Q.1 How much antibiotics is too much for a kid to have in a year (Vixen and EGB, perhaps you can answer? If you read the blog anyway. Do you read the blog? You should!)?
On Friday night Tiger woke up screaming for daddy. Actually, I think the way it usually works is she asks for mummy, and when mummy ignores/doesn't hear her she asks for daddy. Last night mummy didn't hear her till she screamed for daddy, and daddy still didn't hear her. The whole thing was strange anyway because normally when she wakes up during the night she just wanders through through to our room, rather than lying in bed and screaming. Anyway, I went through, put the covers back over her, put the covers back over Toots who'd been woken up, calmed Lightning down who'd also been woken up, then went back to see Tiger. As I was leaving I heard her pipe up quietly, "I've got a sore ear".
Which I knew was coming. She gets a runny nose, then that turns yellow, then she stops being able to hear us, and then she complains of a sore ear. Which takes me to my second question:
Q.2 How early should you take your kid to the doctor when you know something is going to be wrong?
Because I'm sure if I'd taken her a week ago they'd have said she doesn't have an ear infection (yet). And I'd still have been charged close to $80 for the appointment. So then I wait till I know she has an ear infection, I know she'll be given antibiotics, but could she have been given something earlier to stop it developing, or would they have just sent me away saying there was nothing she could do because actually she was fine? This is the third one in five months though, which sounds like a few too many I think. So question number three:
Q.3 What number of ear infections in a year would make you think there's maybe some sort of underlying problem, rather than her just being prone to ear infections?
And it's not about the money, though I'm sorry I do go on about it - as I am continually shocked by how much health care is over here. Which actually, leads me to another point. We were chatting with some folks here about the Olympics and they were commenting on the importance the opening ceremony gave to the NHS and how proud Britain were of it (and how weird the whole thing was, but that's another matter!), and I have to say, now that we don't have it, I'm proud of Britain and it's NHS. Okay so sometimes you might wait months for an appointment, or you might come out bottom of the postcode lottery for cancer treatment, or you might be charged a fortune to park your car when you visit someone in hospital, but the NHS ensures every single person can be seen when they are sick, worried, having a child, in pain, regardless of whether they can afford it or not. How can that be anything but a great thing and something to be incredibly thankful for? And if you still want to complain, try living somewhere without an NHS for six months, then see if you still feel the same about it.
Anyway, off to the paediatrician's office again this morning...
2 comments:
I HEAR YOU!!! I always have that dilemma of not bringing the kids to the doctor when they have a temperature because you KNOW you will pay good money just to have the doctor say "liquids and rest" when if you wait until the cold/infection develops you'll pay the same money but get (or get a prescription and have to pay for) a nice big antibiotic. YES - the NHS is wonderful (mostly)! One thing about living abroad, especially during the recent crisis, and in my case, in a middle income country, is that you realise that most British people don't know how good they have it. On a more practical note, I have tried to develop a good relationship with our pediatrician so that in between proper consults, we can call him up and mostly he'll give us free phone advice. And he charges us half price on follow up visits if the initial diagnosis/medicine didn't work in the proper time lapse.
As to answering your questions:
1) How much is too much? I think when the kids are this age and picking up all types of bugs and making their defences, just don't worry about there being too many antibiotics. It's a phase.
2) see above
3) this seems like a question for a doctor, I don't feel qualified ;o)
Poor wee Tiger. Hope she is getting better again and sorry the infections keep coming. Finlay had ear infections most of his first three years. Apparently the doctor told them just to buy a tanker of calpol and park it outside and keep giving them it. He hasn't had any since he was 3.5 xx
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