Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Clare was a Champ; I was not.

Clare got her first vaccination shots today. She fussed a bit about being restrained but didn't really cry at all. Even during the second shot which supposedly stings when being administered. Sadly, I cannot say the same for myself. I started weeping a bit even before it started, I felt so bad for her. I will need to get it together before she's old enough to register that I'm upset.

I normally have a strong stomach for things. I can see all sorts of gory medical stuff as related to my work. I can even watch blood be taken from my own arm. However - I cried every time Mackenzie had surgery (I think I managed to do that in private usually though) and I cried for my Nana twice when she was getting her cancer treatment: once when observing her lungs being drained and right after her mastectomy when looking at the scar and the dermatone mark on her thigh. Clearly, I don't tolerate familial pain well!

On a more positive note, this was our first appointment with our new family physician and it went well. Ontario is notorious for being under serviced right now with very few family doctors accepting new patients. We really didn't want to stay with our old GP - who was refusing to accept Clare into her practice but with so few other physicians available, didn't have the luxury of being picky. However, we seem to have lucked out. While this physician's office is a 15 minute walk from our home it is very busy and I was worried about wait times. In the end we waited less time than is normal at our old doctor's place. The office was packed but it was run extremely efficiently and the staff were all very friendly. The new doctor is young, quiet, but well informed in answering our questions. He was even able to translate my infamous rambling: "A friend of mine mentioned an optional vaccine.. I forget the name.. it's really new.. like maybe only 8 or 9 months old.. we might have to pay for it.. um.. is there a particularly new one around?.. what's it called now..". And he used his laptop to show us where to find additional accurate information online for the Rotateq vaccine so we can make an educated decision about whether we want Clare to get it. His own answers about it seem to suggest that his treatment philosophy is not unlike ours. He never made us feel rushed out in any way, either. So, despite getting him mostly by default, I think we could be very happy with him. Fingers crossed for the future.

Talk to you soon,

B.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Welcome to motherhood. Do you know now why this mother couldn't be in the same room as her 3 children when they received their shots.
Glad the doctor turned out ok.

Mum