Tuesday, October 21, 2008

TTSOML #148: My Son's Jaundice & Vaccinations

i'm just saving a spot here so i remember to go back to this.

Okay, now about my son. Which I think, is even worse. What happened to my baby is far, far, worse. I need a break though before I go into this.

I've already described my son's thrush and tinea and general suffering. I think I've also brought up his jaundice more than once and I've mentioned his vaccinations. But to go in order, these are the things I was bringing up to Dr. Butler before I decided to quit him and then he tried to somehow kick us out. Also, I will mention what the pediatric dentists had to say about my son's teeth.

Over the months, I felt my son was still not very well. I wasn't the only one who thought this, because, as I've said before, lactation consultants thought he wasn't okay and they didn't know what was going on with him. Besides the fact he had a head injury, and jaundice, he also had thrush, which went systemic. So this poor baby, despite making high marks on the height and weight percentiles, the entire time he was in my care, he was not feeling very well. He was just a survivor.

I couldn't tell he seemed sick still, and he still had a greenish tint at the corner of his eyes, indicating jaundice still. After 3 months, I asked for a bilirubin test to see if he was back to normal. Dr. Butler didn't want to do that. I had to insist on it, and point out his eyes, and a number of other things, which included how sick he was after his 2 month vaccinations. So finally Butler said he would and the bilirubin was NOT normal. It was still high. This was 3 months after delivery. My son still had a scab on his head 3 months after delivery too, so what was going on? he was still breaking down blood inside his brain? or it was just the aftereffects? Dr. Butler said he didn't know and tried to dismiss it. But it is on the record that my son had abnormally high bilirubin after 3 months and Wenatchee CPS claims they didn't receive this record, or "don't remember".

I took my son into the clinic and hospital, more often than most newborns and mothers do, because there was something different about what happened to us. It's called negligence, medical malpractice, and we had damages from it which I was always on the lookout for. I fought for my son when no one else did, and tried to cover everything up.

The doctors had been covering for themselves and, I believe, for others, since I'd arrived in the town. And they were covering up for what happened to my son by claiming there was never anything wrong and trying to make me look paranoid or like a hypochondriac. Which always takes away from pain and suffering and actual damages, if it's true, so they wanted this to appear to be the truth.

The other thing that happened to my son, was he had a terrible reaction to his 2 month vaccinations, which I know were botched. And I never got the original copies of papers I signed, even to this day. I had to ask the Chelan Health people to intercede and request the records and even then, I only got an email with a note that "these were the vaccinations your son received". I didn't ask for a summary. I asked for the actual copies of vaccinations I signed for. And they have STILL not given me copies. The reason they haven't, is because they screwed up and gave my son shots, which not only included Thimerserol, but one of the shots was the wrong one. I looked up what he had been given and saw it was on the wrong schedule. When I called and asked about it, I was given one story of what he got first, and then the next time someone checked the record, it was a different story. So which ones? I asked for the signed copies I made and they refused to give them to me.

I asked for the records, because although my son seemed sort of okay after his shots at birth (which I consented to, but maybe wish I hadn't now), he was very ill after his 2 month vaccinations. And Dr. Butler tried to dismiss it. I took him to ER I think too and they also tried to dismiss it, but I had other people watching him with me and I pointed out his diapers and they were all saying it was NOT normal and it wasn't even diarrhea. And he was like this for almost 2 months, following his vaccinations. His symptoms began an hour after he got his shots. Diarrhea that was as liquid as water, for over a month. He wouldn't be able to go at all for more than a day and then just explode. Prior to his vaccinations, he had very normal, regular stools. Not so after the vaccinations. He also cried a lot more and seemed very tired. Basically, if my son didn't get a reaction from a shot he never should have had, he got mercury poisoning (which is what Thimerserol is and is why they've outlawed it's use in vaccinations--although old stocks, by law, may still be legally used even if they shouldn't be).

It was the only time, in my care, that he didn't gain on the weight chart. He was still getting taller, but his weight had slowed dramatically and wasn't keeping up. But all of this was dismissed and when I first politely requested records, they stalled.

They're still stalling. I still do not have copies of the forms I signed for his vaccinations, which they said were in his chart. Even after I requested the records from their attorneys, I didn't receive them.

Dr. Butler finally admitted that yes, there was a problem with his weight gain considering his height was still going up and he said if it was still like that next time, he would do an analysis or work-up. By the time it was next time around, my son's weight started to go up again and the diarrhea subsided.

My son went through a LOT and he couldn't speak for himself. I had to speak for him, and I tried my best, but there was another agenda which was more powerful and although I made some gains for my son, I was largely unsuccesful. I did what I could to protect him.

Despite all his suffering, he grew well under my care, and I nurtured him, having a combination of sympathy and love for him.

When I had my son, nothing else mattered. Things like "romance" and finding the right one, and marriage...all of that didn't matter to me anymore. I loved my son so much, and he loved me and needed me, and I have always, since I was a little girl, loved children. The missing part was fulfilled. I had planned to adopt, as a single mom, when I could, if I never married or had kids myself. I always wanted children and what is best for me, when I think "selfishly" is being with my baby and raising him because I know I provide better and more loving and educational care for him than anyone. My son adores me, and doesn't even hear my voice now, because of CPS.

Nobody, no doctor, in Wenatchee, and no social worker, cared for my son like I do. They kept trying to get me to dump him into a state-run daycare and a bunch of other horrid things.

I had both freedom and structure for my son, and he developed not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, at a very advanced rate. Until he suddenly stopped talking, and that had nothing to do with me but other external factors.

At any rate, I took him to see the dentist, and he actually saw 2 pediatric dentists, and they diagnosed my son with "enamel dysplasia" and said it's very rare and is almost 99% the result of a traumatic childbirth because the pressure for so long, disrupts the formation, even though it's under the gums, and causes problems. How they explained it was that it's like a visible bruise to the developing teeth and enamel is thinner there and because of this, cavities occur no matter how well they're teeth are brushed. Because it's so serious, if permanent teeth are affected, and I was told they may be, veneers have to be put on, to protect the teeth.

Wenatchee CPS scoffed at this and referred to my explanation as ridiculous, claiming I was dumb and paranoid for being worried about (their words) "teeth trauma".

Wenatchee CPS should be overhauled. I frankly think it would be a blessing to just bulldoze the town over and put something else up that doesn't stink. I found out about a lot of other hospital "accidents" and malpractice cases after my son was born, and I got some information about things which I thought showed a pattern of irresponsibility. They were able to work out neat little "deals" to cover things, with Wenatchee lawyers, when they had an actual threat of a lawsuit. Wenatchee lawyers were nothing for them to worry about. They only got worried if they heard someone was going to Seattle for a lawyer.

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