the best-laid plans
Yesterday was hot and horrible, in more ways than just the weather!
To put this in context, Noah started with a ticklish cough on Wednesday night, and coughed more and more through Thursday. Given that our local doctor's surgery is not normally open on Saturdays anyway (yep, small country towns aren't all good), and was not re-opening after Christmas until next Wednesday, I decided to be a good Mum and take Noah in Friday morning and get his chest, throat and ears checked, just to be on the safe side - this is my child who has extreme reactions to fever spikes (two ambulance visits required so far, and a hospital observation). So I am a little more over-protective of him.
First mistake, I didn't specify which doctor I wanted to see. Second mistake was agreeing to a video consultation (I guess he is up for review or something). I have never seen a doctor so thorough and careful in a general consultation in all my life! He is just about to dismiss us, it's just a cough, when he asks "are all his immunisations up-to-date?" No, we have chosen not to immunise our children.
I am so sick of getting the third degree over this issue every time I have to see a new doctor. Yes, we made this decision after much research and discussion. Yes, we have discussed this with medical professionals (like every time I have to re-explain to a new doctor we have to see!) No, I am not a negligent or unfit parent!
So, the doctor goes into tut-tut crisis mode, and demands that we go for swabs and tests for whooping cough. The nurse (bless her heart) can see how distressed I am - this is the same dear lady who has been checking my bp for the past couple months, so she knows who I am. She phoned ahead and organised the tests for us at Sale hospital. An hour drive each way in the stinking heat, my head was not really with us when we returned to the medical centre, where she arranged for the tests to be phoned to the local hospital for me on Saturday afternoon. If it is whooping cough (which I guarantee it won't be), we need to not go to our families for Christmas and spread it to the little ones there.
What makes me particularly miffed about this, is that we went through the same thing with Josiah a few years ago. The tests came back negative to whooping cough, and the doctor at the time still recorded it as a case of whooping cough in an unimmunised child. This is just medical dishonesty.
So, I phoned the girls who were going to babysit for us Friday night, and let them know that Noah was unwell, and that I wasn't comfortable leaving them to look after him in case he had a fever episode - it wouldn't be fair on them or him, and I would merely have sat at the party and worried about him! So Ray went to the break-up party by himself, and I was in bed as soon as the kids were. Noah was pretty restless on the couch, it was so hot anyway, so I still didn't sleep so good. He says he is better today, as he dislikes the antibiotics the doctor prescribed, but he is still coughing. His temperature is up and down, so I am keeping him dosed with children's panadol too.
Ray is totally beat today. He had a big trenching job yesterday, and really overdid it in the heat. I suspect he was suffering from heat-stroke, as he said he wasn't feeling good at the Club last night. He came home with a terrible stomach ache - again, the combination of heat-stroke and too much pizza, I suspect! So I am pushing him to take it easy today - no fence-building!
I have just finished the last batch of mince-pies for the luncheon tomorrow - a wonderful couple from our church are organising Christmas lunch in town for those who don't have family to spend the day with. I offered to do something, so 3 dozen mince pies it is! They will pick them up in a couple hours when they go in to set up and decorate the hall. The kids are happy, cos I made jam tarts for them with the left-over pastry.
I still have a few pressies to wrap, potato-salad to make, a couple of sweet slices to bake, and I might make a simple cheesecake to take to Ray's folks' house. (If we end up not going down tomorrow, at least we will have some special goodies to eat at home LOL) I will probably skip the carol service at church tonight, depending on the diagnosis on Noah.
My head hurts. I'm gonna go have a cuppa and a mince pie.
To put this in context, Noah started with a ticklish cough on Wednesday night, and coughed more and more through Thursday. Given that our local doctor's surgery is not normally open on Saturdays anyway (yep, small country towns aren't all good), and was not re-opening after Christmas until next Wednesday, I decided to be a good Mum and take Noah in Friday morning and get his chest, throat and ears checked, just to be on the safe side - this is my child who has extreme reactions to fever spikes (two ambulance visits required so far, and a hospital observation). So I am a little more over-protective of him.
First mistake, I didn't specify which doctor I wanted to see. Second mistake was agreeing to a video consultation (I guess he is up for review or something). I have never seen a doctor so thorough and careful in a general consultation in all my life! He is just about to dismiss us, it's just a cough, when he asks "are all his immunisations up-to-date?" No, we have chosen not to immunise our children.
I am so sick of getting the third degree over this issue every time I have to see a new doctor. Yes, we made this decision after much research and discussion. Yes, we have discussed this with medical professionals (like every time I have to re-explain to a new doctor we have to see!) No, I am not a negligent or unfit parent!
So, the doctor goes into tut-tut crisis mode, and demands that we go for swabs and tests for whooping cough. The nurse (bless her heart) can see how distressed I am - this is the same dear lady who has been checking my bp for the past couple months, so she knows who I am. She phoned ahead and organised the tests for us at Sale hospital. An hour drive each way in the stinking heat, my head was not really with us when we returned to the medical centre, where she arranged for the tests to be phoned to the local hospital for me on Saturday afternoon. If it is whooping cough (which I guarantee it won't be), we need to not go to our families for Christmas and spread it to the little ones there.
What makes me particularly miffed about this, is that we went through the same thing with Josiah a few years ago. The tests came back negative to whooping cough, and the doctor at the time still recorded it as a case of whooping cough in an unimmunised child. This is just medical dishonesty.
So, I phoned the girls who were going to babysit for us Friday night, and let them know that Noah was unwell, and that I wasn't comfortable leaving them to look after him in case he had a fever episode - it wouldn't be fair on them or him, and I would merely have sat at the party and worried about him! So Ray went to the break-up party by himself, and I was in bed as soon as the kids were. Noah was pretty restless on the couch, it was so hot anyway, so I still didn't sleep so good. He says he is better today, as he dislikes the antibiotics the doctor prescribed, but he is still coughing. His temperature is up and down, so I am keeping him dosed with children's panadol too.
Ray is totally beat today. He had a big trenching job yesterday, and really overdid it in the heat. I suspect he was suffering from heat-stroke, as he said he wasn't feeling good at the Club last night. He came home with a terrible stomach ache - again, the combination of heat-stroke and too much pizza, I suspect! So I am pushing him to take it easy today - no fence-building!
I have just finished the last batch of mince-pies for the luncheon tomorrow - a wonderful couple from our church are organising Christmas lunch in town for those who don't have family to spend the day with. I offered to do something, so 3 dozen mince pies it is! They will pick them up in a couple hours when they go in to set up and decorate the hall. The kids are happy, cos I made jam tarts for them with the left-over pastry.
I still have a few pressies to wrap, potato-salad to make, a couple of sweet slices to bake, and I might make a simple cheesecake to take to Ray's folks' house. (If we end up not going down tomorrow, at least we will have some special goodies to eat at home LOL) I will probably skip the carol service at church tonight, depending on the diagnosis on Noah.
My head hurts. I'm gonna go have a cuppa and a mince pie.
posted by DebF at 10:44 am
1 Comments:
big (((hugs))) sorry you are having such a stressful time!! Saying a wee prayer for Noah - that he will be fit and well quickly!! Yum, mince pies, we've been eating those today - but store brought ones.....lol.
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