I first took Addison to her normal pediatrician, Dr. Barksdale. Let me just give a the background on Dr. Barksdale. I chose her to be Addison's pediatrician when we first moved here and didn't really know anyone, she was covered by our insurance, shared the office with my family practice Dr. and she rounds at the hospital close to our house. However, after Addison's first well child visit, I had decided I was going to find a new pediatrician, I just didn't feel that she very warm and fuzzy, she just kind of did a rush job. Anyway, I hadn't decided who to take Addison to at this point, as I just started working at the hospital close to our house and was trying to get a feel for who the best pediatricians were.
So, Addison saw Dr. Barksdale after she was having symptoms for about a week. At the appointment the nurse and Dr. Barksdale both basically said that her symptoms were from teething. I was pretty upset, as I know my child and she was not teething and no temperature of 102F is related to teething!!! So, I decided I would give it a few more days and see how she was doing and then have her checked again.
The following week I took Addison to see Dr. Barksdale's Physician's Assistant, Suzanne (we have seen her before and she is very thorough and great in general), for Addison's 15 month well child visit. We were about 1 1/2 months past due on this, since Dr. Barksdale's office wrongly informed me that Addison didn't need to come back for a well child visit until 18 months, but that is beside the point. At this point, Addison had an occasional fever (not enough to worry about) but her cough and congestion was still hanging on. Suzanne did a great job assessing Addison and noticed that Addison looked like she was probably just getting over an ear infection in her left ear. Just as I had suspected! I was not pleased, but with the infection nearly all cleared up we were past the point of needing antibiotics. Addison's stats from this appointment were: 23lbs 6oz (46th percentile) and 33 inches (94th percentile). Addison had lost 1 1/2 pounds from her visit with Dr. Barksdale from the previous week, this is a huge loss for a child!!!
Well, as of last week Addison continued to have a terrible cough and congestion, the fever came back and she began to have green drainage from her eyes. I though sure enough she now has a sinus infection. Since it wasn't contagious I sent her to daycare on Monday and planned to schedule an appointment with Addison's new pediatrician for Tuesday. I received a call from daycare that Addison woke up from her nap with a fever and increased drainage from her eyes. So, I left work early, picked Addison up from daycare and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Smith for the following morning. Dr. Smith was fabulous! Addison loved their office, and she even got to be in the room decorated with puppies (Addison's favorite animal!). Dr. Smith confirmed my suspicions, Addison had developed a sinus infection and had infections in both ears! Poor thing! Addison was prescribed antibiotics for 10 days and to follow up with Dr. Smith once her medication was finished.
We started the antibiotics and sent Addison back to daycare on Wednesday. I was surprised to receive a phone call at work from the daycare that afternoon. Addison woke up from her nap covered from head to toe in hives! She had developed an allergic reaction to her antibiotics. Honestly, I wasn't surprised at this point, everything else had gone wrong, why not top it off with this! I called the Dr's office and had them call in a prescription for a new antibiotic and so far so good. After 3 days of antibiotics Addison still had a cough, the majority of the symptoms have subsided, we are finally on the road to recovery. As a result, we have a fabulous new Dr. and the partners in her office are just a great!
Addison helping Dad mod Xbox systems.
