Sigh of Relief
Baby E is sitting in her high chair right now, happily eating spelt bread and carrots. She keeps "driving" a piece of carrot around the tray and making "Brrrm, brrrm" noises as if it were a toy car.
She seems to be feeling much better today. She slept from about 1 a.m. until morning last night. Although she's still short-fused, tired and a bit fussy today, she is happy and interactive most of the time. She seems much closer to her normal self.
##############
Interestingly enough, she loves this yeast-free spelt bread. She's been eating it happily for 2 days now, and her bad spells don't seem to coincide with eating it.
Seriously, I'm starting to suspect that Baby E has developed a rice allergy.
Corn, rice and oats are all in the grass family, and rice allergies are supposedly more common in people allergic to corn and/or oats. I just found that out in the last few days. Since Baby E is allergic to both corn and oats, it probably wouldn't be unlikely for her to develop a rice allergy--especially when eating it constantly.
I asked the allergist to test for rice allergy on Tuesday, but she refused even after I told her about the corn/rice/grass thing.
"I've never had a patient allergic to rice in 30 years. Not one. So I just took it off the panel. I don't even test for it any more. Nobody's allergic to rice."
Why did I just say, "Oh, okay" at that point, even though I knew that wasn't true? Grrr.
I'm going to take her off rice for a few days and see what happens. As soon as the other allergist is back from paternity leave, I think we'll be going back to him.
I did make an appointment with a pediatrician today. The fabulous Dr. B is out of the office this week, so we saw another doctor.
I wore my grey skirt suit and a red turtleneck, and even put on a necklace and lipstick. I thought if I looked professional and put-together, maybe the doctor would be more prone to take me seriously. It made me feel a little more calm and assertive, anyway.
It turned out I didn't need to worry. The doctor turned out to be a lady we'd seen before and liked. She has a 2-year-old and is expecting her second child this winter.
She was very concerned and sympathetic, and took Baby E's problems seriously. She checked Baby E over to rule out ear infections, etc. The doctor said that she thought Baby E needed to see a GI specialist. However, she agreed with me that we should NOT let the doctor we saw yesterday perform any kind of procedure on her.
So, she is referring us to another specialist at the best clinic/research facility/teaching hospital in the area. I'm glad. That facility is where my mom goes for nephrology, and she really likes the doctors there. They do a great job. It's also where my friend from college, the pediatric endocrinologist, is going to be working when she finishes her current residency. It's a very good clinic.
The doctor also said that Baby E had quite a bit of swelling where her molars were coming in, and that pain may be contributing to her discomfort. So she wrote a prescription to have ibuprofen compounded. She wrote on the prescription, "Patient has severe corn allergy. Medicine must be compounded corn-free."
She also wrote a note to our regular pediatrician saying we need a note saying Baby E can't have anything containing any corn, soy or her other allergens.
The clinic we go to recently hired a compounding pharmacist, and I was able to talk to her directly. She's going to make the medicine with nothing but ibuprofen in capsules derived from trees, not corn or soy. We can just open the capsules and mix the powder with food to give Baby E.
Baby E was falling asleep in her high chair next to me, so I laid her down in her crib. She's sleeping peacefully now.
I'm so encouraged.
Now I'm going to go and do some schoolwork with the older girls. They were fabulous during the appointment. I talked to them beforehand and let them know how important it was that I be able to hear and talk to the doctor without them interrumping. They understood, and were for the most part very quiet while the doctor was in the room.
I'm going to use this time while Baby E is sleeping to spend some focused time with them. Housework can wait.
She seems to be feeling much better today. She slept from about 1 a.m. until morning last night. Although she's still short-fused, tired and a bit fussy today, she is happy and interactive most of the time. She seems much closer to her normal self.
##############
Interestingly enough, she loves this yeast-free spelt bread. She's been eating it happily for 2 days now, and her bad spells don't seem to coincide with eating it.
