I was just talking to one of my student's moms today, and she was telling me her tale of woe concerning her 3 kids' medical issues. It started sounding very familiar. Everywhere I turn, I am hearing stories much like ours, and...if I had stock in Albuterol, I think I'd be a really happy investor right now. After some really horrendous experiences, this mom came to a conclusion, which she shared with me as the advice for the day:
When your child has any kind of medical problem, go straight to the specialist. Call the pediatrician, get the referral (if that's how you have to do it with your insurance), and head straight out...tell them to send it, fax it, phone it, 'cause you're on your way. She saved her daughter's life that way, after 2 pedes said she "just had a cold"...weeks of it...5 minutes with the pediatric pulmonologist and mom's gut feeling was confirmed...the tonsils were so enlarged, the girl was slowly choking to death. Whizz, bang, up to the OR, out they came...and she's ok, now. Other scary stories, too.
So, that's my second-hand advice for the day. I think I'm gonna check out who the specialists we may need are, have their numbers ready, and, if God doesn't choose to spare us from another round of medical problems, we'll be ready.
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Oh I so agree with that advice. My little one has been sick since birth and has a variety of medical issues. We have changed the pediatrician and went with the family doc who we have been with for years. He agrees with whatever my mommy instinct is and supports it, no arguing anymore which is stressing in itself. I learned after a year of "almost near death experiences" that I should go straight to the specialist and if I don't like them, I will go to another. My son has changed neurologists 5 times until we found one that helped. We didn't go back and forth to the family doc, we went straight to the specialist. It is so hard to watch your little one suffer. My son is getting stronger now thanks to my education and my persistence and the right specialists.
I totally understand what you are saying, and thank you for saying it!
By the way, remembering your comments about the superior and less expensive medical and dental care one can get abroad, I was listening to a report on NPR about how Americans are increasingly going abroad for just that! I thought of you. Not that we would necessarily take our children out of the country for care, but if we didn't have good insurance coverage here and we needed a major operation of some kind, it would actually behoove us to look outside of America. Can you believe that!!!
Let's organize a tour of Turkey, visit the sights, and then have our teeth fixed and our gall bladders removed while we're at it.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm waiting for political candidates for 2008 to really, really address all the madness. Democrats only just now and finally had the nerve to put some withdrawal conditions on an Iraq War funding bill. The war machine is already putting the worst possible spin on it, and I don't think Democrats can stand up to it--or can they?
Yeah. The political thing is depressing. Everybody's screaming and pointing the blame fingers, but very few have anything of real substance in the way of ANSWERS. I did like the little I heard from Dennis Kucinich in the debate, on NPR. I have to put some more time into my political education, and see what they stand on in the nitty-gritty areas. I KNOW what I want my candidate to do, but I'm not at all sure which person will do those things.
On the overseas front...a friend recently went to Germany for back surgery. They did a lot of research, found the best worldwide drs. of this specific surgery, and found it was down to 1 Amer. and 2 others; even with insurance, it was cheaper for husb. and wife to travel to Germany, do the surgery, stay in a hotel during the post-op therapy period, than have it all done here.
Now, what does that say about our great country?
On the other hand, touring might be fun, and let's throw in some of those other perks I haven't been able to try yet: Turkey is known for their world-class saunas, masseurs, and all kinds of self-indulgences designed to relax and rejunvenate. (Hey, if it was good enough for the Sultans...)
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