Seeing the Specialist.

The pediatrician has been telling me that M is fine since he started seeing her the day after she was discharged from the hospital. All of the screaming, weight concerns, skin discoloration, excessive sweating, constant eating of huge quantities, bowel movements that were so solid that she had a skin tear in her bum...everything is normal. Well, I know I am a fierce mother bear, but I also like to think that I am not paranoid or a hypochondriac by proxy. After my friend's parents heard my daughter scream inconsolably for hours, arching her back and trying to self-soothe with her (oh-so-adorable) thumb, they agreed with me and encouraged me to become my daughter's advoc ate.

So, I took her to the GP with a typed and itemized printout of my prenatal history, and issues with M. since she was born, including all the good stuff like meeting her milestones early or on par to balance out the not so good like throwing up (not spitting up) all the time. He listened and read my print-out and lo and behold, referred me to a pediatrician who does consults. After waiting for a month for this consult, the dr, who is only in on Thursdays from 9am-12pm (I kid you not!) the appointment was cancelled at 9:38am on the same day of M's 11am appointment. Why? Wait for it...The dr had the flu. So, what you are telling me is the dr did not display any symptoms of illness until that day, after 9am???? I was so angry I took my daughter back to the GP and demanded a new referral. The next pediatric consultant was available to see her in a couple of days. Eurekah!

M and I showed up with moments to spare for her appointment, only to find out that this dr was called into the adjacent hospital to help resuscitate a baby. What can I say about that??? Luckily, it was the hospital in which I work, so I visited my colleagues, went shopping on the lobby carts (such fab stuff!) and waiting for my cell to ring with the news of the return of the dr.
After about an hour, we were summoned back to the doctor's office. He actually read my print-out (her regular pediatrician initialled it and put it on her chart at my request without actually reading it) , underlining the issues he felt were important. Any concerns that were normal, he didn't just dismiss, he actually explained why the behaviours or symptoms were normal. I felt like a real person in his office. He was sufficiently concerned about her mass intake (her record is 18oz of formula and then cereal in one sitting) to refer her to a pediatric gastroenterologist. (Say that ten times fast!)

A week later, I still had not been called with an appointment date. So, I called the pediatric consultant and then I called the gastroenterologist's office. The secretary, G., told me that since M was not deemed a priority, she will have an appointment in February 2010. Are you kidding? My 6 month old daughter has to wait for what will be the equivalent of 1/3 of her life for an appointment? I was having none of that. I shmoozed the secretary and got her an appt for the same week. The next day I received a call: there had been a cancellation today in two hours. A gift from the gods. I raced to fit in M's enormous, usually 1.5 hour morning routine of eating and getting dressed (yes, it takes her THAT long to eat!) and drive her the 50 km to the appt.

I was very impressed with the gastro. She spent a good hour with us listening to my concerns. She read over my print-out (which I update every couple of weeks now to keep an ongoing record of my concerns) before she saw us. Unfortunately, I was in a catch 22--I had taken M to see a naturopath who gave me the recipe for homemade formula. He also gave her a couple of remedies. These interventions have improved her health significantly. However, the gastro and all the western drs she has seen are concerned about the calories/nutrition of a formula that is not mass marketed. It has removed M from the pathology list, yet the issues were still there, just in more acceptable levels now. I decided to delay pushing for the test for the gluten allergy (my #1 suspicion as the behaviours came roaring back when I introduced barley into her diet). I found out M is eligible for allergy testing now, but it is painful and invasive. (Her pediatrician told me he would not allergy test until she is two). The Gastro was also concerned enough to offer me the option of an EEG (a brain scan) as M was having crying fits where she would stare off into space and I could not get her attention, regardless of what I tried. This is suspiciously like a petite-mal seizure. The Gastro did not feel that this test was necessary but she was prepared to order it if I gave her the go-ahead. The test is quick and painless so I consented. I am hoping it will rule out any seizure activity. Unfortunately, it will not tell us whether she has previously had a seizure. Rather, it will only detect any seizure activity at present. This behaviour has disappeared since the introduction of the homemade formula, so I am fairly confident the test will come back negative. The Gastro is also sending a referral for an MD with a specialty in nutrition who also has a nutritionist working in his office. The wait is only about 3 montsh--not an enternity for a baby!

In the meantime, I took M to see the naturopath this afternoon. After her angelic, healthy behaviour in the Gastro's office, she spent the duration of this visit crying, arching her back and refusing to be consoled. Why couldn't she have shown this side to the Gastro? The homeopath also saw her and we managed to get some homeopathic remedy into her to help with the "colic". M clamped her mouth shut at the site of the dropper, remembering, I'm sure, the natural cough medicine I was syringing into her. She hated that!

Colic is such a non-diagnosis. It just means the baby cries all the time, for no apparent reason. Well, excuse me, my daughter HAS a reason for crying. She just cannot communicate her reason except through crying. I still suspect allergies and a sore belly as the flatulence abounds during these fits. The only reinforcing factor in all of this is that both the Gastro and the Naturopath encouraged me to continue with my due diligence in finding the right diagnosis and care for my baby....It just breaks my heart to see her like this...