Doing What's Necessary

I did a brave thing today, I think, requesting copies of Joey’s various test and lab results from the gastrointestinal doctor that we have been working with for the past six months on solving his mystery, intermittent diarrhea.  Even though it’s virtually impossible to dissuade a parent of a handicapped child (we never say “uncle" – we want answers and solutions no matter what), I’ve been putting off a second opinion because I like Dr. G.  She has been my doctor for years and I would never want to hurt her feelings or imply that her professional skills were inadequate in any way.  I just think she hit a brick wall in our case.

So, wanting to leave no stone unturned, last week I took Joey to another practice, and based on my carefully recorded notes and medication trials, the brand-new (she didn't look a day over twelve), young GI doc, Dr. M., prescribed another type of treatment.  She also told me that she needs to see the above-mentioned test results, records and medical history, thus, the anxiety on my part in having to request these documents from Dr. G.'s office.  The good news is that Joey seems to be doing great (I am crossing my fingers, knocking on every wooden surface in my house and hoping that posting this does not lay a giant jinx on the progress).  He has had good stretches before, therefore I remain cautious but very, very hopeful.  He seems better, so much better.  Coincidence?  I don't know.  So I mustered up the courage this morning to make the phone call that I have been agonizing over for the past seven days, and I bit the bullet as they say, and picked up the reports today.  I explained to the nurse to please tell Dr. G. how much I appreciated her help and dedication on this but I wanted to get another viewpoint, just to be sure.  She told me that Dr. G. said she understood and thanked me for saying so.

Whew! Done.  This has really been weighing on me.