Our first trip to the ER

My son, Patrick, who is 15 months old had his first emergency this weekend. Little boy vs. coffee table - coffee table won this time. He's fine, of course. They are resilient little creatures. Mom and Dad however, not as resilient.

I got my first real challenge to the "we chose not to vaccinate" decision. It made me appreciate how truly difficult it must be for people to make this choice. We were instantly treated differently, and the conversations became dominated by the "we're really concerned about tetanus here..."

Let me say this - I appreciate that the doctors and nurses in the ER were doing what they truly believed to be in Patricks best interest. They were doing due diligence and educating us on what they thought was best.

Let me also say that the decision to or not to vaccinate is a conversation best had with the patients regular MD, who has all of the pertinent family history to advise on such a matter. Despite my explanations (which are, lucky for me, "good" ones even in the medical world) they continued to push. I cannot imagine how hard that would have been for people who are not as well versed in medicine as I am.

This post is not meant to blast the doctors. This is meant as a little rant about how sad it is that parents cannot make informed decisions in the best interest of their child without strangers poking their noses in it.

Yours in Health,
Kerri