I Need Some Orentation

Wow, how frustrating and heart-wrenching for you! My first question would be do you have insurance? Most insurance companies have coverage for second opinions- I would recommend that you tell the specialist here that although you value his expertise, you want to see another DR. for a second opinion. They should be either (1)giving you a diagnosis of what is wrong with him, (2)testing further right now to find a diagnosis, or (3)telling you that as far as they can tell nothing is wrong with him. Not stringing you all along and having you bring him in to the Dr. or ER anytime he has a cold symptom. Has he been tested for allergies or anything?

Sometimes at hospitals they have a person called a "Patient Advocate" who works with you and your/your childs doctors to basically be your voice to the doctors- to demand information and proper treatment. You could check at the hospital OR perhaps with your family doctor to ask about that. OR there is a non-profit organization called "Patient Advocate Foundation" that you can contact at (800) 532-5274, they also have a website but I don't remember the web address off hand.

J.,

I understand questioning your doctors, as doctors are human and can make mistakes, but I wouldn't ignore their collective education. If you wish to challenge your diagnosis, there are other options than making up your own experiments and then drawing your own conclusions based on how your son looks to you. If you make a mistake, the price could be high, and the nature of blood-born issues is erratic. (I have a moderate hemotological immune issue that was not completely understood until I was an adult as its always ebbed and flowed so to speak.) Why not try visiting another pediatrician and other specialists? Their advice will probably be worth more than ours. The medical community as a whole like any profession, has good practionioners and poor ones, but its still a profession and there is knowledge and experience there. They deal with childrens' health issues multiple times a day, every day of the year, for years on end. There is knowledge there, even if you (like myself) also challenge the doctors and at times explore alternative medical choices (folk, eastern, etc) as well. BUT ignoring one type of medicine altogether when there has been some clinical evidence is not the definition of holistic healing either. Plus, its not going to hurt your son's system to get his white cells counted. If they are low, that does leave him with a very real vulnerability. At that point, then its just the lottery as to how strong of an antigen he comes in contact with. Please don't get resigned on this issue. A track record of nothing bad is something to be happy about, but not evidence that a problem doesn't exist.

Good luck, and I really hope you monitor him.

I wouldn't discount what the doctor said, but maybe get a second opinion from a doctor here in the states. Go to another specialist and an accurate diagnosis of what is wrong with your son. Something that has a name and you can look up on the internet. You certainly don't want to take a chance with your son's health. There could be something very serious wrong with him and you want to be sure it is treated correctly and not put it off. Good luck and God Bless!

Definitely get a second opinion. I would also recommend researching this on the internet. www.webmd.com is a very informative site. Sometimes it is more helpful if you know more about the symptoms before you go to the doctor than just relying on what you are being told, because errors are commonly made. Also, Vitamin C is excellent in giving the immune system a boost. It is not harmful and your child can take it every day and if he is sick once every two to four hours. It does not stay in your body ~ everytime you go to the bathroom the Vitamin C also goes out of your body. You can buy children's doses almost anywhere. I keep my 3 children (4.5, 3, 1) on regular vitamins and Vitmain C daily. I hope this helps.

J., definately a difficult situation. There could be so many things going on with your son. The doctors in Mexico may be right. He may be completely healthy now and whatever was wrong 8 months ago has gone away. But I would keep checking. I'm a doctor's worse nightmare. I keep asking questions and I usually get several opinions. Dr's are human and much of medicine is making the best guess. (I've had several Dr's tell me that). Don't be afraid to have another Doctor (especially one who is very fluent in your language) go over your son's records and check things out again. I do hope your son is better now but I would want to know exactly what happened and is there a chance of it happening again or if there are any complications from what he did have! Good luck!

Well, maybe you should get a second opinion from a doctor here in San Antonio instead of Mexico. I believe that the doctors here are more knowledgeable. This has been tried and true.
Let me explain some stuffs. The white blood cells in our body are the cells that help fight infections - germs, you know, like bacteria and viruses. In your sons case, he does not have enough of those cells. Being so young, he is at high risk for all kinds of infections and childhood diseases. He even is at higher risk because of his low white cell count.
I don't think that the specialist is playing with the health of your child. Just get another opinion here in San Antonio. Try to find one who can really explain to you what is going on, the purpose and kind of tests they will do, and the treatments and what it will do for your child.
Well, good luck and keep us updated.

If I were you I would ask for a second oppion in the US, I really don't know about the docotors in Mexico, maybe they didn't have equipment or know what they were looking for? You can always get refured to someone else. It seems to me that whatever your son has or had, you don't understand it. You need to do more reserch ask the doctors more about it and look the condition up online google it or go to WebMD online and find more answers.