Jakob is very sick - campylobacter

boyohboyohboy wrote: Last thursday Jake got sick at VBS. He started with a high fever and also really bad diarrhea. It was worse then anything I have ever seen, he was going at least every 10 mins..alot.
by sat three days later he was still going that much and all thru the night, he wasnt able to sleep and barely eating. I took him to the dr and she ran all kinds of tests including stool cultures, and abdominal xrays and because he was also bleeding a lot a blood count..
just today after a huge fight with the dr, we found out that Jakob has campylobacter, this is apparently a bacteria not really uncommon, but it came from Tess.
She had diarrhea for about two days after we got her and we thought it was just her adjusting to the house and food, but we are having her tested now.

Its just been horrible. I feel guilty that Jake got sick, especially him with all his health issues. I had the dog checked as soon as we got her home but this isnt something they normally test for.

Jake is on antibiotics now, and it is a self limiting bacteria so he will be ok in about a week..
he is so sick right now.

PrairieMom replied: awww poor kid.
What was the fight with the Dr?

coasterqueen replied: OMG, wow! I've never heard of that. It had to have come with the dog from where you got it. Poor Jakob

Like I said before my kids have been around LOTS of dogs since birth and never has once caught anything from them.

Hope he feels better soon.

boyohboyohboy replied: my ped. called us sat. and said he "might have a bowel obstruction" and said she was also leaning towards him having just some stomach viral thing, and said to wait it out..well by sunday morning when he was up all night and the diarrhea was worse then I have ever seen and he was filling a toilet with blood, I decided I couldnt wait to see if it was viral, I wasnt even sure what I was waiting for...
so I called the dr and was told by the on call dr, that our ped hadnt mentioned Jake and she must have felt it wasnt important enough...
so I watched him closely, and then we had an 8am appt today, she walked into the room, angry that we were there, and started to yell at me, that Jake just had a viral thing, and that we needed to wait it out, and all the other kids she sees has it, and she just kept going on and on, and then when I tried to ask about the numerous stool cultures we had taken in, she tried to tell me that the lab said we didnt take them, and then when i told her we did, because it was easy since he was pooping so much she said oh, she was just guessing we didnt take them in! and when I started asking about specific tests, she didnt know the answers or what she had even ordered! she hadnt even checked with the lab. so I started to ask questions about the bowel obstruction and if he was having so much liquid stool because he indeed obstructed and this was leaking, she cut me off talked louder then me and wouldnt answer me, and so I finally said, will you stop cutting me off and let me ask my questions..and she wouldnt and screamed at me, that she wasnt going to give me a med. and I said I didnt want a med, I wanted her to check him because I knew he didnt have a normal stomach virus..and she said well he seems fine now! I said to her you are not there when he is on the toilet sweaty, crying and holding his stomach all night, his bottom is red and bleeding and now an open sore! so she finally goes to call the lab and comes back and low and behold he doesnt have a viral stomach bug..he has this "infected gut".
I am calling the medical director of the practice and complaining for all the good it will do..she yelled at me in front of Jake,scared him, refused to listen to me about his symptoms, and never called for labs. she was unprepaired and unwiling to listen.
it was horrible. I was so afraid she was going to send us away today and not help Jake.
I think sometimes these dr's need to take into consideration what a mom see's not just clinic experience.
also I was very concerned because with Jakes history we have to be so careful.
I am writing a letter to the practice.
If you have any other ideas about this I am open to them.

boyohboyohboy replied:
according to what I read, its very common and doesnt just come from pets..kids get it all the time.
but its more common in young dogs, and especially if they are around chickens..and I think I did mention I think Tess came from a puppy mill and there were roosters in cages there too.

we cant be 100% sure it was tess, and even if her test comes back neg. we wont know if she was the reason he got it..

all we can do is wash our hands now..the good news is its not spread from kid to kid..

coasterqueen replied: I'd definitely find a new doctor. I've disagreed with my doctor often, but never has he once yelled at me. I'd be hightailing it out of there pronto!!!

MommyToAshley replied: I would have asked at that very moment to see a different Ped in the practice, and then I would look for a new ped and have the records transferred immediately.

coasterqueen replied:
Wow, again, I've never heard of it before. It comes from chickens, though? Just curious, my girls are around their grandma's chickens all the time.

MommyToAshley replied: I hit reply too fast...

I hope Jakob is feeling better, poor kiddo!

boyohboyohboy replied: here is the CDC site we looked at
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_li...obacter_gi.html
we were told at the peds office that the department of health will be contacting us as this is a communicable disease...

so thats part of why we got tess checked in case they ask us....

we live in a tiny town with hardly any dr's..and so far I am not impressed with any of them.
and every time we transfer dr's none of the medical records that come from other drs or consults go with us..and so much of the kids medical records are lost from our last move..
it is horribly hard to get them.
now I have learned to make copies but for the past three yrs we have lost most of it.
I am looking into our options though.

Mommy2Isabella replied: I totally agree with Karen. I would find a new Dr. PRONTO!!

Hope Jakob starts feeling better soon as well as the pup!!

coasterqueen replied: Sounds like to me it comes more from dealing with chicken meat. Was the place Tess was at processing chickens? Wow, that is a nasty virus. Well, glad my MIL isn't processing hers she uses hers for eggs. We don't cook much chicken at home these days, but Gavin was eating raw chicken there for awhile. We were definitely careful when handling it.

So is there an outbreak of it in your town then, since your doc said others had the same symptoms? If so maybe it didn't come from Tess.

