Health Care Irritations
I’ve always found it absurd that I get bombarded with ads, news stories, and more telling me to get a flu shot (or get one for my kids). But when I go to the doctor, I get resistance. They don’t have enough for me.
If you really want people to get vaccinated, spend a little less time getting the word out and a little more time getting the vaccines out.
I can just blow that off, but now we’re running into the same sort of problem with an issue we take much more seriously: autism screening. I’ve mentioned before that S has some behaviors that concern us. We hear all of the time that “Every child should be screened”, “When parents are concerned they are often right”, and “Early intervention is critical — get evaluated ASAP!”.
There are great sites like Autism Speaks that help parents get informed. We’ve found their video glossary particularly effective.
So we raised our concerns to our pediatrician, got a referral for an evaluation, and in a couple of days someone called us to schedule an appointment.
When would we like that appointment? “The next available date is September 17, 2008. Would 1 PM or 3 PM be more convenient?”
I rarely laugh directly at people, but I’m pretty sure I did when I heard that. You’ve got to be kidding. What happened to all of that urgency? Why aren’t they helping us find someone who can actually see our child?
So now we’re looking for other options.
It would be great if a site like Autism Speaks had a service to connect families with a provider that can actually help. Or at least give us some advice about what to do when that urgent evaluation and intervention isn’t going to happen any time soon.
I’ve posted your query : there are some of my readers who should be qualified to weigh in.
Meantime : how you followed the controversy about the possible safety of some vaccines and possibility of untoward afteraffects ? I know kids’ saferty seems more likely more compromised by lack of immunity : problem is, public health is like everything else – affected by lack of constraints on pharaceutical suppliers’ promo techniques and incompetent management rampant in government.
Reliable vaccinations are one of the oldest and best preventative measures. Personally, I have the most qualms about Thermosil stablizer and ‘batched’ immunizations : which were not how they were developed.
But – I’m not qualified to judge.
opit
November 18, 2007 at 11:31 am
You could always go for a (long) drive. Weather’s still glorious, btw.
drive-through flu shots
Lynn
November 18, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Rolfe,
I think it’s faster to go through Early Intervention to get the evaluation. At least it was for us. We fought with our ped for months where EI got us in for an evaluation in about a week.
Carol
November 18, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Rolfe, we just spent almost a year of worried waiting to see the top-choice scoliosis orthopedic specialist with our 12-year-old son. He had all the signs that even we could see with the naked eye, confirmed by our pediatrician and an x-ray back in February.
We finally got to see this exalted specialist Friday afternoon (they only take scoliosis patients on day per month because there are so many of various degrees these days, I suppose?)
Long story short, the guy scoffed at us, did a new x-ray in the office showing the spial curve was completely gone although the shoulders still don’t look level and even to the naked eye. I had trouble believing him but he told us he never needed to see us again, that everything we were so conscientiously concerned about was normal growth rate disparity during his big “growth spurt” year and that nobody was ever perfectly “normal” and symmetrical anyway.
I’m not saying this says anything about S and screening. The flip side is that Young Son DID need glasses last year and loves them, and he IS getting his tonsils and adenoids out tomorrow because he DOES have abnormal growth blocking his air passage. But what we were the most worried about for the longest time, the worst possibility with the clearest signs — nope, all is well.
JJ
November 19, 2007 at 8:55 am
Thanks everyone. Carol, we’ll definitely look into EI. Just my quick look this morning led me to a couple of local groups that seem promising. One group even says “If we can’t help you, we’ll find someone who can.” That’s what I like to hear.
Lynn – I think we’ll just fly and rent a car. California really is a fountain of innovation, isn’t it? Keep the weather good, we’re going out there for Christmas.
Opit- I’m also not qualified to judge. I’ve always been uncomfortable that we are more or less mandated to put things in our kids bodies. I also wonder whether we could keep kids just as safe (or safer) by carefully monitoring diseases and selectively immunizing individuals that have a high risk of contracting and spreading a disease. We should be doing the monitoring anyway, right?
I agree that the motives are suspect, and that once someone is sitting on a cash cow they will fight hard to hold on to it.
I can accept lax testing when there is a crisis that needs immediate intervention. But the crises are long gone in the U.S. and I think some scrutiny would be a good thing.
Rolfe Schmidt
November 19, 2007 at 9:20 am
Thanks JJ, We are hoping to do the screening to rule out any problems. I really think that he doesn’t have a problem at all, he is just a little different. But when we look at the checklist of signs, there are a number of matches so that is spurring us into action.
I’m glad to hear that your son’s issues are all getting resolved. I hope the procedure goes well tomorrow.
Rolfe Schmidt
November 19, 2007 at 9:33 am
Sounds like you are doing all the right things and for all the right reasons then! No way to parent (or unschool) better than that.
Btw I really like the idea and execution of your blog’s unschooling set-up to collect those posts in one place for us, thank you! I already have two people I want to refer to it.
JJ
November 19, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Things just went nuts. Suggest you look at Catherine Morgan’s “Informed Voters” re: Vaccines. Salon Esoterica is the most comprehensive – but he always sounds so wild ( even if I suspect he’s just far ahead ‘of the curve’. )
opit
November 19, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Oops. That’s now : Welcome to Catherine – then select Informed Voters there.
opit
November 19, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Thanks opit, I’ll look into that. Salon Esoterica does sound pretty wild, but that makes it fun to read. It reminds you that you need to keep thinking for yourself, anyway.
JJ – I’m glad you liked that post collection. I plan to overhaul the permanent page and put more links in one of these days when I have some time, but it’s a start…
Rolfe Schmidt
November 21, 2007 at 9:24 am
Carol — It turned out that he is too old for the Early Intervention program, but when we looked into EI we found a doctor that was able to get us in this month. Thanks for the tip!
Rolfe Schmidt
December 5, 2007 at 10:04 am