- This topic has 7 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 17 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
My daughter Paige is 3 & 1/2 months old, and her reflux started to get really bad about a month ago. We had never been to a ped GI, so I asked my family doc for a referral. Apparently the only ped GI in our province is in another city, 2 hours away. While it would be nice if there was one in our city, it’s OK, I’ll definately make the trip. When the ped GI got our referral, I spoke to him briefly over the phone, and he recommended switching to Neocate (she was not doing well on Pregestimil) and starting ranitidine. He said give it a month, then follow up with a phone call to his nurse. He didn’t want me to make the trip to see him if we didn’t need to. So we started the Neocate and ranitidine right away. The Neocate really helped (no more diapers filled with mucus) but the ranitidine didn’t seem to do the trick. Actually her reflux got much worse. She couldn’t eat more than an ounce at a time without screaming and having Sandifer’s, and she wouldn’t sleep more than 20 mins at a time. We were desperate to find our girl some relief, so thanks to your advice here, we had our family doc prescribe Prevacid based on the marci-kids guidlines. Today is day 14 on Prevacid, and for the last few days our girl has been more content and eating and sleeping better!
Now to my problem – the ped GI’s nurse!! I have been talking to her repeatedly over the last 2 weeks to try to make an appointment to get in to see the ped GI. The first time we talked, she just asked about Paige’s symptoms and what meds and formula she was on. She said she would talk to the doctor and he would call me back. I didn’t hear from either of them, so 2 days later I called again. At this point our girl is still very distressed, as we had just started the Prevacid. All I get is her voice mail, so I leave a message while my daughter is screaming hysterically in the background. The nurse calls me back later that day saying “Oh, I guess he didn’t get back to you. I’ll talk to him first thing in the morning”. I wait the entire next day, with no phone call. The following day, I phone again, get voice mail again, and leave another message. The nurse calls the next day, and I am pretty pissed off at this point. She asked about my daughter’s symptoms, and I say that she is starting to show some improvement with the Prevacid, but I still want to make an appointment to see the doc. She gives me the runaround, and basically implies that since Paige is no longer projectile vomiting, not vomiting blood, not FTT, and she is going to outgrow it, what is my problem? I let her have it, saying that we have never had any tests done, we don’t know the full extent of her problems, and I want to see the ped GI! Again she says she will talk to the doctor, and get back to me. That was 4 days ago, and guess what, no phone call!
Is it too much to ask just to get an appointment to see the specialist? Even if my daughter is on the mend, and does great from now on, I still have lots I would like to talk to the doctor about! The worst part is I can’t even get to talk to the doctor – I think the nurse has just decided that our situation isn’t important, so she’s setting up roadblocks for me. I am so frustrated! And it’s not like I can just go see a different ped GI, he’s the only one in our province! I think I might go to our regular pediatrician and tell him what is going on, and see if he can talk to the ped GI to get me in. Arrrgh!!
I just had to vent!!
That is incredibly frustrating!!! They should be welcoming you to come in instead of pushing you away!!!! They won’t even let you schedule an appointment!??!
I would see if your doctor could pull some strings for you. I don’t blame you at all for wanting to see a ped GI. I wish we would have, looking back. Good luck and I hope you’re able to get in.
By the way…Your children are breathtaking! Paige is just gorgeous!!!!
Sounds like this doctor has too many patients and not nearly enough compassion. My guess is that if you did finally get in to see him he probably wouldn’t be much help because he’s already made up his mind that your daughter doesn’t need any help. I know you must be terribly frustrated but I think that if you’ve got her on a good dose of Prevacid and she does fine on that and Neocate then you’re probably on the right path and maybe you can you can just have your family doctor take care of her. You certainly would not be the first mom who has gotten their child’s reflux under control with no help from a Ped GI!! Many of us have had the best luck with our family doctors, including me. 
I hope the Neocate and Prevacid continue to work well for her and that she just gets better and better.
If you really want to persist…maybe fax the Dr or write a letter (and cc it to your family dr). If it is in writing they might be less likely to ignore it because there is a “paper” trail. I’m glad little Paige is feeling better and I agree she is just beautiful
Nurses sometimes get Dr complexes and this one sounds like she/he does….Well, I have to pick myself up off the floor! I got a call from the ped GI’s nurse saying that they have an opening on Monday (yes, 4 days from today!) and would I like to brink Paige in!! Hooray! Now, any suggestions about what I should be asking him, any tests I should maybe ask for, what info I should come armed with, etc? I don’t want to get home and think about something I should have told him, or something I should have asked about.
Thanks for your input!
That’s great!
I’ll leave the advice as to what to ask up to the mom’s who’ve been to a gi. I hope the appt goes well.
ndrose wrote:
That’s great!
I’ll leave the advice as to what to ask up to the mom’s who’ve been to a gi. I hope the appt goes well.
Ditto.
Don’t forget to take you marci kids printous
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
