"Just" a Parent

This is my reaction to a dietitian who made a decision regarding my child's health without reading her chart, paying attention to what my husband and I were saying, or checking out any of the numerous reports from specialists we have met with over the years:

I am just a parent. I do not have any graduate degrees related to any medical field. I have not completed a residency at any hospital. I do not presume to know more than any medical professional when it comes to most things. However, I do know my child.

I am just a parent, but I am the one who comforts and cleans up after my child when she is sick to her stomach in the wee hours of the morning. I am the one who holds a cool, damp washcloth to her forehead when she is burning up with fever. I am the one who sets up the nebulizer, in the dark, while holding a forty-pound child upright when he is wheezing badly at midnight. I am the person whose name is called when my child is being terrorized by a nightmare. I am the one who handles runny nose cleanups and is handed the nasty tissues when my sick child is done with them. I am the one who convinces an unwilling child to suffer through receiving eyedrops, which I administer, when she has pinkeye. I am the one who brings my child to the pediatrician's office when he is lethargic while running a high fever.

I am just a parent, but I fought with my child's pediatrician for weeks about my baby's digestive tract not seeming "right" somehow, only to hear them eventually tell me that I was right and we had to immediately seek out a gastroenterologist. I have driven my child to her pediatrician's office once or twice a week in order to have weigh-ins when she was not gaining weight properly. I have spent days researching what foods are safe for my allergic child. I have called countless companies to ensure their products do not have trace contaminants of foods that would make my child react gastrically. I have talked with various medical professionals as they tried to come up with a plan to get my child's digestive tract under control. I have listened, asked questions, and gone on to research almost everything that was being discussed.

I am just a parent, but I was the one who watched my child carefully so I could report my findings to her doctors. I was the one who argued with my child's pediatrician when I was told she could not possibly be allergic to milk products because her blood test came back showing only the slightest milk allergy, despite her throwing up each and every time we attempted to give her the tiniest amount of a dairy product. I was the one who discussed those gory details with an allergist whose immediate response was that of course my child was allergic; Not every food allergy manifests itself in a positive reaction in a blood test, even when a severe allergy is present. I am the one who constantly monitors my child's health so I can ask the necessary questions and help my child's team of doctors help my child continue to improve. I take note of commonalities, differences, and anything that seems off, and keep journals documenting these changes, when the need arises.

I am just a parent, but I will fight to be heard, and will take my child elsewhere if I feel you are not listening to me about her health. I shall willingly turn myself into a nuisance if that is what it takes to get some answers. I will follow through, even if it means taking my child to the emergency room because the pediatrician believes he might have appendicitis, despite finding out later it is merely constipation. I will not risk my child's health just because something is not convenient to do at that moment in time.

I am just a parent, but if you treat me as if I do not know my own child simply because I do not have a medical degree, then you have another thing coming. I know my child. And if you try and make an incorrect assumption or, worse, a poor diagnosis, I will call you on it, and I will do so with examples and research whenever possible. Now, what are you going to bring to the table?