Pediatric Moment of Zen
A few weeks ago, my two year old Drake had trouble sleeping, but didn’t seem sick. I decided to keep an eye on things, then ended up at Urgent Care on Sunday morning. He was diagnosed with infections in both ears and pink eye. He improved rapidly with the antibiotics, but was left with a lingering cough. Again, I decided to keep an eye on it, and congratulated myself when it went away. But when it popped up again after a week (the cough, not the sleep problems), I didn’t even hesitate. I called the pediatrician’s office and made an appointment for the next morning.
The doc listened to Drake’s lungs and peered into his throat and his ears. Drake was a champ, and underwent it all without a yell. The doc then said that the lungs were clear and he probably had another virus, and that his ears looked so clear that he doubted whether Drake’s ears had been infected last month.
I took this all in calmly. At previous points, I would have been railing at myself for wasting my and the doc’s time over just a virus, gnashing my teeth over unnecessary antibiotics, berating myself for having crappy mom instincts, etc. That day, though, I thought the co-pay was well worth it to confirm that Drake didn’t have a bacterial infection. In my experience, the only one who can confirm it is the person with the otoscope. As for second guessing the previous doc’s diagnosis, it didn’t matter to me. If Drake has trouble sleeping nowadays, it’s usually something more serious than a virus. I believe his ears were infected, and that the drugs cleared him up. His behavior and my previous experience backs it up. I don’t rely on the person with the otoscope to retroactively un-diagnose infections. Don’t care. He was sick, he took drugs, he got better. He got sick again, I took him in immediately, and he didn’t need drugs. I grabbed Drake two lollipops on the way out (Dum-Dums, cream soda) for being such a good boy. I kept him home for the next 24 hours, and his symptoms have faded yet again.
Keeping an eye on things is fine, sometimes. But second guessing and self-berating? I’ve got no time for those.
November 16th, 2005 at 8:09 am
I just read this post after linking to the site from velocrometer . . . you just described our last week. Didn’t sleep one night, seemed fine otherwise, 24 hours later there’s stuff coming out of his ears . . . aaaand cue feelings of guilt, panic and general bad parenting.
Of course, he’s fine now after a frantic trip to the doctor and a week on antibiotics.
Thanks for the post reminding me that it’s all ok, going to the doctor on a gut instinct is also ok, and a copay is a small price for mental health.
November 17th, 2005 at 1:30 pm
Common sense is a lot less common than we’d think, sometimes. You describe exactly the very best kind of mom behavior, judging by my experiences with the folks on the other end of the otoscope.
For what it’s worth, retroactively un-diagnosing stuff seems to be a lot like anything else — writing, cooking, even watching TV — and saying, “yeah, that’s good, but I would have done it a little differently.” I’m with you.