Bulls-eye
Damn ticks.
Like I have nothing else better to do than go to yet another doctor.
The best part of the experience so far, because I'm sure it will get better, was calling the doctor's office and having the secretary tell me that the doctor won't want to see me. They tell patients to call back and come in when they get sick with flu-like or arthritis symptoms. Are you freaking kidding me?!?
I was speechless for a moment before I told her that, according to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, the protocol for erythema migrans (fancy name for bulls-eye rash) with no constitutional symptoms was a 6 week course of antibiotics. If this type of rash is present treatment must begin immediately as that is when treatment is the most effective. There is no definitive blood test for Lyme disease.
She wanted to know where I had read that. I hated saying that I read it on the internet, since that makes it seem as though I read it on some insipid mommy and me message board, and not a medical journal.
So now I get to drag seven kids to the doctor's office with me, should be boatloads of fun. It's times like this I wish I had gone to medical school instead of pursuing a master's in English (yeah that was worthwhile) and law school.
Throw a dart at me, I'm done.
21 Comments:
You go girl!
I get so sick of people and their condescending attitudes.
My best friend's father had Lyme disease years ago and to this day he still experiences problems related to it!
I am so paranoid about ticks, I subject the kids to "checks" often.
Once I found one in my 11 year old's belly button! (he was 4 at the time)
Thanks...now I am feeling all itchy.
Good luck!
I really firmly believe receptionists in Dr. Office's are morons. I hate calling first off and then to have to talk to a condescending moron on the other end just puts ya in a worse mood.
Good luck. Have your kids reck havoc on her waiting room.
Where do you live, again?
Aren't you supposed to have some of that famed small town service?
Janis Gore
My mother in law made my nephew and me climb through this wooded area last weekend near her house in search of wild onions and then refused to check my nephew for ticks when we came back because she was convinced there weren't any. Funny, since when I took off my clothes upstairs to take a shower, 2 crawled off me and onto the floor. Interesting, huh? I don't know why people don't take these things more seriously!
It really 'ticks' me off. Ha! Good luck at the doctor!
Janis,
I live in a very small town in CT, where Lyme disease was first discovered incidentally, but there are no doctors here. My doctor's office is about a 45 minute to an hour drive away.
Ticks are a huge problem here. I probably find 5 or 6 a week on the kids (as a group). But there are only so many preventative measures you can take.
Oh, I am sorry for more stuff to be heaped on the plate. Yes, treatment should begin immediatly. How long ago did you pull off the tick?
Today is a fun day for me....i had a full abdominal US of my kidneys, liver, gall bladder, pancreas and spleen. My mother is yelling at the cardiologist as I type this because someone at the office failed to tell her that her heart was grossly enlarged, and Screaming Mimi is, well, screaming.
Hugs to you. Let us know what the doc says.
I got Lymes in 1987 and it was diagnosed by a pretty smart Dr. I never got the rash just a swollen knee and the antibiotics (given immediately the day after swelling) knocked it out and I was fine 2 months later. Lymes isn't good to ignore, it can cause brain damage due to swelling and go systemic if left untreated. Storm the Dr.s office and say you want the antibiotics nomatter what. Might actually be worth testing all the kids since most of the time the rash doesn't appear and aches and flu symptoms get easily overlooked since they are so normal for winter and growing kids.
Oh my, I am so sorry... but I am very proud of you for standing up for yourself!
Dang. :(
I hate nurses who presume to speak for the doctors.
Have "fun" at the visit.
I hope everything went alright. Yuck, as if you needed more to deal with!
Take care
God bless!!
~Penny
www.mama2fiveblessings.blogspot.com
Good thing you did your homework. I hope the MD knows as much as you do and isn't turning other folks away (though it sounds like that's what happened... hello, malpractice suit!)
Yikes!
On the bright side, maybe you should call Target and see if they would pay you for free advertising....
Ok, sorry....bad joke.....
I sincerely hope you get better quickly!!!
Oh no, poor kiddo! Stand your ground and make sure to get the treatment, hopefully the doctor's office will come around quickly.
You need to make sure you ask her how many years of medical school she had taken so she could answer the phone at a dr. office.
Step on her hard, her job is not to give you medical advice, yoiu might want to follow up with a written complaint also. Remember, if she has done it to one, she has done it to many.
my 8 year old son has some weird "spots" (like pimples) on his knee and I have no idea what it is... looks like chicken pox, but we've had it before and I never heard of it just being on one body part?? I should post a picture of it on my blog to see if anyone can identify it!!!
p.s. I would like to link to your blog on my site if that's ok???
UGH - hope the kiddo is okay! You too!
My recommendation: get a new doctor, preferably one who carries a PDA with wireless Internet access. IMHO, only an idiot doctor would ignore a bullseye rash in this day and age. You were right to insist on treatment. MJ and I found a perfect bullseye rash (picture the Target logo) on our eldest daughter two years ago. We got her in and our doc (who is absolutely wonderful) put her on antibiotics immediately and paraded her before all the other doctors so they could see a classic lymes disease rash. That night, after getting her first doses of medication, she got weak, dizzy, couldn't stand, and spiked a high fever. Catching it early is hugely important, and the best bet is to practice preventative medecine for this malady.
My SIL has had lyme disease. There are some tests that test for specific antibodies that they can do ...but the antibodies might not be present for 2 months. http://my.webmd.com/hw/arthritis/hw5113.asp
Regarding what to tell the receptionist when she asks where you heard that, tell her "From the nternational Lyme and Associated Diseases Society themselves" - maybe see if they have something you can print off and take in that looks official.
I'm sorry you're going through this.
Doctor's receptionists are a breed unto themselves, it seems.
((hugs)), hope it's all sorted out by now and that you have your abx.
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