The person who set up Gage’s appointment said this to me, not realizing that isn’t the best option for a boy who is already behaviorally challenged and impulsive. Unless, say, she wants Cheetos in the fish tank in the waiting room. Cause he will do that you know.

We have an appointment for Gage at 1:00 tomorrow with a psychiatrist. I know that I want to meet with her without Gage in room, so I am not sure how that will work out, as Julian will be with me, but he wants to meet with the doctor as well.

When I called this morning to see about the two doctors at a new clinic for child and adolescent mood disorders the wait was over a month to get an appointment. I am pretty sure my voice cracked and quivered, so she did say a new doctor’s schedule was wide open. How new, I wondered to myself.

The transplant team* checked with the psychologist at Children’s (she knows us) and she recommended we call our behaviorist for psych recommendation. Already tried that. I think it is sad that I have to spend a week looking for a psychiatrist to see my child. It seems to me that there ought to be a better system when a parent calls (the team that sees him most) and a child is in emotional crisis – or any crisis that isn’t deem kidney clinic workable. A system so that someone on the kidney clinic team has a list (or hell, even one name) of doctors that have dealt with a child that has had medical intervention trauma.

There’s got to be a better way to treat the whole child. You know, to make it easier on the child (and their caregivers). Or maybe I am missing something, or went about this in a different way than most. I think sometimes the state of our healthcare system leaves everyone involved in treatment floundering. This was a perfect example.

I had to ask a doctor in ANOTHER STATE for advice. Then she asked her Chief of Psychiatry for help. Then he reached out to Emory CoP here, who got in touch with the Emory child clinic; and the Doctor-In-Charge gave me two names and two good phone numbers, including his assistant’s in case I had trouble with the urgency factor being recognized.

It just shouldn’t be this hard to help your child.

* I feel I must say that I love the transplant department for their care and concern, and this is not a complaint against anyone in the kidney clinic at all. They are a lovely group; they smile, the joke, they hug the kids too! Often, like during this type of thing, they show me great compassion. And they put up with a lot. And well, they save lives there, people! I just think the system could use some adjustments. I think we all just do things the same way some times because that’s the way they’ve always been done.