Regardless, to all of you for having to deal with this soon. Hope he feels better soon and no one else gets it.

boyohboyohboy replied:
no she was saying that other kids have his symptoms because she wanted me to believe he had a plain old stomach bug and I knew he didnt.

she said that you can get it from under cooked meat, or dogs that lick the chicken poop...there were only rooster at the dog place, and I think he was fighting them.

it also said you can get this from swimming pools, he isnt allowed to swim for two weeks.
and also unpasturized milk.
there are many ways to get it, not just animals.

I just know that the other things she mentioned Jake doesnt do, like drink milk, or swim, or eat chicken.
so I figured it was our dog, and then remembered she had two days of diarrhea herself..

it is just horrible, I think what made it worse is the ped blowing it off, and not listening to how much he was going and how much blood there is..
he is so pale and exhausted. I mean can you imagine going poop every 10 mins..all day and night for the last 5 days! it started on thursday.

DVFlyer replied: Keian got this and the current theory (at the time) was he got it from the new dog. The dog also had it.

Antibiotics for both of them and all was well.

CantWait replied: I'm so sorry for everything you and Jake have been through the last few days.

I hope he's feeling better soon, I can't even imagine how tired he is. I agree, being on the toilet every 10 mins, 24/7 isn't a fun thing.

boyohboyohboy replied:
now we were told that it was self limiting, and that neither of them needed treated but because Jake was so sick that it was best to treat him but it would stop on its own..and tess has stopped..
were you told differently?

DVFlyer replied: Pretty sure they gave us antibiotics. I'll have to ask Michelle. She'll remember every detail.

Now that I think about it, Keian may have gotten it a couple of times. At that point, we had limited his contact with the dog yet he still got it.

Oh and we had the county health inspector come to our house to make sure we weren't bathing our kids in dog poop...

luvmykids replied: Poor Jake! I'm sorry your dr was so EVIL! And ITA with you, they need to hear us moms out since we know our kids and know when something isn't right.

I'm sorry he got sick with this particular thing too, after all your concern about Tess giving them something But like Karen said, my kids have always been around dogs (and other animals) and not gotten sick, so I hope this isn't too disheartening for you where Tess is concerned.

boyohboyohboy replied:
Yes the dr said that the dept of health would be in touch...

Kentuckychick replied: Campylobacter is as you've read in your research since Jake's (thankfully finally proper) diagnosis, fairly common. I've heard of it a lot in my jobs working with children.

When my cousin was extremely sick several years ago with symptoms exactly as you described, campy was the very first thing her doctor tested her for (along with strep, ecoli, salmonella, and several others). The doctor was pretty fairly sure that was what she had and told my aunt that the most likely culprit was either undercooked meat or cross contamination from the restaurant they'd eaten at or the public swimming pool we went to daily that summer while I babysat them.

In the end she ended up having salmonella and they believe it was from a steakhouse hamburger. The CDC was contacted and sent out a rep to interview my aunt and uncle and then someone to inspect the restaurant. They're pretty serious about those things.

It may have been Tess who transmitted the illness, but it may not have as well. There are plenty of children who come down with the bacteria that haven't been around animals or undercooked meat of any kind.

I think getting Tess tested is doing the best you can do and hopefully Jake will feel better VERY soon.

As for the doctor... I am ALL for getting a new one.

redchief replied: I'm trying to imagine myself or Lisa not stuffing the doc into a sharps container. No way I'd put up with that! I sincerely hope the head of the practice has a talk with the staff about customer service. The medical field seems to be quick to forget they're in the customer service business.

I hope Jake clears up quickly. Sounds like a nasty little bug.

boyohboyohboy replied:
Thank you! I was really very emotional during the conversation because I was so afraid we were going to be sent away with no resolve for Jake, I didnt want to do or say anything that would prompt her to walk out and not treat him.

I am going to write the letter just like you mentioned, that the customer service was horrible.
I am wondering if there is another avenue to report her behavior to.

luvmykids replied:
It couldn't hurt to report her to the State Medical Board....I don't know how involved they get with complaints of that nature but honestly, that attitude could put someone's life at risk so it's worth taking a shot.

MoonMama replied: Poor little guy! I hope Jakob feels better soon!

Kentuckychick replied:
I definitely think you should write a letter... but don't say you received poor "customer service"... in my mind customer service is something you except when you are a expected to be treated like a customer and in my opinion, in your pediatrician's office or in any other private doctor's office you should be expecting SO much more.

It wasn't just poor customer service, it was WAY worse. That doctor could easily have compromised the health of your child simply because she thought that you were an overconcerned parent who didn't know any better.

This is the doctor YOU chose to care for YOUR child... I'm sure that there are plenty of times when parents are wrong, but a doctor should be willing to admit that they could just as easily be the one who's wrong.

msoulz replied: OMG, Stacy, the fact that you did not clock that doctor - well, once again I bow to you!

You can probably file a complaint with the state too - but if you plan to return to that office, do you think there may be any negative consequences?

What an ego that doc has...but I guess that is probably common.

coasterqueen replied: I would definitely file a complaint with the state medical licensing board. They should know about complaints of that nature, IMO.

My2Beauties replied: at that doc's behavior, I would certainly complain to any and all medical licensing boards. I've never had to deal with that, but I'm sure a quick google search or look in the phone book or calling around will get you to where you need to go. I hope he gets better soon, bless his little heart I'm so sorry he's so sick

boyohboyohboy replied:
I think you are right, I am going to get the kids into another office before I really get into reporting this dr.

as often as my kids get sick, its best to make sure they have a good dr.

my2monkeyboys replied: In my city we don't have any ped. drs, so I drive 40 min one-way to the boys' doctor... she's just so worth it!! I, too, am amazed at her treatment of you and Jacob... shameful to say the least! Report, report, report!!