Need to vent!!!

So, today was an incredibly frustrating day. Let me recap the last week and see if you can understand the frustration. Caleb woke up Tuesday with a high fever, sore throat, just not feeling good. Under normal circumstances, I don't take my kids to the doctor immediately when they just got sick, but since brother had recently had strep throat, I figured I should take him in to make sure that wasn't it.

Office visit #1  ($15 co-pay): strep test negative, lungs and heart good, just a virus. He'll be better in a couple days. Ok, off we went. I know how to manage sick kids. We're good. Wednesday he's still sick, fever, not eating, sore throat, the whole nine. Thursday afternoon he spikes 105 AGAIN, call doctor, says to bring him in.

Office visit #2 ($15 co-pay + 20% of in-office procedures): Glands are extremely swollen, heart is pounding due to fever, run a couple tests in office and determine it's not mono or meningitis. Lungs sound wet and "gunky", he has walking pneumonia, continue comfort measures and go fill this prescription for a brand new antibiotic that will work great for his lungs. Of course, this is non-formulary and will cost me $60 AFTER insurance paid over 200!!! Don't be concerned unless he gets to day 5 of high fever, he says, we don't worry about it til then but his fever will probably break with this new medication. Ok, I'll get the medicine and continue comfort measures at home. Friday still has high fever then actually seems a bit better in the evening. My mommy gut was convinced the fever would break during the night and he'd be all better.  Saturday morning, much to my shock (my mommy gut has never been wrong, mind you) he's still 103!!! Talk to the on call doctor who says, yes, he needs to be taken to the hospital.

ER visit #1 (don't even want to THINK about the pretty penny this one will cost): Wait 2 hours to get in a room, doctor examines him and asks, "did you know he has a heart murmur?". Me, "Um, no!" Doctor, "well, sometimes we see this when kids are really sick and it should resolve on its own". Ok. She goes on to say that he has the classic presentation of strep throat and mono but his lungs sound good. Chest x-ray is good. He's dehydrated so they run fluids, he pees for the first time in almost 24 hours. Good. Doctor comes back and says he does not have pneumonia, but he could have Valley Fever. Strep and mono tests are negative but they have a fairly high rate of false negatives and clinically it looks like that's what he has. Amoxicillin is the best drug for strep, so discontinue the other antibiotic and go get this filled, she said as I nearly choked! Last thing she says is, "The 7 day mark is when we really get concerned, so if Monday he still has a fever, he'll need to come back for more testing. Oh, and if he stops peeing again for 24 hours he'll need IV fluids again". At this point, I'm thrilled to be getting out of there but almost out of my mind MAD!!! As we are leaving, I see the doctor loading up her bag to leave for the vacation she had mentioned earlier. Nice.

Now for the rant: WHAT THE HECK????? Does he have a heart murmur, does he not? Does he have mono, does he not??? Does he have strep, does he not? Does he need IV fluids, does he not? Do we need to be concerned about 5 days of exposure to high fevers for his nervous system or not? I am incredibly frustrated with the abounding inconsistencies, contradictions, wasted time, wasted money and putting my very sick 6 year old through tests he may not have needed. Need I say that this mama is wanting to scream at someone right now????

Ok, I'm done. I promise. If you made it through my whole rant, I congratulate you for your patience. Oh, and if there is an ER visit #2, there may not be a follow up blog cuz I might have gotten arrested or committed to the looney bin by then!!!