The Puddles

Well, if something weird was going to happen, it would happen to Ben this month.  He has broken out in a head-to-toe rash.  There was no way that I was going to call the hospital doctor. So I called our pediatrician. They wanted to send us the ER, and I begged, pleaded and cried for them to not send us back to the hospital. They will just start testing all over and we will be in the hospital for another week.  The doctor agreed to see Ben in the parking lot. He didn’t want Ben to catch anything in the office and didn’t want Ben to share anything if it was contagious. So we met the doctor in the parking lot, he climbed into the car and examed Ben in the backseat. He said that Ben had a petechiae rash, and that we needed to call our cardiologist. 

I reluctantly agreed to call the hospital doctors who had treated Ben.  When the first doctor called back, he apologized for the fact that we had to call back. We explained the situation and he said he would speak to his attending and call back. Two and half hours later with no call, we called them back. We spoke to Dr. Khan and she said that it could be either a virus or low platelets. She said we could either come into the ER tonight to have labs drawn or see a new cardiologist in the Woodlands in the morning. She said she believed is that it was petechiae but she would like to have a doctor she trusted to look at it first before she moved on.  

Well, there was no way we were going to the ER and I really didn’t want to see another new doctor. I told her that I this would be like our tenth new doctor this month.  So we sent her pictures of the rash and she said she thought it could wait until the morning, and she was willing to call Dr. Altman to see if she could fit Ben into her schedule tomorrow. Luckily she was able to fit Ben in early in the morning. So we will see what Dr. Altman (his regular cardiologist) has to say. Even if she hasn’t been treating Ben every day in the hospital at least she has known Ben since he was two. And a familiar face is very much appreciated right now.