Sometimes You Can't Escape Your Education

No baby. Just to answer the question you were checking this site for.

I took Abigail to the allergist to see how much peanut she could eat before having a reaction. The baby cooperated and is still snuggly in my uterus. Despite it being the first week of school, we were willing to interrupt the routine to gather some important information about our daughter's allergy. Major let-down.

Upon scheduling the appointment (two months ago), they give no special instructions. They give you a reminder call the day before, and-oh-btw, please be sure you haven't given your child any anti-histamine for 48 hours. Well, too late for that. It is summertime and seasonal allergies are alive an well. If allergies weren't an issue for us, we wouldn't be regular visitors at the allergist, right? The nice lady tells us it should be ok and to come in anyway. We arrive, pay our co-pay (not cheap), go over Abigail's history, subject her to another scratch test to get a more relevant picture, only for the doc to say...."she really should be off her anti-histamine for 4-5 days to get an accurate response from the skin test and ingestion test." So, now we have to reschedule (another 2 month wait), I've interrupted an already stressful first week of school for my daughter, stressed over whether I would have to cancel last minute due to labor, all to find out nothing and have to come again.

This is the point that I can not escape my education. I think to myself if only a system had been in place to give the "heads-up" phone call a week in advance. If only they had conveyed that anti-histamines should be stopped for 4-5 days, not just 2 then this all could have been avoided. Instead, I wasted a lengthy appointment that could have better been filled by a new patient or several established patients. I spent time and money (resources in short supply these days) on something completely unproductive. As trendy as healthcare reform is these days, I can't help but see this as just another way that the system can be improved. It wouldn't cost a dime and the solution is not that complicated. A few simple changes can really go a long way to improving what is broken. I love our allergist, but everyone has room for improvement.

Looks like we'll try again in November and maybe I won't put the whole experience under a microscope again.