Taking kids to the doctor

[Jen&Khaleb]

Khaleb has to see a GP today as his never ending colds have now led to him developing a nasty chest infection over the weekend. He's had pretty horrid blood sugar also and woke up with 0.8 ketones this morning. He's okay now after a big correction dose of Novorapid and a big drink.

There is a part of me that often wants to leave Khaleb as long as possible to get over infections on his own but another that thinks I should just take him off to the doctor early. I don't really believe in the overuse of antibiotics. I also know that Khaleb gets extremely distressed by doctors visits and trips to the hospital pathology department which are a regular part of his life anyway. I don't want to put him through more upset and wish I could just go to the chemist and get the antibiotics without all the hassle.

If it weren't for the weekend I would have taken Khaleb to the doctor but didn't deem him sick enough on Friday to do so. How do other parents deal with illness? I rarely took my (now 15 yr old) son to the doctor, especially for colds, but Khaleb definitely has a much harder time recovering and the diseases seem to simmer away for long periods.

 

[annettekp]

Hi Jen

Since diagnosis Erland has seen the doctor for conjunctivitis and after a fall that lead to a nasty split eyebrow (glued back together!). When he had a bug that meant a high temp and cold symptoms I phoned the diabetic nurse for advice.

We don't have a regular doctor at the moment so its a string of locums who don't know us and this puts me off going unless absolutely necessary!

I tend to let bugs and things run their course with both my boys but I must admit that I keep a much closer watch on Erland now.

Hope Khaleb is feeling much better today.

Annette

 

[hanadr]

Jen
i wish Khaleb well
hope he's 100% fit soon. However, could the chestiness be more related to his Down's Syndrome than his diabetes? Most of the Downs children I've known have been very prone to respiratory infections.

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

Yeah, I think the couple of chest infections Khaleb has had are very much due to his low muscle tone. He just doesn't cough well enough. Diabetes probably makes it worse also. I've been up 4 times last night to check Khaleb's blood sugar. I have tried to keep his blood sugar at the bottom end of the scale to avoid the ketones of yesterday. So far, so good. He stayed between 4.7 and 9.

The doctor was running behind so we had an hour wait at the doctors surgery. I am lucky that Khaleb has a regular GP now and usually sees the same clinic staff at the hospital. When you have to see doctors/therapists/clinics as often as we do it can be a bit tiresome having such long waiting times and often trips to hospitals some distance away.

Hopefully Khaleb gets better quickly as we have tickets to a Playschool concert next week. Not sure how Khaleb will go with the noise and crowd. He loves The Wiggles too but I'm sure their concerts would be too "full on" for him.