MMR (very long, but a huge warning)

My Husbands Son from a previous marriage has Autism. He said he went from a happy little boy full of personality and within 6 weeks of getting the MMR he was completely shut down and than eventually diagnosed with Autism. He has also has a Daughter from his previous marriage and they decided not to give her the MMR till she started school and she is perfectly fine. So when we found out we were pregnant with Zoe we knew we were going to hold off on the MMR till she went to school. Are feeling's on it was it was too much medication at one time at such a young age. We have searched and so has our doctors office to find someone to give the MMR in separate parts, 3 dif shots so we could space it out, but no one offers it like that and they said it would be too expensive to order it like that if they did. The Health dept. told us to let them know if we find it like that???

Zoe had a doctors appt a few months ago and we discussed all of this with our pediatrician and she completely agreed and was OK with our decision. The doctor knows their is no proof that the MMR has anything to do with the Autism, but she also has a little girl the same age as Zoe and said she understands the worry and with a history in the family, why take the chance? So at that appt Zoe was supposed to get her chicken pox shot but they were out of it that day so they said just bring her by and the nurse can give it to her.

Yesterday we stopped by to get her chicken pox shot and we were waiting for a long time in the waiting room when the nurse finally called us back. As soon as I stood up being 8 months pregnant I had to pee bad!! DH took Zoe into the room, I finished peeing went into the room with my baby screaming from getting her shot and I see their is one syringe next to Zoe and one shot being given to her??? I say really quick "why is she getting 2 shots?" And the nurse says "one is the chicken pox and the other is the MMR" What!?!?  My Husband yells and says " NO! she wasn't supposed to get the MMR!" it was too late, it was already given. My heart just stopped. The nurse told us that she thought we had changed her mind and she had double checked with the doctor and the doctor said yes to both shots? She started to Apologize over and over and DH and I just sat their starring at each other in horror....what  just happened? Come to find out the nurse had asked one of the other doctors that had seen Zoe for something else, not her/our doctor. Our doctor than came in and apologized over and over and said she knew we did not want the MMR, you could tell she felt horrible but their was nothing that could be done about it. I feel so sad, If I had just waited to pee another 5 min, none of the would have happened.  I had asked DH what the nurse said about the two shots before she gave them and I guess the nurse just said she was getting two shots and did we want her to give them in one leg and DH said it's the chicken pox right and she said yes and that was it. He thought it was 2 parts of the chicken pox vaccine or something? He doesn't normally go with me to her appt, so I guess he just didn't really think about it because it had all been discussed in her previous appt. I feel like I let my Daughter down and now for the next few months I will be analyzing every little thing about her personality, I just feel so sad.

I know their is no proof of the MMR causing Autism, so please this was not a post to get a debate going about that. This is just something that we decided was best for our family and I know some don't agree. I mostly wanted to give a huge warning for you to always make sure that the doctors and nurses verify with you what they are giving to your child before they give it.

Oh- my heart aches for you.  I know how frustrating and irratating it is when someone does something with my daughter that I don't agree with, and so far medically we have only met one challange about her care.  Try not to blame yourself about the situation...I am not a huge person of organized faith, but I do try to live by the motto: everything happens for a reason.  Which at this point may not be clear. Please try to go forward enjoying her just as you have before her appointment...and I am sorry this happened to Zoe and your family.

 

Thanks Jenn.

Please tell me that wasn't Kaiser???  I had to worst Dr's there (some were great but I had a nurse that needed a slap across the face when she gave my baby shots). 

Nope, not Kaiser, but I know lot's of people that have issues with them.

lol my cousin is a dr and used to work at kaiser...and she lives in yucaipa too..  she's got a bad bedside manner...got fired..lol

Even though I am a proponent of vaccinations, I feel for you and I would be calling a lawyer.  That's a big mistake in my opinion.  I know there are a lot of frivolous lawsuits out there, but in my opinion this is not one of them.  I would at least consult and ask them if this is worth pursuing.  Maybe I'm overboard on this, I don't know.  But I definitely feel for you.  Hugs

My Husband and I talked briefly about that, I told him he should write down everything that was said prior to the injections so if we did decide to do something nothing is forgotten. I go back and fourth because it wont change what has happened but it could help some other family's for the future....I don't know, I'm just sad right now.

YIKES! I would be furious. Our doc makes us sign our initials to the children's chart for any shots that they give, they tell us exactly what is in each one, and then have us sign. Sounds like this office needes to implement that as a plan of action so this NEVER happens again. We had the same problem getting the MMR in separate shots.

Our first pediatrician did that at their office (we switched because we didn't like the doctor) this was Zoe's first shots since we had switched. The Nurse had us sign the paper after it was given and hubby is now pissed that he signed it, but it more or less was stating that the shots were given. I agree they should have you sign it before to verify everything.

I also think that the nurse is new, the whole family goes their and this was only the second time I have seen her. She looks like she is only 16 years old and you can tell she is a new grad because she is very nervous.