Neurotic parents

Perhaps my first clue that something was amiss was the complaint the nurse wrote on the chart of "fever, cough, and skin smells like urine".  I walked into a room with 2 parents and 2 boys-  a 3yr old and 16 month old, standing and writing on the chalkboard that is in every pediatric room.  The boys seemed active and by no means really ill.

"So, what's going on with these guys" I asked after introductions.  Mom then handed me 6 handwritten pages of information.  2 pages were filled with the fevers of each child, labeled with the time, the initial for which kid and what they were doing. IE: "c. 101.2, 3:15pm, twitch in right arm and left toe while sleeping"  I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers as I glanced thru to the next pages - giving a recent history of the illness each child had from January on - ear aches, antibiotic courses, diarrhea and spit ups.  OKAY, then 2 pages of questions and concerns mom had - including the double underlined "Skin smells like urine". 

"Wow, really organized" I said as I looked again at these crazy people masquerading as parents. I really hardly ever have the problem of too much info, but this was definitely the case- My head was swirling with fevers, twitches, spit ups and urine smells.  What was really wrong anyway? 

As I examined the kids, I found out more disturbing facts - that they both had been diagnosed with unnamed eating allergies- the 3 year old allergic to most foods, including milk (isn't this called being picky in the toddler years?) They were seeing a GI specialist, an endocrine specialist, and a  feeding specialist already, with no clear diagnosis yet.

I tried really hard to find a urine smell- with my nose planted on his arms, his legs, his stomach - praying one of my colleagues wouldn't come in to find me sniffing a little kid. Sure the boys had a cold, like everyone else this time of year- some fevers, some cough - but nothing else.

I left a little afraid for those boys - perfectly healthy, normal boys whose parents are trying so hard to find something wrong with them. All those specialists, not even needed. Unfortunately, it's the parents who need the help!