Thursday, October 15, 2009

Mommy SOS!!!

I need some advice. I'm getting ready to admit something that some of you will think is worse than the unpardonable sin, but please don't take this opportunity to lecture me about it...that's not the point of the post, and quite frankly I've already beat myself up enough. :)
Allison is 23 months old, and the only immunizations she has received so far are the initial Hep (at hospital) and her first round at 2 mos. (which she took considerably later than 2 mos!). This summer I changed pediatricians due to the fact that the one we had used for about 9 years was having health issues, and the last couple of visits I actually had to take my child from the exam room back to the conference room to see the doc cause she couldn't come to me, for whatever reason. I just wasn't real comfortable continuing on with it, although the nurses were great and I hated to leave them.
The pediatrician I was switching to was really good, and their new location was a little more convenient for me, so I assumed smooth sailing.
I made the mistake of scheduling a joint appt. for Kait and Alli in late July. Kait would have her kindergarten exam, and I would get Alli one round of immunizations. My girls are both pretty paranoid of anything medical, and I should have known better. Long story short, Alli's well-visit had to be changed to a sick visit due to a viral infection. Two office personnel came in to do the appt. Not sure if they were nurses or medical assistants. One appeared to be training. I asked them to please do everything for Kaitlynn first, because Alli would start screaming the minute they touched her, and continue until we left. I didn't want Kait to have to endure that trauma cause she was already scared to death.
I was surprised when they completely ignored my request, and began their exams, alternating every procedure. It was pure torture. After 15 minutes of Allison screaming, Kait began to cry. I kept thinking that it shouldn't take too long, but failed to realize the extent of a kindergarten exam these days. Vision screening, urine sample, hearing test, on and on and on. Every time the office personnel would leave the room, Kait would ask me when they were going to do the shots, etc. I had told her that, based on previous experience with the boys, the shots would be fairly painless.
The doc came in and was so kind. She calmed Kait down, and even had her smiling. But not for long. A little bit after the doc left, the needling-weilding woman appeared. Literally, holding the syringes out in plain view, she came in rather rudely asking if she would need to bring in the other nurse to "help hold her down". Any five-year-old hearing those words would freak out a bit. Kait began to cry again, and of course, Alli too. I said no that I would help. Holding Alli on my left hip, I used my right arm to try to hold Kait down while the nurse crammed her ginormous stomach into Kait's legs. She went to insert the needle, and Kait flinched which caused her not to be able to inject. This made the nurse mad, and she angrily said, "This is why I HAVE to have someone who can hold her down. She is going to hurt herself!" She was huffing and puffing, and looking very irritated. I said, "OK, I'll do it." Still holding screaming Alli, I laid myself across Kaitlynn's chest, and held her legs with my right arm. Within a little bit it was all over with, and the nurse exited the room, never to be seen again...thank God. We sat there for a minute, not quite sure what to do. We hadn't been told that we could go, but I didn't necessarily think that conditions were favorable to stay any longer, so we gathered our things and headed for the front desk. I said, "I guess we are finished. Is there anything else I need?" The secretary said that she didn't have anything for us, so we left.
Once I reached the van I realized that I hadn't been given any info. regarding the girls weight or height, and the had failed to clue me in on the shots that Kait had, or any side effects I should be looking for. I started to go back in, but figured that the kids would go ballistic again, so I decided to wait til later. Plus I was so upset about the whole thing that I really wanted to wait until my emotions leveled out before addressing the situation.
So here it is mid-October, and I have to get Alli in for her immunizations. I considered just taking her to the Health Dept., but would actually end up paying twice as much because I only have a $20 copay for an office visit. I also don't really feel like taking her into that environment right now. I have an appt. at the doc for this coming Monday. I feel that I need to request a different nurse, and share my experience with the doctor. Do you think that is overboard? What would be your response? Seriously, I love the doctor, but I'm scared to take her back there!

4 comments:

  1. unbelievable! I'd be hesitant to go back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you really like the dr. I wouldn't hesitate to ask for a different nurse. The only thing is, will you be able to speak to the dr. BEFORE the nurse comes in? Would you be able to call & talk to the dr. before your visit? Also, maybe if you go on a different day, a different time too, she might not be working.

    ReplyDelete
  3. NEVER let those nurses touch my nieces again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm not a mommy (yet), but I can definitively tell you that from what experience I have working in a hospital/dr. office, that is NOT acceptable behavior for a nurse. You absolutely should request a different nurse & most definitely make sure that the dr. knows what occurred. There's always the possibility that other people have filed complaints about this nurse as well, & your information could helpful to the HR department. So sorry you had to go through all of that! :-(

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for joining the conversation!