Are you my mother?

Those of you already tuned in know that Maggie was diagnosed with both pneumonia and tracheitis last Friday. Both of those are serious and could easily land her in the hospital for a week or more. The earlier they’re caught and treated, the less likely she will have to go in the hospital. So, it makes sense to jump on this early, right? Saves resources, time, money and, most importantly, a lot of pain and suffering for Maggie.


Why, then, five days AFTER the diagnosis – which took the patience of a saint to obtain – is Maggie STILL WAITING for the prescription to be authorized? The drug is admittedly very expensive and the pharmacy won’t even order it until it’s authorized. I knew from experience that there would be a delay and tried to light a fire under everyone. That didn't do any good. It was Friday afternoon and you know what that means – wait until Monday.


Late Monday afternoon the pharmacy called to advise they could not get approval because the (inappropriately titled) “urgent care” doctors could not order this drug because they weren’t familiar with Maggie. No problem, I faxed her pediatrician who reordered the med. Nothing happened.

Tuesday – 5:00PM - I received another message, this time from CCS (the authorizing agency) directly, that they could not authorize this with simply a regular pediatrician, rather, the pediatric pulmonologist had to order it. COME ON! I left a message for the pulmonologist but it won’t happen until today at the earliest and THEN the pharmacy can order it. So a full week will go by before she even starts the medication. Because she also has pneumonia, there was also a broad antibiotic ordered, so she’s not in any obvious danger. But it is ridiculous. So much for jumping on things early.

Because Maggie has had pneumonia about 50 times in her life, I recognize the early signs and take action. The signs are not obvious to everyone, but they are to me. The doctors, who appear to be about 16 years old, were politely tolerating my concerns at first, and not very subtly communicating their doubts about my belief that she had pneumonia or tracheitis. It was the soothing voice saying, “there there *mom*, she seems to have resolved these issues” which you know, if you’ve spent any time in medical arenas, means they think you’re an overreacting meddling mother. And they call me mom – they call every pediatric patient’s parents “mom” or “dad.” It’s disconcerting, perhaps because I could easily BE their mother. “*Mom*, the chest xray is perfectly clear, nothing to worry about, and as soon as we get the initial read on the other test you can go.”

When the initial read was positive, the tone changed. “Wow, *mom*, you have good instincts. Oh, and radiology called back and the chest xray isn’t as clear as we thought. She does have pneumonia.” Inwardly I say: “Guess what Junior, I know and I knew six hours ago when I got here. And it’s not instinct, it’s experience. I have been doing this 24 hours a day since you were the smartest one in the 3rd grade. Oh, and by the way, I am NOT your mother. Outwardly, I just nod and say, “ok, what’s the plan.”


The plan was to start this great drug immediately. Wouldn't that have been nice.