Mother's Instinct

For those of us who’ve raised a child, we know and understand the importance of a mother’s instinct, and yet doctors still don’t get it. Pediatricians continue to snicker at the idea that teething sometimes causes fevers and diaper rash while there’s not a mother on the planet that hasn’t experienced it first hand. Rather than argue with the medical profession until we’re blue in the face, we just smile and nod then take our babies home to soothe their sore gums.
There are times however when we must stay and fight, and to know when the time to do so is necessary we have to trust our instincts. Thankfully, my daughter trusted hers when my grandson, Jax got sick.
Twice the pediatrician sent Carrie home with Jax telling her he had the flu, but Carrie knew it was more than that and she persisted taking him next to the emergency room. There, he was treated for dehydration which another doctor advised her was the result of the flu. Carrie knew there was more to it, for one thing, it wasn’t flu season and for another the symptoms the doctors told her would follow never came. The emergency room doctor wanted to send them home, but Carrie put her foot down. Something was seriously wrong with Jax and she wouldn’t give up until they got to the bottom of it.
The doctor condescended only because it was a holiday weekend, and admitted Jax to NICU where again, he was treated for the flu.
Carrie knew little Jax’s tummy was too hard and she felt a lump there that the doctors hadn’t. She insisted on an X-ray. The X-ray proved intussusception, a telescoping of the intestine that causes a blockage. Jax was given a barium enema that corrects the condition in 50% of cases but not in his. He was operated on and according to the surgeon, it was successful. For the first twenty-four hours, Jax seemed to improve a little, but Carrie was skeptical and vigilant in her watch.
The second day, Jax’s condition seem to be going down hill although not a lot, at least not so much that the doctor’s noticed, and yet Carrie did. For three more days the doctors ignored the symptoms of a recurrence, in spite of statistics that show when there is one it’s usually within the first seventy-two hours after surgery.
Carrie was talking to the doctors about moving Jax to Milwaukee’s Children’s hospital, but they said it wasn’t necessary. They came to Jax’s room a little more often but it seemed to be more of an attempt to grease a squeaky wheel rather than listen to what mother’s intuition was telling Carrie. “Wait and see,” they said, “give it a few more days.” Carrie put her foot down, and the order to move him was signed.
After a two hour ambulance ride from Green Bay to Milwaukee, Jax was whisked to radiology at Children’s Hospital where a second blockage was discovered. He was then rushed to surgery for a life-saving operation.
In respect to the level of care Jax was given, it was like leaving the Bates Hotel and checking into the Ritz. We knew he was where he should have been all along. Had it not been for his mom’s instinct and her persistence at following it, Jax’s bowel might have been replaced with an external bag, or worse, he might not have survived.
The sad thing is, it appeared to be nothing more than greed and pride that caused the doctor’s at the first hospital to discount Carrie’s intuition. After all, they are respected and experienced physicians.