Gourmet Garbage from the MD

A few days ago I took my daughter in for her 5 year well-child exam. This added experience left me madder than all get-out and an added huge distrust of the medical profession in general.

When I booked the appointment a couple months ago, I was informed that Miss Fabulous would have to get at least 4 shots for this appointment. I asked which vaccinations are these and was told I'd have to wait and talk to the pediatrician and nurse when I got there so they could review what we needed. Not happy with that, I went to the internet and checked the recommended vac schedules on the CDC and AAP to try to get a better idea. Of course, I'd need some time to research some of them, so there's no way I can walk into the appointment and be ready for things to be thrown out at me and consent off my cuff. Sure, I could have called and continued to bug them for specific answers, but why waste the time when someone at the front desk isn't willing to transfer you right away. Annoyance.

Just after Miss Fabulous turned two, I went to get my hair chemically enhanced and left my daughter alone with her daddy. 15 minutes into my appointment, there is an urgent phone call for me at the salon. I answer and am greeted by my husband with "she put a shoe in her nose." What? How do you get a shoe in your nose? "A doll shoe." Yes - my daughter was playing with the tiny, plastic Disney princess dolls and instead of putting the tiny shoe on the tiny princess, apparently decided to stick it up her nose. (This never would have happened if I were home, but whatever.) My question for the husband as my wet hair drips down my back "is she breathing?" Good, yes, she's breathing, see if you can get her to blow her nose - if it doesn't come out, call the pediatrician and let them know we'll be there this afternoon. Apparently it didn't come out, so I went home and off we went to the pediatrician's office. Our pediatrician told us he could see it deep inside her nose and we used all sorts of silver medical gadgets to try to get it out while I held her down on the table. When that didn't work, at the pediatrician's direction, I used the nose bulb for over an hour trying to move it with air as he continued to check after every few minutes. He continued to see it, but couldn't get to it with the shiny silver tools. Once we were down to lots of blood and I was tired of restraining her, the pediatrician said he didn't want to hurt her anymore and we'd have to go to the ER. Off to the ER we went and I had the pleasure of restraining Miss Fabulous again while they did an exam and then inserted an IV so they could get a better look. Once my daughter was fully ripped, the ER doctor took a look and reported that he could not see anything in that nose - she must have swallowed it or sneezed it out since she doesn't seem to have problems breathing. So after my daughter was coherent again and six hours later we headed home to get something to eat. I walked over to the stairs and guess what I saw on the carpet? The doll shoe. So I yell at the husband "is this the one?" Yup - oh yeah, the husband did remember her sneezing, guess he just didn't realize she'd sneezed it out. So - my daughter got to endure 6 hours of torture including digging in her nose that resulted in blood because her pediatrician could definitely "see" the shoe (that was on the carpet in our house) followed by an IV and being drugged to the point of not recognizing her family. So I did realize that though I loved our pediatrician, he did NOT walk on water and apparently might not have been the best. The husband and I had a serious talk about his role as well.

A few years before my daughter's birth, I went to the dermatologist for a spot on my torso that kept bleeding and catching on my clothing. My father has had several skin cancers removed and I witnessed that as I grew up. I have the same fair skin as my father and certainly have enjoyed the sun without sunscreeen. I also spent a great deal of time enjoying tanning beds, daily, for years. At the time of this appointment I was just over 30 and still having a bit of a hard time accepting my age, though I never talked about it. This goofy, grandfatherly doctor took a look at my "spot" and informed me that "it's an old lady spot, you're not as young as you think you are." He didn't check it but told me to just leave it alone and ignore it and to expect to see more and expect it to get bigger. Nearly five years later and living in a new state, I visited another dermatologist for other reasons. While there, I decided to ask her to just freeze off the "spot" as I was tired of bleeding and having it catch on my clothes. I told her my previous doctor had already looked it at but I just wanted it gone. She took one look at it and said "that's skin cancer, duh!" Then she asked me to repeat what the previous doctor had told me. She was appalled. My spot aka skin cancer was removed and I've had MORE of them removed since then, but thank you so much to Dr. Goofball for properly diagnosing my old lady spot and letting me live with it growing and destroying tissue for 5 years. And thank you for the age comments, I hope you're now retired and not treating any patients.

