Saturday, October 11, 2008

so many medical professionals

I occurs to me that we suddenly have a lot of medical professionals in our life. And my kids are relatively healthy. What about people who have real problems - they must have a rolodex full of doctors?

I find myself now having appointments with a pediatrician, physical therapist, osteopath, dietician, allergist, neurologist. We've also been to an orthopedic surgeon and a pediatric cardiologist, but fortunately those were hopefully one time deals and we won't have any kind of ongoing relationship with them. (Actually now that I say that, I think Danny is supposed to have a follow up with that cardiologist at some point, to have another look at that PDA. I need to find out when that's supposed to be scheduled.) That doesn't include my own internist, OB, opthamologist, dermatologist, dentist and occasional acupuncturist. And Jim's got his neurosurgeon for his back. And we haven't even started on the dentist for the kids - so add that one to the list soon.

We are fortunate to have excellent insurance. I know we are very lucky and I never take that for granted. We don't ever have to think twice about setting up an appointment with a specialist. We don't ever have to worry about the cost. It's such a burden lifted off us that I know so many people have to worry about.

But I wonder lately if it's too much. Am I going overboard by setting up these appointments for the neurologist and the allergist? Should I just leave the kid alone? I think in ours or our parents time these things would have just been left alone. "He's a little behind? He'll catch up?" "He's allergic to milk? don't worry, he'll grow out of it." Is this just normal stuff that I shouldn't worry about? Are we over exposed to the medical system?

5 comments:

Jaimie said...

You want to do everything for these little wonders of yours. You want to do everything right. You don't want to brush something off and then realize if you had only done something sooner... Some allergies can get worse and can be fatal. Maybe milk isnt' the only thing. I've been told by several doctors that Jake to "out grow" any of his allergies he has to not have any exposure to the allergen for at least six months. You just want to do what's best for your kids. Now if you take them to specialists and they have absolutely no symptoms - say a urologist - to to make sure everything is fine. Then you might have a problem ;)

Jennifer Webb said...

Both of my boys (3 years and 1 year tomorrow) got extreme hives and swelling from dairy. My 3 year old has outgrown the allergy and we talk to the doctor tomorrow about 1 year old. My hubby and I both have lots of allergies so we were told to keep nuts out of their diet until they are 5 years old. This is to prevent them from becoming allergic to nuts. We'll see if it works...
I also have taken both my boys to various doctors - both have ear tubes, one has a pulmonologist, and of course the normal ones. I was not seeing the benefit of one doctor - the pulmo - for my 3 year old. And this year I talked to his pediatrician about her maintaining his asthma symptons and we have been successful so far. My recommendation is to be very proactive about who they see and why - and if the experience is NOT good, find a new doctor if it is necessary.

Helen said...

I think we are exposed a lot to the medical profession, but if your little boy has an allergy then of course it makes you pause. Are they going to do one of those skin tests to see if he has an allergy, or is it not possible to test dairy like that?

Your son and my son are on similar developmental paths, and I'd be lying if I said sometimes I didn't really worry about my boy. I think it's normal for us to be concerned. I take the path of "things will happen when they're ready", but every parent is different, every decision personal, and at the end of the day you have a lot of doctors that hopefully you'll be able to say goodbye to sometime soon :)

Heather said...

I think it sounds like your list is spot on for what you have going on in your life. I personally think that early intervention is better than later. And milk allergies can be scary. Milk products are in everything! I know, my baby brother was allergic to any kind of dairy products (including eggs). When buying groceries we had to look for whey in crackers, etc. He would get really sick if he had even a touch of dairy.

BTW, this may help in the future. When we go to the dentist and opthomologist, we all go together. This way we never have to remember who in the family is due when. This includes DH, me and our 8 year old DD. She's been seeing the eye doctor with us since she was 5 years old. I got glasses when I was 9 and apparently they missed realizing I needed them for a year or two (both parents and school checks).

Bea said...

I think it depends on the attitude you take into the consult room with you. If you're going to be disappointed and whiny if they don't jab something or prescribe something, then yes, you're probably overexposed. If you're happy for them to say, "You know what? That doesn't worry me." And leave it at that (or just monitoring) then I think you're ok. Of course, the above depends a bit on the doctors you choose, as well.

Bea