What's up, Doc?

My baby girl is sick.  I thought I was miserable when I got sick...ha, that was nothing.  Her being sick is a million times worse.  If I could take it from her, I would.  And you know, I'm not even sure I could call it "sick."  She did get two shots at her 9 month well check yesterday.  Funny how you bring them in "well" and you take them home miserable as all get out.  Strange how that works, isn't it?  Maybe they should call them "screw you" checks instead of "well" checks.  Can you tell I'm bitter?

I did interview four different pediatricians with four different styles and approaches to practice.  I chose the one that I did because he seemed the closest to what I had in southern IL.  I loved her first pediatrician.  Like, enough to move back so that she can continue care with him.  But that wouldn't be very reasonable would it?  Moving back for a pediatrician, ha.  But I would.

So let me highlight the reasons that I chose the doctor that I did.  He was:

• friendly
• down to Earth
• his staff was super welcoming and greeted us like we had been patients there forever
• he was "real" and not a stiff professional
• he claimed that his approach to care was to build a personal relationship with each patient and family; he claimed that he wanted to recognize mom's voice on the other end of the phone when she has to call for help
• he was open to an adjusted vaccination schedule and agreed to continue with the schedule that we were on with our initial pediatrician (love him.)
• he agreed to discuss with me any treatment plan and have an open mind to my opinions and views of treatment
• he is associated with the hospital that has the top notch pediatric unit in the area

Pretty good points, huh.  Now you see why I chose him?

I get there for her appointment yesterday.  The staff was just as welcoming and great.  There was no one in the waiting room (which I like because I don't want my child catching whatever disease the other children in the waiting room are being seen for) and we didn't wait more than a minute to get called back.  The first girl that we saw (she's not a nurse but maybe a nursing assistant?) did the vitals and weight, height, head, etc. 

Now yesterday morning I was concerned that Kinley may be coming down with something.  I had been battling a sore throat for two days and then yesterday my normal 6:30 Kinley wake up call didn't come till almost 10:00.  That's so not like her.  And then when she did get up, there weren't the usual smiles.  I did check her temp before we left and it was 98.9.  So I didn't worry. 

Anyway, back to the appointment.  When the assistant girl did her temp, it read 98.7 under the arm.  I asked her, do you add a degree to that since it was under the arm?  She replied, "ummmm, sometimes we do.  It depends if the dr wants to or not."  Excuse me?  It's one way or the other.  Do you add a degree?  Because I know that I do at home.  If you add a degree, my daughter has a temp.  Ms. Assistant then says, "well, we don't get concerned until it's 102 or higher."  Well that's all fine and dandy that she doesn't get concerned until it is at 102, but she doesn't realize that she's dealing with psycho mom here, and I worry when her temp is over 99. 

I told myself to calm down and trust the professionals and surely if there was cause for concern the doctor would address it.  I'm getting better about that....talking myself down off the mommy ledge that I so love to dance on.

The doctor then came in and shook my hand and said "nice to meet you!"  Ummmm, we've met.  Haha, glad that you "like to know your patients!" (bullet point number 5 above is now discounted)  When he recognizes that he screwed up, he said "oh that's right, we met.  You're a principal, right?"  Ummmm, no.  "A teacher?"  Ummmm, no.  "Hmmm, I wonder where I got that?"  Gee, I dunno.  I'm not entertained, Mr. doctor guy.  At this point, my faith is a bit faded in him.  He pretends that we'll just forget that awkward introduction to our appointment and asks why we're there.  Are you kidding me? 
He asks about her diet, is she breast or bottle?  I answer breast, because writing it on the paper work and telling Ms. Assistant before wasn't enough.  And I say that she also eats three meals a day and sometimes snacks.  He then asks what she eats....I say that I make my own purees so she eats fruits, veggies that I make and now table food as well.
The appointment continues and he tells me what vaccinations are recommended and I tell him that I only will do the two that I want her to have and really don't care what is recommended.  He kind of scoffs at my demands and I just want to scream at him that we already discussed my vaccination schedule and he was fine with it in our interview.
At this point, I just want to ask for his twin because this dude is not the guy that I talked to the week prior.

He finally realizes that regardless of what is "recommended" he is not going to sway me and agrees to the two shots that I came for.  We then go through the million questions:  does she grab for toys?  does she pass toys from hand to hand?  does she look for a toy if you put it behind your back?  does she grab for food?  To which I respond, yes, yes, yes, yes.  "Great!  She's right on target developmentally!"  Don't you think that doctors should also look for signs that the children are doing this?  I dunno, maybe not.

And then, he asks me.....does she eat table food at all?  Ummmm, yes.  Grrrr.  You see my frustration?  Our first pediatrician (Dr. P) told me that by 9 months, he wants Kinley to be introduced to all foods.  He said that the earlier that you introduce a food, the least likely it will be that they develop an allergy.  Through talking to those of an older generation, I found this to be the general consensus.  So when I ask Dr. T (the new guy) about what foods he feels she should be introduced to, he says "let's stay away from honey, peanut butter, strawberries, citrus and if you feed her table food, keep it smaller than the tip of your pinky."  He may stroke if he watched Kinley shove about 8 bites of toast in her mouth at one time.  Seriously?  She would laugh at me if I gave her a pinky tip piece of toast.

The appointment with him closed with him making a joke that the nurse would be right in to do her anemia test (finger prick, which I was totally unprepared (emotionally) for) and administer the two shots.  When he realized that I was shocked by the finger prick, he said "don't worry, it's a finger prick and not a poison that he's putting in her body."  Hmmm, you mean unlike the vaccinations that you're about to put in her body?  But I didn't say that.
And then he joked "the shots aren't gonna kill her, I promise."  Nice, real nice.

Kinley had a low grade fever by the time we got home.  And it is a ten minute drive.

I'm really questioning my choice of doctor.  I really feel that I was mislead in our interview.  But then I ask myself if I'm just being too critical.  There is no doubt that my guard is pretty thick when it comes to the medical profession.  Just because they went to school for a bazillion years does not mean that they win my trust automatically.  My trust has to be earned and it's not easy to do!

My mind isn't made up to pull her from his practice but I'm definately not growing roots there just yet.  If Kinley wakes up with a fever and it doesn't break today, he's getting a call and we'll see if he "recognizes mom's voice."  Okay, he's met me twice.  Give the guy a break.  I know, I know. 

He did give me a OB/GYN referral but now I'm not too sure that I trust his recommendation.  I sure wish Richie could meet him as well so that I had a second opinion.  There are times that I go a bit overboard with emotion (gasp!  No way!) and it's even worse when it comes to my baby girl.  We go back next month for another vaccination so I'll make my decision after that appointment.