I am sooooo sooooo sooooooo very angry right now with my pediatrician's office.
My DD was bit (pretty badly) by our pet hamster this weekend. Her finger was quite swollen and not looking right this morning. I made a doctor appointment, as a precaution, for this evening. By the time we went at 6:00 her finger was looking like it was getting infected so my precautionary appointment seemed to be turning into necessity.
We ended up seeing a different dr. in the practice at the last minute b.c our doctor was at the hospital working on an emergency case. The doctor talked to us in some detail about treatment- basically an antibiotic to prevent a full-on infection and also to make sure that she is up to date on her tetanus. He then looks in her charts and sees that we have chosen not to vaccinate. I told him that she was selectively vaccinated as a baby- she is 8 years old now- but that we stopped altogether when she was older after her brother had some bad side effects, but that in a case by case scenario I was not opposed. I told him that if this was something he recommended for her in this particular case I wanted to do what was right to protect her. Heck- I am up to date on my tetanus vaccine.
So I started with many questions. Do you have just a tetanus w/o the full DTaP combo. He tells me that they do a DT but not just T. I got a lot of information on why this is and how many shots she would need and whatnot. The dr. left and the nurse came back to tell me that they do not actually have the DT and I would have to go down to the health department and wait for who knows how long tomorrow. So she and I checked my DD's chart and realized that she had all 4 of her DTaP shots as a baby and was just missing her booster at age 5. So she told me that DD could get that booster today and be protected until she was a teenager. Great- seems like the simple way to go. If I've already caved into the vaccine why not just finish this series off. Of course they gave me the "what you need to know" sheet after administering the vaccine on our way out. So at dinner I'm reading it and it clearly says "DTaP is not licensed for adolescents, adults, or chldren 7 years of age and older." My DD is 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did they give this to her? I just read on line that the reason it is not licensed for children over 7 is b/c the pertussis vaccine is not licensed for children over 7. I asked sooooo many questions. I took so much time trying to get the information. They had ample time to f*$%ing wake up and remember that this vaccine was not meant for an 8 year old child!
So- of course I have issues to take up with the office. That and they didn't call in the antibiotic prescription as I asked and when we got to the pharmacy an hour later to pick it up they had no record of it!
Who do I talk to? Office manager? Our usual doctor? If she has no adverse side effects (which I so hope not and somehow feel quite optimistic that there won't be) then can this be reported to any "official" vaccine reporting agencies?
My DD was bit (pretty badly) by our pet hamster this weekend. Her finger was quite swollen and not looking right this morning. I made a doctor appointment, as a precaution, for this evening. By the time we went at 6:00 her finger was looking like it was getting infected so my precautionary appointment seemed to be turning into necessity.
We ended up seeing a different dr. in the practice at the last minute b.c our doctor was at the hospital working on an emergency case. The doctor talked to us in some detail about treatment- basically an antibiotic to prevent a full-on infection and also to make sure that she is up to date on her tetanus. He then looks in her charts and sees that we have chosen not to vaccinate. I told him that she was selectively vaccinated as a baby- she is 8 years old now- but that we stopped altogether when she was older after her brother had some bad side effects, but that in a case by case scenario I was not opposed. I told him that if this was something he recommended for her in this particular case I wanted to do what was right to protect her. Heck- I am up to date on my tetanus vaccine.
So I started with many questions. Do you have just a tetanus w/o the full DTaP combo. He tells me that they do a DT but not just T. I got a lot of information on why this is and how many shots she would need and whatnot. The dr. left and the nurse came back to tell me that they do not actually have the DT and I would have to go down to the health department and wait for who knows how long tomorrow. So she and I checked my DD's chart and realized that she had all 4 of her DTaP shots as a baby and was just missing her booster at age 5. So she told me that DD could get that booster today and be protected until she was a teenager. Great- seems like the simple way to go. If I've already caved into the vaccine why not just finish this series off. Of course they gave me the "what you need to know" sheet after administering the vaccine on our way out. So at dinner I'm reading it and it clearly says "DTaP is not licensed for adolescents, adults, or chldren 7 years of age and older." My DD is 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did they give this to her? I just read on line that the reason it is not licensed for children over 7 is b/c the pertussis vaccine is not licensed for children over 7. I asked sooooo many questions. I took so much time trying to get the information. They had ample time to f*$%ing wake up and remember that this vaccine was not meant for an 8 year old child!
So- of course I have issues to take up with the office. That and they didn't call in the antibiotic prescription as I asked and when we got to the pharmacy an hour later to pick it up they had no record of it!
Who do I talk to? Office manager? Our usual doctor? If she has no adverse side effects (which I so hope not and somehow feel quite optimistic that there won't be) then can this be reported to any "official" vaccine reporting agencies?
