Screw you, Dr. B.
Aug. 4th, 2021 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee34You looked me and my daughter in the face and told us both that her arm probably hurt because she's a girl. And girls are anxious. And that makes their arms hurt apparently.
Screw you, pediatric rheumatologist at Children's Hospital in Atlanta. You told me she didn't have RA as if that was the only possibility for her illness and were so dismissive and gave us zero other avenues to follow. You know that autoimmune disorders are like nesting dolls; you know that they are comorbid. You ought to be looking for more than one disorder. Step out of your damn silo!
I am grateful to the pediatric neurologist who discovered her iron deficiency; treating it gave her some relief of symptoms for some time. (Both neuros I have gone to have been great, thinking whole body, outside of their narrow discipline and willing to consider a variety of solutions, etc.)
But the last three years have been hard. Emma and I have both known that something is wrong and been unable to figure out how to get help for her. It's been really frustrating and demoralizing and, for Emma, painful.
I got her a referral to my neurologist and have spent the past month and a half ferrying her to doctor's appointments for testing. We have to wait for a rheumatologist to make the official diagnosis but bloodwork indicates that she has lupus. His nerve conduction tests also show damage to the sensory nerves in her feet, probably stemming from the lupus.
This sucks so hard, but I am so grateful because now we can make a plan to help her feel better. Now she doesn't have to spend any more time being dismissed or disbelieved or shopping around to find the doctor who will help her. She doesn't have to spend the years my mom and I have spent without diagnoses, unable to get any help or treatment, distrusting our experiences because we're girls. With arms. That get anxious. Or whatever.
I am overwhelmed right now and really angry at the doctors who could have figured this out years ago, especially that one in Atlanta. But there's a lot of gratitude mixed in there, too.
Screw you, pediatric rheumatologist at Children's Hospital in Atlanta. You told me she didn't have RA as if that was the only possibility for her illness and were so dismissive and gave us zero other avenues to follow. You know that autoimmune disorders are like nesting dolls; you know that they are comorbid. You ought to be looking for more than one disorder. Step out of your damn silo!
I am grateful to the pediatric neurologist who discovered her iron deficiency; treating it gave her some relief of symptoms for some time. (Both neuros I have gone to have been great, thinking whole body, outside of their narrow discipline and willing to consider a variety of solutions, etc.)
But the last three years have been hard. Emma and I have both known that something is wrong and been unable to figure out how to get help for her. It's been really frustrating and demoralizing and, for Emma, painful.
I got her a referral to my neurologist and have spent the past month and a half ferrying her to doctor's appointments for testing. We have to wait for a rheumatologist to make the official diagnosis but bloodwork indicates that she has lupus. His nerve conduction tests also show damage to the sensory nerves in her feet, probably stemming from the lupus.
This sucks so hard, but I am so grateful because now we can make a plan to help her feel better. Now she doesn't have to spend any more time being dismissed or disbelieved or shopping around to find the doctor who will help her. She doesn't have to spend the years my mom and I have spent without diagnoses, unable to get any help or treatment, distrusting our experiences because we're girls. With arms. That get anxious. Or whatever.
I am overwhelmed right now and really angry at the doctors who could have figured this out years ago, especially that one in Atlanta. But there's a lot of gratitude mixed in there, too.