Of course, everyone makes mistakes and I can understand that. However, when you're a medical professional, I would hope for a little more effort to avoid these types of issues or perhaps a decision to choose a different profession. I have loved both of my daughter's pediatricians and I do think they are sincere in their desire to care for children. However, sometimes I wonder just how many mistakes have been made on my daughter.

When we made our visit for the 5 year well child exam, I immediately asked about the vaccinations. The nurse rattled off what they expected to give to her and I had some concerns about giving my kid 6 shots; she told me to speak to the doctor. It became clear to me that our pediatrician was rattling off what she's been instructed to do by the CDC and AAP. We weren't going to have a discussion about the pros and cons or any concerns. She appeared to be just annoyed and tired of questions. Here's the facts aka instructions that I've been given and you decide what you want to do, regardless I'm going to continue telling you that the benefits outweigh your concerns but I won't address your concerns.

My daughter has already had the swine flu (which I took care of at home and never consulted with the pediatrician because there wasn't a need - and when you get to 5 years of the pediatrician nicely telling you that you're overreacting, you eventually stop calling them unless a severe need arises) yet they recommend that I give her the shot for swine flu because it won't hurt her but they have no intentions of doing a blood sample to check it out, that'd be too much work. Tamiflu wouldn't have hurt her either, but they don't want to give that out for some odd reason because the CDC says so. No, we're not getting the swine flu shot, there's no point and it contains the thimerasol.

They wanted to give her the seasonal flu shot. Last time we got it, she got the flu anyway, severely, and required two more doctor visits. That also still has thimerasol and if we can get through the other without issues, and I have a strong healthy kid, I'm not giving it to her. No, we're not getting the seasonal flu shot.

They want to give her the DTap, MMR, and Polio (IPV) shots. So we did discuss what these diseases do and how often they see them. So, if the mumps or measles come back, we're going to have a serious epidemic and lots of deaths. We have already had these, this is our last dose and apparently none contained thimerasol. My husband had regular tetanus shots growing up but he lived on a farm with serious equipment and lot of rusty metal and nails. He has never had one since we met 20 year ago and he's never had tetanus despite working in the field around equipment and other nasty things. I've not had a tetanus shot since I was about 12 years old and strangely I've never had any issues, but....okay fine, I'll consent to these shots.

Here's where it gets really interesting. They want to give her the chicken pox vaccine. Wait a minute - we got that when she was 18 months old and the pediatrician said it was all we'd ever need. At the time I had concerns about that one as well because, really, my husband has had it, I've had two severe cases in my lifetime, and I haven't ever met anyone who has known someone having the chicken pox that resulted in death. Well, apparently it was always intended to be given in two doses, but at that time they only had it licensed for one - 9 years after they started giving it, still licensed for one dose. Now, they do recommend getting it again between ages 4 to 6. Why could they only get licensing for one at that time (2004) when the vaccine had been around since 1995? No idea. So again, I said "really though, who dies from the chicken pox?" The pediatrician said that they do see it! Huh... I think we're not going to get this one either. So the pediatrician gave me an info sheet from the CDC to read and reconsider another time.

So, we've consented to 3 of the 6 shots and I take Miss Fabulous to the restroom for her pee test. When we return, with pee in hand, we are greeted by TWO nurses waiting for us. I'm told to hold my daughter in my lap and restrain her and the arms in particular so she can't grab. I don't like it one bit, never have, but I did it. The first shot is given and my daughter SCREAMS bloody murder. I have a severe issue with needles myself and that's due to terrible military doctors I experienced growing up. What happens next shocks me - while one nurse holds my daughter's leg and does the alcohol thing, the other prepares and then harshly STABS the next two shots into my daughter as fast as she possibly can. With force, lots of it. I felt the force on MY leg and I'm underneath my daughter. For a mom, this is all horrid regardless, but my gut is aching with this one and I'm crying by the time it's over. Well, at least it's over with and there are no more vaccinations needed until she's 11. Within 3 hours, Miss Fabulous can no longer walk on one of her legs, doubles over in pain when she takes a step, and starts to ask me to carry her - at the toy store, so I KNOW this is real.

