United Brachial Plexus Network

First I think I need to give you some background....

My daughter, Jessica (3 1/2 yrs) had therapy once a week. Well her 6 month break is starting the 2nd week in September so I needed 2 weeks were her appt was at a different time or day.
WELL...her OT took two Tuesdays off which is Jessie's normal days for therapy. Her time is usually 11am.

We have been moved around and switched days and times at Stacey's leisure, okayed by me mind you. If I told her we couldn't accommodate that time she just wouldn't do it.

Well, Jessie hasn't been at therapy for 3 weeks, two appts. because of the OT taking personal days and 1 because she "didn't have any available blocks".
Well she told me last week that they were having a schedule meeting and would get back to me on Friday...NO PHONE CALL.
So I get an email saying:


Barbara,

I am sorry to inform you that I still do not have any available times to offer for this week. It has been really crazy with my schedule as it is always full and we have implemented a new computer system, so there is just no extra time. We should probably go ahead and plan the 1x/tmth to start on September 13th. Therefore her schedule would be the 3rd Wed of every month. Let me know if this will continue to work for you.

I am/was VERY discouraged that she couldn't get two dates for me that I can bring Jessie in after all the moving around she's done to us over the past years.

I wrote her back saying that I would just bring her in at her normal time and pull Jessie out of pre-school just an hour early.

When she did finally get back to me she informed me that she GAVE her therapy block to another child.
And yes, that got to me a bit. But what's concerned me now is when Jess moves her wrist (which is difficult for her anyway) it's catching, or studdering when she moved it like she's waving, it's very hard to explain. I noticed it when she was waving goodbye to her grandmother.
I called her OT and told her about it and she left me a voice message saying to just do the normal streching and hammering exercises.

I was mostly curious if anyone else's child has done this studder in movement.
I am so discouraged about this though. It's like she didn't even care and just pushed us aside to make room for other children

I remember when Kyle was about a month old. His wrist was bending in the opposite direction (up toward his arm). I took him to the Dr., she said that he needed a splint. I was checking out and the receptionist told me that they couldn't fit Kyle in for a splint for three weeks. We argued a bit, I tried to explain the importance and she kept putting me off. I told her that I was going to stand right in front of her until she got up out of her chair and made sure that waiting three weeks was ok with the Dr. I got a little loud and my husband was getting embarrassed. Well she huffed and puffed but got up and went and asked. What a shocker, they made room in the schedule for him the next day.
Make some noise, she reports to someone, if not the Doctor then a Supervisor of some kind. Call the Doctor and tell him/her what happened. They should take care of your problem or find another Therapist. You should feel like the Therapist has your childs best interest at heart.

Good luck. I'll be sending positive thoughts your way.

Just wanted to reinforce what the previous post said. All I have learned in the past 4 months since my baby was injured duringh birth is that my husband and I are our child's only advocate. I have realized that so many doctors/therapists don't know what is right. A lot of the time people don't understand the importance of time. Make some noise, let them know you won't stand to be pushed aside, and know that your doing it all for your child. I feel like the bad guy all the time, who cares, even with my persistance my baby was seen behind schedule because of doctors ignorance. I know that the fact that we are back on schedule is because I was pushy. Good luck, I understand your frustration.

Barbara:
we have changed therapists over the years. tho juliana doesn't do ot out of the school anymore, we used to change as i saw fit. i didn't have as much problem around here with ot's as i did with pt's. at one point i went thru about 5 in 6 months. and then we found one that we stayed with for over 2 years (i still call her when i have a question).

change can be good. i never liked going to a therapist whom i felt didn't value the time with my child. i would change therapists.

good luck,
claudia

Call the therapist and talk to her. It may not be the therapist who is pushing you aside. Many places dont like a particular patient to be seen longer than like 6 months or so. I know at my hospital/place of therapy at home most of the therapists have no control over their schedule. The receptionists do all the scheduling for them. I am lucky thouhg because my OT contracts with the hospital and therefore she gets to make her own schedule, so I always get seen if I need to be. Like right now I am discharged from therapy but can still get an appt if I need one. And I will start again next spring when I get home from college again.

Anyway my main point was call your therapist and see what the case is, tell her how you feel about this and see what happens, if nothing then I would suggest a new therapist.

Good luck!
Amy 19 years old ROBPI from MN (studying to be an OT!!!)

Thanks for all your advice. In fact it was recommended that it might be time to look for a new therapist.
One therapist told me a couple days ago that sometimes when you work with a child for so long you get maxed out with them when you feel like you haven't seen much change.
But thanks for the different point of views!!!
I do agree that a change might be good!
Thank you!!