Please use caution when deciding to take your child to Grand Pediatrics on 14th & Grand (see our experience below and also visit other reviews at vitals.com):
Our son had a terrible headache and was vomiting. The vomiting slowed down and then stopped. After calling Grand Pediatrics I was told to keep an eye on it and if we want an appointment we can come in the next day. We saw Kimberly Resleff. She diagnosed him with a ruptured eardrum. It was his right ear, however, she noted the left in his chart. He had a massive headache and sore neck that ice or Tylenol would not help. Kimberly told us that, “the good news is it’s not meningitis--if it were he would be not only be yelling in pain, but not be able to move his head and neck as well“. She never addressed his head or the vomiting that I called about the day before. She prescribed our son an antibiotic for his ear.
The next day, I called again. His headache was so massive and debilitating that he wasn‘t moving around and light and sound were bothering him. Our son has a history of ear infections, but never with these symptoms or side effects before. The nurse said it was just the ear infection and it would take time for the antibiotic to work.
The next day I called again. Our son’s headache was still so strong. I told the nurse that I know we have to wait for the antibiotic to work, but I can only go by what he is telling me and he is telling me that this ear infection is different. Sound and light were bothering him and he was not moving around. He was nauseas and had double and blurry vision. I asked to see Dr. Kincaid, specifically, but he was not available again, so we saw Kaitlin (Kardong) Mallon.
Kaitlin started off by reiterating to me what Kimberly Resleff said, that, if you’re suspecting meningitis, it’s not. Meningitis had not even occurred to us, it was they who brought it up. She stated that our son can tip his head forward so it’s not serious. When I asked about his vision and nausea Kaitlin said it was his equilibrium affected by the ear infection. She then asked him where it hurt and he pointed to the back and sides of his neck and his whole head. He said, “and here, too”, pointing to the front of his neck. At that, Kaitlin nodded at me, waving her hand and said since it is bothering him in the front of his neck, it is his sinuses in his throat and to give him Dimetapp. Finally, she felt his throat and did not look at or into his eyes at all.
We continued to watch through Friday and there was no improvement. On Saturday our son’s eyes crossed and he was still seeing double with blurry vision, nausea, and the massive headache.
On Monday morning, I called the Spokane Eye Clinic and reported his symptoms. Their triage team got him in that day and we saw Dr. Colburn. He found swelling behind his eyes and on the veins to his eyes and sent us to the ER at Sacred Heart. Thank God we took him somewhere else and they listened to us, because our son could have experienced so much more physical damage, or worse, if we had continued to trust Grand Pediatrics.
The doctors found a mastoid sinusitis behind his right ear and a blood clot on his brain. All of this explained the massive headaches, neck pain, vomiting, nausea, double and blurry vision, and crossed eyes. Our son wore an eye patch, alternating both eyes each day, he had a pic line inserted, surgery to put a tube in his right ear by ENT Dr. Pokorny, a string of antibiotics, and blood thinning shots twice a day.
I called Grand Pediatrics and spoke to nurse Rhonda, who identified herself as Dr. Kincaid’s nurse, and let her know that we recently found out that our family has a history of Factor V Leiden. I did not know if it was pertinent, but wanted to let them know because the doctors in the hospital were looking for any family history that could be of help in our son’s care. She said they were “keeping a close eye” on his file and she would tell Dr. Kincaid personally, and also write it in his file. However, on our follow-up visit with Grand Pediatrics, Dr. Kincaid had no idea what I was talking about and said it is not mentioned in the file.
Our son had three nearly week long hospital stays with several visits to the ER. The first, of course, was due to the original diagnosis. The others, due to fever and headache with chest pain and difficulty breathing. We went to the ER and another MRI was done. The results showed that there was still fluid in the mastoid behind his ear, but that it had reduced in size, as did the clot. When he was released from the ER, we had instructions to follow up with our primary care physician in 1-2 days.
We called Grand Pediatrics and had an appointment with Kimberly Resleff. Again, Dr. Kincaid was not available. Since the test results included the progress of the mastoid, we also called Dr. Pokorny at the ENT office to inform them. At the appointment we told Kimberly that now our son had chest pain around his heart with a widespread rash, and it began with his last dose of Meropenem infusion. It had increased significantly by the time my husband and son reached Grand Pediatrics office. He was dizzy, nauseas, and had no appetite. We were concerned that it could be a reaction to the Meropenem, because with the previous dose he felt the infusion going through his arm and chest and it was hurting. No temperature was taken at the office. They waited for an hour at their office while Kimberly contacted Dr. Pokorny about what the MRI said and whether or not a rash was a symptom of the mastoid infection. It was not. Kimberly then diagnosed a viral infection with a prescription for a topical cream. She told my husband that “we just can’t protect our kids from everything”. They came home and when they started the next infusion, the same symptoms of rash and pain occurred. We called Grand Pediatrics and were hung up on by a nurse. We will give her the benefit of the doubt and say they were disconnected.
