Shelby

April 15, 2006

Shelby is our 14 year old daughter and Cameron's sister.

Lately she's been having headaches and stomachaches and she's been pale off and on and she's tired and so on.

While we believe it's probably related to all the stress that's been in the house that's been brought on by Cameron's recent problems, we figured it's probably worthwhile to get her checked out physically.

She received a physical and several shots (immunizations) and then had to have blood drawn. The lady taking her blood had a TERRIBLE 'bedside manner' and did nothing for Shelby's nervousness even though I specifically told her that Shelby was EXTREMELY nervous.

After the 5 or so vials were filled and her arm was taped, Shelby felt faint and told me she was going to pass out. She has Vaso-Vagal and has passed out a couple times so she knows the feeling when it's coming on.

She did end up passing out while sitting in the chair and as I caught her she started to seize. This terrified me because even though Shelby has passed out before she hasn't ever had a seizure.

The phlebotomist made a feeble attempt to hold Shelby's head but she was really no help at all, she was pushing Shelby's head against the counter. I screamed for help twice before she called for someone from the back to come forward.

Just then a big tall guy walked up behind me and asked if he could help. He picked up Shelby and laid her on a gurney that was behind her. This guy was a patient at Kaiser just like us, not an employee of Kaiser.

I don't understand why the security guard didn't even raise his head while I was screaming for help. Why was it a patient who had to come to our rescue?

Shelby laid on the gurney for quite some time and I asked the phlebotomist with the poor bedside manner if we should let her doctor upstairs know that this had just happened, especially since Shelby had just had 4 shots and the doctor told us to stay in the building for 20 minutes to make sure she didn't have a reaction to the shots.

The phlebotomist said no there was no reason to notify her doctor. Shelby eventually was able to get up and walk with me to our car.

I'd like to really thank that man for helping with Shelby. Although she's a lightweight, I wasn't able to lift her out of that chair and carry her to the gurney.

I'd also like to say how disgusted we are once again with Kaiser. I truly believe that that woman (the phlebotomist) contributed to Shelby's passing out because she refused to do anything to help with Shelby's nervousness and matter-of-fact was brusque and rough in her treatment of Shelby.

And lastly but most importantly, keep sight of your other children while dealing with your Asperger's Syndrome child. The siblings are often much more deeply affected than they'll tell you so you need to keep an eye on them to see how they're doing.

While we wait for the results of Shelby's blood tests we'll be setting her up to speak with a therapist to see if that'll bring her some relief.

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