Trials and Tribulations...

[Guest guest]

So, Billie was diagnosed with OCD the first week in August. It took 2

months for our HMO to finally identify a child psychiatrist who was in

network, had OCD experience, was accepting new patients, etc. When we

called the docs office it was another month before he had an intake

appointment. That brings us up to yesterday. We decided not to take Billie

to the first appointment because we wanted to check the guy out first and

see if we wanted to work with him before Billie met him. So there we were,

both parents having taken the afternoon off from work, 10 mins. into the

appointment going over her long list of meds for asthma, allergies,

migraines, and GI problems. 15 meds in all! The doc asks if she's needing

her albuterol (one of her asthma inhalers) often. We said, " OH, No, she's

been doing really well for the past 6 months. She rarely uses the albuterol

inhaler now and she hasn't had to have a nebulizer treatment (breathing

treatment where you breath the medicine from a machine) since May. "

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than my partner's beeper went off.

It was the school calling to say that Billie was having a really bad asthma

attack! She had been running in PE. She had already used her inhaler twice

without effect so we told them to start her nebulizer and we would call

back in 5 mins. to see if that was working. 5 mins. later she was still in

respiratory distress so we had to fly out of the docs office and drive like

maniacs the 35 mins. between the docs office and the school to pick her up.

I had turned on my cell phone so that the school could call to divert us if

they decided to put her in an ambulance and send her to Children's Hospital

before we got there. Of course, by the time we walked into the school,

Billie was doing a lot better. We had hoped that would be the case but,

because asthma is a potentially life threatening illness, we couldn't just

ignore it and hope for the best.

Apparently PE involved a particularly wild game of capture the flag. 5 of

the 20 kids in Billie's class have asthma and hers has been the most

severe. 2 of the other kids had triggered their asthma and had to use

their inhalers by the end of PE before they could return to the classroom.

Billie you've already heard about. She came home and had extra meds that

she has to taken when she has a bad asthma attack. I went in to school

this morning to talk with them about being a little more " tuned in " during

PE and left instructions for her to have " Library Recess " today instead of

the usual " outdoor recess " as she's still coughing a little this morning.

So, of course, now we will have to wait 3 weeks for the next available

intake appointment! Frustrating indeed!

Kathy

Whose Life is never dull.

--

Kathy Mac, LICSW

email: macdonald@...

[Guest guest]

Kathy,

Gee, I'm glad Billie was able to breathe better by the

time you got to the school. What a worry!!

Were you able to get a feel for the p-doc? Will you be

taking Billie with you the next time you go? You

waited this long, I guess another three weeks will be

ok. Good luck!

Vivian in WA ST

--- Kathy Mac <macdonald@...> wrote:

> So, Billie was diagnosed with OCD the first week in

> August. It took 2

> months for our HMO to finally identify a child

> psychiatrist who was in

> network, had OCD experience, was accepting new

> patients, etc. When we

> called the docs office it was another month before

> he had an intake

> appointment. That brings us up to yesterday. We

> decided not to take Billie

> to the first appointment because we wanted to check

> the guy out first and

> see if we wanted to work with him before Billie met

> him. So there we were,

> both parents having taken the afternoon off from

> work, 10 mins. into the

> appointment going over her long list of meds for

> asthma, allergies,

> migraines, and GI problems. 15 meds in all! The doc

> asks if she's needing

> her albuterol (one of her asthma inhalers) often.

> We said, " OH, No, she's

> been doing really well for the past 6 months. She

> rarely uses the albuterol

> inhaler now and she hasn't had to have a nebulizer

> treatment (breathing

> treatment where you breath the medicine from a

> machine) since May. "

>

> No sooner were the words out of my mouth than my

> partner's beeper went off.

> It was the school calling to say that Billie was

> having a really bad asthma

> attack! She had been running in PE. She had already

> used her inhaler twice

> without effect so we told them to start her

> nebulizer and we would call

> back in 5 mins. to see if that was working. 5 mins.

> later she was still in

> respiratory distress so we had to fly out of the

> docs office and drive like

> maniacs the 35 mins. between the docs office and the

> school to pick her up.

> I had turned on my cell phone so that the school

> could call to divert us if

> they decided to put her in an ambulance and send her

> to Children's Hospital

> before we got there. Of course, by the time we

> walked into the school,

> Billie was doing a lot better. We had hoped that

> would be the case but,

> because asthma is a potentially life threatening

> illness, we couldn't just

> ignore it and hope for the best.

>

> Apparently PE involved a particularly wild game of

> capture the flag. 5 of

> the 20 kids in Billie's class have asthma and hers

> has been the most

> severe. 2 of the other kids had triggered their

> asthma and had to use

> their inhalers by the end of PE before they could

> return to the classroom.

> Billie you've already heard about. She came home and

> had extra meds that

> she has to taken when she has a bad asthma attack.

> I went in to school

> this morning to talk with them about being a little

> more " tuned in " during

> PE and left instructions for her to have " Library

> Recess " today instead of

> the usual " outdoor recess " as she's still coughing a

> little this morning.

>

> So, of course, now we will have to wait 3 weeks for

> the next available

> intake appointment! Frustrating indeed!

>

> Kathy

> Whose Life is never dull.

>

>

>

>

>

> --

> Kathy Mac, LICSW

> email: macdonald@...

>

>

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Kathy M,

I always try to meet in advance with the professionals dealing with

my kids. They have been subjected to far too many UNprofessionals to

risk this anymore!

To save time for your next appoitment, I suggest you type up a list

of medications and medical history and pass it along. This saves a

lot of time. Do you think you were with the doc long enough to judge

if this is the right person?? Maybe taking Billie with you next time

will save time?? Are you limited to the amount of appoitments with

the p-doc?? I'm unfamiliar with the US system and from what I know,

there are too many paper pushers determining medical services!!!!

take care, wendy, in canada

_______________________________________________________

Build your own website in minutes and for free at http://ca.geocities.com

[Guest guest]

At 11:00 AM -0500 11/17/2001, w birkhan wrote:

> To save time for your next appoitment, I suggest you type up a list

>

>of medications and medical history and pass it along. This saves a

>

>lot of time. Do you think you were with the doc long enough to judge

>

>if this is the right person?? Maybe taking Billie with you next time

>

>will save time??

Yes, we did the typed out history and med list, etc. and we left them with

him so he will have had a chance to read them before our next visit. I

think we will probably take Billie with us next time. He seemed pretty

appropriate and he was completely understanding about our leaving

mid-appointment. We have a family friend who is a child psychiatrist (and

because he's a friend, of course it's not appropriate for him to treat

Billie) who knows this guy and thinks he does a really good job. I'm not

even sure that she needs to go on meds. The data I've seen say that you

get about 75% reduction in OCD symptoms with the SSRI meds. Billie has

already had about 70-75% reduction with just CBT. Because she's already on

a long list of meds for other things and given the potential SSRI side

effects we may decide to hold off on more meds unless it looks like we

really need to.

Kathy

--

Kathy Mac, LICSW

email: macdonald@...