'I have cried. I have begged. I have yelled': Couples clash over COVID-19

[deurbano]

47. Thanks! My daughter's cough was first misdiagnosed as allergies. (As opposed to a tumor pressing

against her esophagus!) By this time I am used to doing my own follow up, though. When I was a teenaged, single mother, the pediatrician told me I was just an overanxious new mother when I thought this same daughter wasn't hitting developmental milestones. She turned out to have cerebral palsy, which includes a speech disability and quadriplegia. (But what did I know?) And then the pediatric neurologist who diagnosed her told me just to take her home and love her (in 1973, before early intervention was much of a thing), which I was already doing (so... thanks?), and another doctor told me that she would "never be able to do much of anything" (actually, he said it to his intern, but made sure I heard it, so I didn't develop false hopes, I guess)... and my daughter feels there was some ableism involved with that first cancer misdiagnosis, like the doctor at the UCSF clinic wasn't taking her seriously. (Though that also happened to me at the same clinic when they misdiagnosed my whooping cough as... allergies!)

Anyway, she exceeded their expectations a million times over because we listened to their advice and followed needed protocols, but like you, we didn't check our critical thinking skills at the door.