Thursday, January 27, 2011

A five minute vent.

2nd Update: We picked up this other antibiotic and it was Amoxicillin. I am seriously doubting this doctor's office right now. I thought she needed to be on Augmentin?!

Updated: Nika is currently on Bactrim. They are telling me she needs Augmentin. When I google how to treat a UTI, Augmetin is not even on the list ... yet Bactrim is a first line treatment. What in the heck?! Are they seriously confused? 

I'm seriously frustrated.

On December 30, I had Kyle take Nika into the doctor because I was concerned that she had a urinary tract infection. She had never had a UTI before, but given her foul smelling urine ... I knew something was going on.

The interesting part of this is I always historically have bathed my kids in plain water. Well ... at Payton's birthday party, all of the kids got bubble bath as party favors ... including her sister. So over the past week or two, the girls have enjoyed bubbles in their bath ... as evidenced by some of the pictures here.

*smacks forehead*

I mean ... I had always heard the correlation between bubble bath and urinary tract infections, but it never had affected me personally.

Coincidence?

So back to the doctor appointment ... that I should have went to in the first place. I had sent a urine sample with Kyle, since I knew that getting a sample from Nika would be hard to do on the spot. He came home telling me the doctor threw the sample away and diagnosed her with a yeast infection.

Say what? I am no doctor, but it didn't take much to know she didn't have a yeast infection. But I went with it and treated her with anti-fungal cream as told.

And shocker ... her urine did not get better of the course of the next several weeks.

So earlier this week, I took her back to the doctor demanding a urine test ... saying that I was sure she had a UTI in light of the smell of her urine. Nika did not present with any other symptoms, other than that perhaps she was peeing a bit more than usual.

The doctor apologizes to me, says she clearly misunderstood what Kyle had told her ... that he didn't describe symptoms of a UTI. I asked her why she thought I would have sent in a urine sample if I hadn't thought she had a UTI ... and she didn't have an explanation. (Kyle says this is crap ... by the way ... that he clearly told her what I told him to tell her ... he is not accepting her blame.)

Anyway ... we do a urine test. It was positive for nitrates.

Then the doctor really felt stupid, but whatever. We discussed whether or not to start antibiotics to treat the urinary tract infection ... or should we wait for the culture to come back. I said I wanted to start treatment, as I was sure this was the problem given the smell of her urine.

She agreed.

So ten minutes ago, I got a call from our pediatrician. "Hi Mrs. Balsis ... this is so-and-so from the doctor's office ... Addison's urine culture came back showing infection. We are going to call in an antibiotic ... which pharmacy do you use?"

So I say, "We already started the antibiotic."

The nurse says, "Yes ... but that antibiotic does not cover urinary tract infections. She needs to be switched to Augmentin."

In my most pleasant smoke-coming-out-my-ears voice, I asked why the doctor would have started Nika on an antibiotic that did not cover a UTI, when we both clearly knew we were talking about the fact that her urine rapid-tested positive for such ... and Nika was not otherwise symptomatic.

Honestly ... if we cannot rely on our doctor's to properly provide care ... then what? When does my medical degree arrive, because right now I'm feeling like I knew better than she did. This seriously makes my blood boil.

Vent over.

16 comments:

  1. Oh Bethany! Wow....wow...wow....to be honest this kind of stuff happens WAY more often than it should and it's really frightening! OMG! I would be FUMING pissed. FUMING! Kinda like me trying to CONVINCE our ped to test Joaquin for DS when he was first born....like almost begging him....crazy I tell you!

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  2. SO FRUSTRATING!!! I think this happens all too often. In fact his week Macy's doctor said to me, "We don't know a lot about her particular colon problem, so if she keeps gettig sick it will scare me into giving her an ostomy." What the? Okay so now they are acting out of stupidity and fear?

    Hope little Nika gets better!

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  3. I would be frustrated as well but just wanted to explain the reason for changing the antibiotics. That's the reason cultures are done . . . to figure out what bacteria is in the urine and thebest antibiotic for that particular bacteria. Doctors usually start their patient on a broad spectrum antibiotic and then switch it to the best one to fight that particular bacteria. And in all honesty I've never had a patient be treated with augmentin for a UTI. It's usually Septra DS or Cipro. So glad she's getting the proper treatment now. One more thing . . . You can have nitrates in urine and not have a UTI.

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  4. I'd be pissed too. How frustrating. Hope you (or rather they) get it all figured out very soon!

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  5. I would be VERY frustrated too! Sorry about this.....mothers know best huh?!!!

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  6. Thanks for explaining Heather ... either way I'm not picking up the Augmentin and switching until I can call tomorrow to get an explanation of what the culture showed.

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  7. That is ridiculous!!! What in the world was she thinking??? Why even bother prescribing something that wouldn't touch what she thought she had? INSANE!

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  8. i really want to yell at your doctor and write a letter about listening to your patient and their parents and about not giving out a "placebo" antibiotic. That is absolutely horrible. I wonder if there is some higher authority you can write just to put it on the record. I hate that doctors think they can do whatever they want and not treat you like you are human. drives me up the wall.

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  9. Bethany!

    Bactrim is what Bennett takes daily to try to prevent UTIs (he has urinary reflux that increases the likelihood of developing a UTI).

    What the heck?!

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  10. Vent away and so you should.Check on the scrip first and the culture because if she doesn't get on the right on,it will never completely go away and will rear it's ugly head on no time.

    Sorry friend.So frustrating.

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  11. Oh my goodness, I would totally be switching Dr.'s after that. I would have been equally as frusterated, were it not for our overly concerned pediatrician we may not have found Emily's leukemia as early as we did so having a great Dr. is pretty important.

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  12. Hmmm. I feel the same although I LOVE our ped. - when we arrived back from Ukraine with Max and Ivanna I asked for them to be tested for EVERYTHING because I wanted a baseline, and I also knew many other orphanage kiddos were coming up positive for H. Pylori. Well, long story short - that test was not performed. After two more weeks of atrocious diapers and rancid breath, I pleaded for testing. They grudgingly agreed. Guess what? It was positive....

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  13. Charissa ... Nika had H. Pylori too ... and she gave it to me! I agree that all the kids should be tested for it because more and more are testing positive!

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  14. Wow! Soooo aggravating. Hope she's better soon. Are you switching doctors?

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  15. I think I've mentioned this before, but you can file a quality of care complaint with your health insurance. They will review the medical records and determine if the care was adequate, and if not, address it. At least according to WI law, you will not find out the outcome of the review, but at least you can know the care will be looked into and steps will be taken if it's found to not be of the best quality. I see complaints like this all the time at work.
    -Meegs

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