Those of you who read about my epic battle to find Asher a decent pediatrician know that I have not been impressed with what appears to be the (very low) standard of care in New Mexico. Admittedly I am hard to please when it comes to healthcare (especially for Asher), but things down here are just whacky beyond belief.
This week we had two more 'run-ins' with local healthcare professionals that made both Ben and I wonder if flying back to Iowa City to see a doctor is actually a reasonable idea.
On Tuesday I went to a primary care doctor to get a referral to rheumatology.
I arrive at my visit and the doctor asks what I'm there for. I say I'm having a flare and I need to be seen by rheumatology. I tell him I'd also like to have a few labs checked because I suspect some things are off (yes, I know I'm not a doctor, but after a hundred rheumatology visits I know when things are off and I have a pretty good guess as to exactly what the things are). The doctor asks what symptoms I'm having and what symptoms I usually have, and when the list gets too long, he just stops writing them down and says "So a lot". Lazy, but I'm okay with it because truth be told he's not going to be making any medical decisions with/for me anyways.
But then things got ugly. I knew that before he had come into the exam room he had glanced at the nurses notes, and would have seen that I was on a daily medication for my connective tissue disorder. The medication is called "hydroxychloroquine" and unless you are a rheumatologist or a tropical medicine specialist (it's an antimalarial), you've never heard of it. But Dr. G came in acting like he dished it out as frequently as statins and multivitamins. He asked if I'd had an eye exam (totally legit, you should have them done when on the drug) and then he asked if I'd had my pneumonia vaccine. I blinked at him a couple of times, waited, and said "Why would I get a pneumonia vaccine?" (this is a vaccination typically recommended for children, and adults with cancer and HIV). He said "The hydroxychloroquine suppresses your immune system putting you at increased risk for infection. In your immunocompromised state, you should get the vaccine." Hmm. First I've heard of this. I say, "No. I'm pretty confident the drug doesn't do that and that I'm not at increased risk for complications from infections. I'm not getting the vaccine." This flustered him and he left, saying a nurse would be in shortly. While he was gone I googled "hydroxychloroquine immune suppression" just to make sure I hadn't just been a total ass hat, and was both amused and hugely irritated by what I saw. When you google it, the first blurb that pops up on the list of possible links to choose from says, "....hydroxychloroquine suppresses the immune..." and you have to click to read more. If you do that, it doesn't say that it suppresses the immune system, it says it suppresses the immune response associated with autoimmune disorders (mechanism unknown). The jerk almost gave me an unnecessary shot because he was too lazy to click the link to read the end of the sentence.
Awesome.
Disastrous event number two? I'll keep this one short and sweet.
Ben and I spent three hours at the dentist Wednesday morning where he tried to tell both of us we have gum disease and need two follow-up visits each for laser gum planing and full mouth debridement (not covered by insurance of course). After discussing this with Erika, dental hygienist extraordinaire, our suspicions were confirmed that the dentist was a loony toon. So now we need to find a new dentist.
On a less grumpy note, Asher is really cute :)
And just in case the baby isn't enough of a cuteness boost in your day, look at this guy :) Don't you just want to stuff him in a baby bjorn and carry him around with you everywhere???
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