Seriously, I'm starting to suspect that Baby E has developed a rice allergy.
Corn, rice and oats are all in the grass family, and rice allergies are supposedly more common in people allergic to corn and/or oats. I just found that out in the last few days. Since Baby E is allergic to both corn and oats, it probably wouldn't be unlikely for her to develop a rice allergy--especially when eating it constantly.
I asked the allergist to test for rice allergy on Tuesday, but she refused even after I told her about the corn/rice/grass thing.
"I've never had a patient allergic to rice in 30 years. Not one. So I just took it off the panel. I don't even test for it any more. Nobody's allergic to rice."
Why did I just say, "Oh, okay" at that point, even though I knew that wasn't true? Grrr.
I'm going to take her off rice for a few days and see what happens. As soon as the other allergist is back from paternity leave, I think we'll be going back to him.
I did make an appointment with a pediatrician today. The fabulous Dr. B is out of the office this week, so we saw another doctor.
I wore my grey skirt suit and a red turtleneck, and even put on a necklace and lipstick. I thought if I looked professional and put-together, maybe the doctor would be more prone to take me seriously. It made me feel a little more calm and assertive, anyway.
It turned out I didn't need to worry. The doctor turned out to be a lady we'd seen before and liked. She has a 2-year-old and is expecting her second child this winter.
She was very concerned and sympathetic, and took Baby E's problems seriously. She checked Baby E over to rule out ear infections, etc. The doctor said that she thought Baby E needed to see a GI specialist. However, she agreed with me that we should NOT let the doctor we saw yesterday perform any kind of procedure on her.
So, she is referring us to another specialist at the best clinic/research facility/teaching hospital in the area. I'm glad. That facility is where my mom goes for nephrology, and she really likes the doctors there. They do a great job. It's also where my friend from college, the pediatric endocrinologist, is going to be working when she finishes her current residency. It's a very good clinic.
The doctor also said that Baby E had quite a bit of swelling where her molars were coming in, and that pain may be contributing to her discomfort. So she wrote a prescription to have ibuprofen compounded. She wrote on the prescription, "Patient has severe corn allergy. Medicine must be compounded corn-free."
She also wrote a note to our regular pediatrician saying we need a note saying Baby E can't have anything containing any corn, soy or her other allergens.
The clinic we go to recently hired a compounding pharmacist, and I was able to talk to her directly. She's going to make the medicine with nothing but ibuprofen in capsules derived from trees, not corn or soy. We can just open the capsules and mix the powder with food to give Baby E.
Baby E was falling asleep in her high chair next to me, so I laid her down in her crib. She's sleeping peacefully now.
I'm so encouraged.
Now I'm going to go and do some schoolwork with the older girls. They were fabulous during the appointment. I talked to them beforehand and let them know how important it was that I be able to hear and talk to the doctor without them interrumping. They understood, and were for the most part very quiet while the doctor was in the room.
I'm going to use this time while Baby E is sleeping to spend some focused time with them. Housework can wait.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:24 AM[Permanent link]
8 Comments:
Phew! Glad to hear it.
It is sad, but you are probably right about dressing up to seem more professional to doctors. Down with the patriarchy!
And I don't in *any* way want to minimize what you are going though, but it's amazing how often it turns out to be the teething . . . Didn't Phantom just say that recently?
Really glad to hear she's feeling better.
Seconding the well-wishes -- hope this trend continues.
Very glad to hear it.
I hope that from here on in, all Baby E's doctors are as respectful and caring as the one you saw today.
Also happy to hear that you've finally gotten a relatively decent day. Those sleepless nights and the worry can really grind you down.
But how sad that you felt the need to "dress up" to get taken seriously (not that your impulse was wrong--not at all). I could just scream at the doctor for making you feel that way.
Glad to hear the baby's happier!!! PTL!
so glad to hear the sigh of relief.
i've been praying for you.
Thanks so much, each one of you.
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