Paranoid and a mum

For the past five weeks my little one has had a combination of cold, severe chest congestion, fever and diarrhoea. In his numerous visits to the GP and my several, almost frantic calls to the Helath Service Direct Helpline, we have seen that the advice we are given is something that requires no medical prowess or the tough-medical school education. Sometimes the advice given, is as ridiculous as 'make him comfortable', or 'its a virus, but it will clear out on its own', or ' his body will eventually develop immunity to it' or 'it is common for all children these days'.


The general mentality here is that children cannot be referred to a paediatrician unless they have their spleens hanging out!


Last evening, adamant on getting a blood test done we took him to the GP, who though sympathetic and highly dramatic in his mannerisms, has asked on a couple of occasions of my educational background because I speak my mind on my son's condition. He suspects me to be a medical student who did not have enough passion to complete MBBS!! He very reluctantly wrote a prescription for a blood test but warned that there was nothing to be found in the blood, because on physical examination my son was perfectly ok! Wow!

He has now advised me to go for the blood test after two weeks. His argument is that  my son's case is not a solitary one, he says it's common for children who start nursery around this time of year, and for three months after they have started nursery to go through a 'coping with bacterium' or better still, 'building an immunity' phase. He further suggests the fact that my little one is up and about and partially recovers for a few days is a sign that his body is perfectly normal and he should definitely get better in some days.


While I completely appreciate his findings, as a mother, the devil's advocate in my mind is constantly nagging me with the question - What if the doctor is wrong? Just because every child who goes to nursery has similar pains, does that mean my son too has the same case? What if, it is not the case? For the moment, it's just a doctor's physical examination that indicates my son's so-called good health!! So what if, there are some serious underlying problems that are not been found? Am I being paraniod or just a mum?


My started his nursery a month ago. Since then he has attended nursery only for 12 days. The remaining days he was at home because the nursery does not accept children if they are a little 'unwell'. The word unwell means if his stools are a little loose, they call me and ask to collect him from the nursery. In the last two weeks, they have done this twice. Also they have a 24 to 48 hour policy, which means we cannot send him back for the next two days as well!

So in total we have paid two whole months' fees (which is approximately the amount that I will get if I sell my right kidney!) and we end up having to take care of him at home, taking time off from work. It makes me wonder if I should just become a homemaker, baking cup cakes?