After carrying her to dinner and then carrying her to the car and to the couch, I gave her some tylenol hoping it would help things out. At bathtime, I carry my 50 pounder up the stairs and get ready to put her in the tub. But before we do that, I suggest she take off the band-aids. She agrees and takes them off and then I saw the sight that will disturb me for a long time. A HUGE bruise on my daughter's leg where the second and third shots were given. This is a huge deep bruise and now I know just what that pressure did to my kid and why she was crying and screaming the way she was. This was extreme pain. If I put a bruise like that on my kid, I'd be in jail and rightfully so. After talking to some other folks, it sounds that this nurse severely needs to practice her technique, I'm just going to pray for her sake that she doesn't run into me in a dark alley with no witnesses. I am so sick over this and the fact that I participated in restraining her to let it happen. I knew in my gut that something was terribly wrong but everything was being rushed so fast that it seemed to be out of my control at the moment.

That evening I googled myself to death with vaccine info and emailed everyone I knew in the medical profession. The information that the pediatrician gave me about the Chicken Pox vaccine, which was produced by the CDC, contradicted what the pediatrician told me. The information I found online about this vaccine further infuriated me with the huge lack of success and the REAL reason they now want to add another dose - it doesn't work and they're basically pushing the disease into adulthood (possibly, it's all still too new so the repercusions could be huge or small) which is larger risk. The CDC also has not completed update of their web info if this is, in fact, the new recommendation. So, based on the information presented to me - I'm being told differently than what the pediatrician is recommending - so what is there to reconsider if we're following CDC?

After we got the original dose, I had read an article from a doctor who had concerns that this vaccine and it resulting in producing a higher number of shingles cases, which I asked the pediatrician about. He said there was no evidence of that, yeah, duh, no evidence because the vaccine just came about in 1995 - but it doesn't mean it isn't true. Guess what? We can thank our lucky stars, because there is NOW a Shingles Vaccine! Yeah, maybe there was some truth to that article but no one in the medical profession is going to admit it apparently. Least of all from the AAP or CDC because we can't admit when we screw up.

Now remember I mentioned the pediatrician telling me that they do see people who die from chicken pox? Well guess what - in the entire United States approximately 10,000 people a year are hospitalized due to chicken pox. 10 people per year die of chicken pox. So, I wonder what my pediatrician meant when she said "they do see it." Really - in far west metro Denver area, this small practice sees a death over all the other states, cities, towns, and practices in the United States? Wow, staggering figures, and let me tell you, I'm sooooooooo scared of the Chicken Pox now. That's what - .00000000001% of our population? Puhleez, give me a break. If you are a professional with this much education, why can you not have a decent and honest conversation with another adult regarding the health of their children. A conversation built on thought, personal research, education, and consideration of another individual. That is the biggest bunch of crap I've witnessed in a long time. That is not being a partner in health.

Bottom line, I feel like I have been presented with a load of garbage and told that it's gourmet. Well, when it comes to my kid, I'm pickier than that and I've simply had enough. I'm an overly conservative individual but I don't particularly care if I start sounding like the biggest treehugger on earth, from here on out, the pediatrician is going to walk me through everything step by step and no one touches my daughter again without me blessing it in all religions after I've googled myself to sleep. To heck with the doctors unless I'm desperate from now on; I'm considering their assistance as optional. I'd rather call on a mom who has been through it before and trust my mommy gut.

We're through doctor and I'm considering divorcing you!