rest of the evening on my soapbox regarding doctors over-prescribing unnecessary antibiotics to children. Antibiotics are serious stuff, they should not be given or taken lightly. Oh, and I can't wait for Monday when the doctor gets the results that Sadie did not have strep and she was wrong. I almost wish my voice could appear out of nowhere saying "told you so."
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Meet the Blogger!
I'm a mom. A writer. A lover of good fantasy. A proponent of nursing when possible. A birth advocate. I am absolutely horrible at keeping my house clean or the dishes washed or the laundry done. I strongly believe in women having a positive birth. When we start to respect women's rights to birth the way they want, we can start to treat women as equal people in this world. Archives
February 2016
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