When last you left me sick home; Nicky and Lyndzi were running fevers and both had been treated by doctors at Urgent Care. Well, yesterday afternoon Kelsie started coughing and complained of a sore throat. By the evening, her fever of 102.5 had set in; so I kept all three kids home from school today; and as soon as our Pediatrician's office opened at 8, I called to make appointments for both Kelsie AND Lyndzi. Nicky seemed to be improving; but I was still uncertain about Lyndzi as I had reasons to doubt the Urgent Care doc. I asked for an appointment with one of the two pediatricians that we typically see; and was lucky enough to get one at 1pm. In the meantime, we did breathing treatments, took Ibuprofen and all of the other meds that had been prescribed.
Since Kelsie had complained of a sore throat; they did a throat culture; which didn't go well. Kelsie was less than cooperative, which made the experience a lot more difficult and unpleasant. I can't say that I blame her though. I remember being told that it used to take two nurses to hold me down for a culture; so I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Our pediatrician then came in, and I brought her up to date on all of the illness and diagnoses that we'd gotten from Urgent Care. Let's start with Lyndzi's first diagnosis - Bronchitis... Our doctor said that Bronchitis is something that smoker's get and that as soon as most Urgent Care docs see some one will respiratory illness; they call it Bronchitis. Next, Nicky's Sinusitis. She said that there's no way they could diagnose Sinusitis within such a short time of him getting sick. You would have to have green, goopy discharge for about ten days, in order for it to be Sinusitis; and as far as his Bronchitis; see previous explanation. Let's move on to ear infections. After examining Lyndzi, our doctor said that she had no idea how she could be diagnosed with an ear infection; when she couldn't even see her eardrum due to wax buildup. she told me to get Debrox; and I told her that I had asked the Urgent care doc about that; by name, for Nicky and was told that the build up was too bad for that and that he'd need to come back when he was feeling better to have it flushed out. Our doctor was appalled and assured me that we could treat their ears well, with the Debrox.
I told our doctor that I was doubting the Urgent care doctors because Nicky had been prescribed cough syrup with Codeine, and his cough wasn't nearly as bad as Lyndzi's had been (either time;) and yet she wasn't prescribed any. And our doctor told me that the cough syrup with Codeine was actually very dangerous for Asthmatics; GREAT! I explained that Lyndzi had been prescribed a lower dosage of the Asthma steroid, even though she weighs more than Nicky; and she told me that both she and Nicky should have been prescribed 60mg instead of the 10 and 20mg's that the doctors had prescribed. I told her about the Tamaflu and she asked me if the doctor had done a Flu swab. I said "No." And she told me that you cannot diagnose the Flu without a Flu swab; and that I had done the right thing NOT giving Lyndzi the Tamaflu, because there are a lot of bad side effects from it. She said that even if Lyndzi has the Flu; she wouldn't have prescribed it.
With all that being said; the doctor concluded the girl's examinations and told me that Kelsie's throat culture was negative and she thought they had the Flu; so they had to be swabbed. I asked where they do the swab and she said "in the nose." She left the room and my girls started to panic. I tried to keep them calm, but when the male nurse came in the room; all hell broke loose. The girls asked where he puts the swab and he told him that it had to go up the nose all the way through the nasal cavity. They asked if it was going to hurt; and he replied "Do you want me to be honest, or lie to you?" And before they could answer he said "It's uncomfortable. It's worse than a throat culture." And the girls both FREAKED OUT. They both started crying hysterically and they begged me to take them home. It broke my heart. I knew that they had to get the swabs done; but they were scared and there was nothing that I could do to make it better. Lyndzi went first, and she screamed and cried as the swab went up her nose. Kelsie watched and cried almost louder than Lyndzi. As soon as Lyndzi was done I embraced her and tried to comfort her, but the nurse was telling Kelsie to get on the table and she was refusing. Kelsie implored me not to take the test; and I started to cry. The nurse made a comment about needing to get someone else in the room since I wasn't going to be of any use; and with that, another nurse came in and they held Kelsie down and swabbed her nose as she kicked, cried, and let out a blood curdling scream. I held both girls; and apologized profusely; for what they had to go through. Shortly thereafter, our doctor came back in and said they were both positive.
Our doctor said that because they'd had the Flu shot, their symptoms were not nearly as bad; as if they hadn't taken it. She said that it shouldn't last as long; and that they needed to stay home from school until they were 100.2 or less for 24 hours. She also said that we should assume that Nicky too had the flu and we should treat him accordingly. OY!!!!
I called urgent Care to speak with the office manager, because I wanted to let her know that I'd been there 3 times in two weeks and I received a number of misdiagnoses, inappropriate prescriptions, incorrect dosing, and life threatening mistakes. I had to leave a message; but rest assured, this is a conversation that will be had.
All three kids are resting comfortably now; and the girls don't seem to be any worse the wear after this traumatic experience. I swear, if I could have done it for them; I would have. It's so difficult to watch your children be afraid and know that there is nothing that you can do. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery; and that Luis and I manage to escape the perils of the Flu.
"Hey Paige Ramos; what are you going to do if everyone gets well soon?" "I'm going to DISNEYLAND!"
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING
