Intuition That Doctors can Benefit From

Before I tell you about how I almost lost my son as a result of my concerns being ignored by a doctor, let me tell you why doctors should listen to mothers.

Mothers spend much more time with their children, and so are better observers of symptoms (which the doctors rely on to make their prognosis) that their children display. Doctors go by what the mother of a child tells them, for them to decide under what ailment those symptoms fall. If a mother walks into a doctor's office and says "My child is sick, please tell me what is wrong with her," the doctor will throw the question right back to her to find out what she has observed like vomiting, fever, temperature, mood change etc. Without the mother's help, the doctors hands are tied!

My son had complained of fever and hot and cold sensations that day. Coming from Africa where malaria is common, I thought the symptoms looked like malaria symptoms. I decided to take him to see the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor, his fever had gone down so when I told the doctor that he had had fever and hot and cold chills, he was doubtful. The doctor asked me to take him back home and bring him back in three days if his symptoms persisted. As fate would have it, as soon as we got back home, his fever started again. I wondered whether I should take him back to the doctor but remembered the dismissive way with which he treated my suggestion that he be tested for malaria.

I decided to take my son's sickness into my own hands and took him to a laboratory for a blood test. They tested him but he tested negative for malaria. His symptoms continued and his fever kept fluctuating. I decided to give him malaria medicine. I just had this gut feeling that something was terribly wrong and that enough was not being done for my son.

The last time that my husband had malaria the doctor had put him on antibiotics. He said that as the parasites die the body produced white blood cells to fight the dead cells in the blood and that caused fever. I also put my son on antibiotics. He seemed to get much better then he started to feel really sick. I decided to take him to the main hospital instead of the doctor I had earlier gone to. As soon as my son got into the car, he wretched and vomited and I noticed that it was blood! My husband and I took him to a private hospital.

As soon as I told this particular doctor about the symptoms and the medicines that I had given to him, he took him straight for a spinal tap. My son had meningitis, an infection that attacks the spinal cord and the brain. The doctor told me that the antibiotics that I had given him had slowed down the spreading of the infection. He explained to me that the symptoms for meningitis were similar to the symptoms for malaria. My son had to be hospitalized for ten days then had to continue receiving injections everyday for another month. I thank God that he completely recovered without any side effects.

I do not encourage any woman to be her child's doctor. Doctors are trained to take care of sick people. However God has given mothers certain instincts which doctors should not see as a threat but as a help. Doctors should listen to mothers. When a mother has a hunch about something, the doctor should take that lead seriously if only to discount it. Many a woman's instinct has saved her baby's life!