FINALLY..

We got the results of the tests done on Janae last Thursday..

Remember the other day, when I said 'another story for another day' regarding our doctor visit?

I guess today is that day:)

When we went to the Open Clinic last Thursday afternoon, Janae was in rough shape - she had thrown up overnight, had quite a fever going, had zero energy, could not swallow at all, and all she did was sleep.. She was carrying around a margarine bucket, and when it wasn't used for vomiting purposes, it was to collect all her saliva that she couldn't swallow.. She spit in it a few times a minute:(

So, at the Clinic, we had an hour and a half wait (in which we took Kurt for his haircut:).  Janae twice emptied her bucket under the shrub right at the entrance of the Doctor's office.  I'm sure fellow patients were not too happy at the sight of her heaving violently into her Becel container before and throughout her elevator ride - but what can you do at that point??

When we finally got in, we had some young female doctor.  She looked up Janae's history, and seen immediately that 2 years ago she had tested positive for whooping cough.  She seemed so delighted by that fact! She claimed she was testing EVERYONE for whooping cough and NO ONE had positive results:( She sarcastically did the little finger quotation marks when explaining how we were supposed to be in some sort of ""outbreak""..) It was about then that Janae and I looked at each other

 with our first 'OH... MY....' look.

Said doc proceeded to ask Janae about all her symptoms and checked her out..

She asked about her siblings and the birth order of them all.  She asked Janae if she was immunized.  Janae replied 'no' with the little bit of energy she could muster, and based on the shocked look of the doctor, she glanced over at me with a 'was that a wrong answer to give her or something?' look.. 

Ms. Doc gave me THE look.

'Are your other kids immunized?' "No" was my response. 

'Did your doctor ever talk to you about immunization?' "Yes" was my answer. 

Well, that baffled her even more.

'You must have personal reasons not to immunize?' in some tone I couldn't even put my finger on.

She looked at me as if I was stupid, and no other explanation would ever hold any

weight against her, the medical genius..

I gave Janae another eyebrow, and looked at her like 'WOMAN, you do NOT even want to go there right now.. look at my daughter and tell me what is going on with her. THAT is why we are here....' She caught on immediately to my non verbal cues, and went back to typing furiously on her computer. 

 I bet she wrote in all caps - 'THEY AREN"T IMMUNIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

She told us she would test for both strep throat AND whooping cough.  She must've figured she was so good at testing for pertussis by now from doing EVERYONE else, and Janae was obviously good at showing positive results, that even though Janae had NONE of the symptoms, we would throw that test in too right away.. That logic was an eyebrow raiser as well. 

Ms. Doc went on thinking out loud - 'hmmm, I wonder if you can get whooping cough a second time?? I'm going to look that up a minute..'

Janae was dumbfounded.  Here went said Doc, to her computer, Janae sees her in the Google search engine typing in 'can you get whooping cough more than once?' That was seriously an 'OH MY' look to the max that transpired between us... Unbelievable. 

Here is a DOCTOR, who brags about the amount of tests she is doing since we are supposed to be in an 'outbreak', and she obviously doesn't even do the research about the whole pertussis thing to even know the basics of the virus!!! Like, Woman!!

We could've looked at Google ourselves at home.. IF we thought the symptoms warranted it..

 SHE DOESN'T HAVE WHOOPING COUGH!!
 It was like the doc was on her own little mission - find SOMEBODY who had it... ANYBODY!! Validate my 8 years of schooling with some positive results!!!

Regardless, we had both tests done, and Janae was told if symptoms stayed the same,

 to come back for a mono test or go to emergency..

The story doesn't even get better..

I asked 'when will the results of the test come back?'

Well, she figured Saturday morning, and IF Janae tested positive, they would call

us first thing Monday morning, seeing the Clinic was closed on the weekend.
Ok, I guess we had little choice there.

That got said Doc thinking.. out loud, once again..

 'hmmm, what should I do about a prescription?'

She was going back and forth about whether or not to give Janae one.  

Sick little Plunk and I were looking at each other like, 'this can't be real'..  

She then went back onto the computer to figure out what dosage to give a 13 year old. 

Janae was right befuddled now. She didn't trust this lady at all...

After scribbling it all out on paper, she gave it to us, but told us NOT to fill it until we got

told the results Monday morning.  I'm thinking, 'look at this kid, seriously,

waiting 4 more days is NOT a good idea given the shape she is in'. 

I couldn't believe it.  Obviously I must have said something along those lines,

because all I remember her saying rather cavalierly.. 'Oh, it doesn't matter

whether you start antiobiotics 3 or 4 days later.. don't start it before we call you Monday..'

Like, WHAT???

 It doesn't MATTER whether you start 3 or 4 days later?

What a pathetic doctor! As if I would take Janae in because she is in

that rough shape to get something to heal her ASAP, and we get told that???

I was NOT impressed.  You should've seen the look on Janae's face..

Twice over the weekend, she had random bloody nose attacks.  She NEVER gets bloody noses..

Well, we never got any call on Monday. Janae went to school; she was wiped when she got home. 

She skipped out on PE last hour, since she just couldn't do it..
She slept on the way to Michaels (in Abbotsford) both the way there and back..
She thought she was getting better though, and was back to eating about a quarter of her regular diet. 

Yesterday, at about 2:00, my sis told me - 'Call the doc! Ask the results.. Sometimes

they don't get around to phoning everyone..' So I did. 

The receptionist said the results were there, but the doc never had time to look at them yet, and she wasn't allowed to.. I never got a call before closing, so I thought it must be okay. 

Janae slept again between coming home from school and supper, but given there was a
little bit of color in her cheeks again,

  I thought maybe she was on the mend and it was just a really long haul with some sort of weird flu..

 We went to Choir, and were home at about 9:30 last night.  At 10:00 the phone rang. 

 'WHAT? Who calls at this hour??' was my question to Mak. 

It was our home doctor, calling from his home.  He apologized for the late hour,

but it was important.  Apparently, Janae tested positive for a strain of strep throat that

they haven't seen in 20 years..!!! She HAS to get on that antibiotic immediately

and finish the course of it. It is very important she eradicate this from her system,

since it has been linked to kidney failure and kidney issues! 

WOW. Not a nice thing to have going through your head when you are

supposed to be winding DOWN for the night! Unbelievable..

As you can see in this picture from yesterday (SIX days after getting ill!!!),

those antibiotics SHOULD have been filled and administered for 5 days already

in my opinion.. But hey - I'm not a doctor.. What I am is a rather unhappy Mother

 of a sick child who I think should've had better care..

Just sayin'.. And the next time I have to walk into that Clinic,

I will request my home doc or ANY other doctor

over the one that we just had - rest 100% assured on that one..