Quote:
Originally Posted by peacegirl
Quote:
Originally Posted by thedoc
Many years ago My daughter complained about a pain in her belly and my wife thought it was just a belly ache, till I asked the daughter to point to where it hurt. When she did, I took her straight to the hospital and she had an appendectomy. The doctor said it was worse that they thought it would be from the daughters description of the pain. I knew from the location what it might be, my wife didn't know.
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A non-medically trained parent can be extremely helpful in explaining what she observed. Observation is very important in correctly putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Anytime something is administered and a short time later there is a marked change in their child which is persistent, this is a cause for concern and should be followed up on. If my child got the pertussis vaccine and gave a loud piercing cry which is a warning that something may be wrong, do you think I would listen to a doctor who tells me to give my child the second dose just because studies have told him that there is no connection? |
Absolutely right! a parent can provide extremely useful information of observations, but may be totally incorrect on what those observations mean. Just as in my example, my wife wasn't sure what pain in the belly could mean but when I found exactly where the pain was I had a much better idea of what it could mean. An untrained parent could come to some very dangerous conclusions out of ignorance, even though they know all the symptoms in detail.