Not bothering with Grand Pediatrics anymore, we called Providence IHP and spoke to the pharmacist. He believed it sounded like our son was having an allergic reaction to his medication. We tried to continue with the infusion, but the symptoms worsened. Stopping the infusion, my husband tried Benadryl to relieve the rash and our son fell asleep. A Providence IHP nurse came for a visit to change our son’s Insuflon catheter and woke him up. She took his vitals and he had a temperature of 104.6. We used our own thermometer and got a similar reading. After talking with another nurse at IHP, our home nurse advised us to go to the ER immediately because the symptoms did not resemble a topical viral infection. The nurses and pharmacy at Providence IHP were right and our son was admitted to the hospital again, this time for an allergic reaction to the medication he was on. During his stay he also tested positive for C-diff.
Approximately two weeks later, on a Saturday, he was experiencing joint pain in his right hip, knee and ankle and his stomach was cramping badly. That day we took him to Urgent Care because we no longer had confidence in Grand Pediatrics and felt we should see someone else. Due to his recent complicated history the Urgent Care nurse felt that it could have been something simple, or it could have been related to his condition, but a standard doctor’s office would not be equipped to treat him, so the appropriate thing to do would be to send us to the ER. After blood work and ultrasounds they found inflammation in his joints. Early the next morning, he had such severe joint pain that it hurt to be moved, picked up or touched. Once again, he was admitted, and along with another rash that came and went repeatedly and was diagnosed with Serum Sickness as well as ongoing C-diff.
Per the discharge orders from Sacred Heart we made a follow-up appointment with Grand Pediatrics, although at this point we had already lost faith in them. At our last visit to Grand Pediatrics, Dr. Kincaid asked me what was going on because he didn’t have any further information on our son from the hospital; that the neurologist and hematologist offices haven’t sent him anything. However, at the end of our visit, he glanced at the file and read to me the upcoming appointment dates we had scheduled through the other doctors, as well as our son’s blood levels from his appointment with the hematologist the day before. We also discussed the hospital’s orders regarding a test for C-diff after he completed his antibiotic. Dr. Kincaid disagreed that it should be done, because everyone has C-diff in their system, it’s just that not everyone would develop an infection and he was concerned about a false positive result, meaning our son may still test positive for having traces in his system. This sounded reasonable, so I asked if I could take the sterile sample cups and hat anyway, and if we had symptoms, could I bring it in for testing. He agreed, telling me to bring the sample to his office or any PAML, and had a nurse bring me the cups and hat. In addition, Dr. Kincaid wanted to look at my son’s catheter and check the movement in his legs. I told him that I had just relocated the catheter on his leg and it was very sensitive. When my son cried out, Dr. Kincaid grabbed my son’s ankle and pushed at his knee holding him down to straighten it out anyway.
Since our last visit to Grand Pediatrics we had changed our primary care provider. I did have to review everything for the nurse with our new provider, however, because the transferred file they received from Grand Pediatrics was curiously incomplete. Yet, our new PCP had no problem receiving our son’s information from the hospital. Shortly after, our son had a bloody stool sample. I collected it, along with his next stool sample and took it to PAML on what happened to be the date our new PCP went into effect. I called the hematologists office to let them know of the sample as well. When we got to PAML they found that Grand Pediatrics did not send any orders through from their office. The lab technician said he would look into it and see if the order can be completed or if our new PCP could do it. I called Grand Pediatrics and asked to have the order completed. I was told that since we have switched PCP’s it would take 24-48 hours to make a request to complete the order and it would possibly be completed the following week. Shortly after, a nurse from Grand Pediatrics office called and said that it would not be done at all because we switched our primary care provider.
It is this kind of attitude and service that our frustration stems from. Our son had been a patient with Grand Pediatrics since he was born. Fortunately, his eyes have gone back to normal and the pic line is out. We still had to do his blood thinning shots for a while, the standard being 3-6 months. The level of thought and care from Dr. Kincaid and his staff is lacking. As I told them, perhaps it is run as a business, where the owner, Dr. Kincaid, or manager checks in once in a while, while the employees, in this case nurses, do as they please, rather than a pediatric office where parents bring their children for quality care. They are all medically trained, but not one of them listened to what our son was saying. When I think of Grand Pediatrics it reminds me of a child reading a book that he has read so many times that he thinks he knows it by heart. In reality he is not reading the words exactly as they are, but just guessing based on what he thinks it says. Also, as I told Dr. Kincaid and his staff, we hope that in the future they move past what they think they know and take a closer look at what is right in front of them.
by Catherine
xxx.xxx.212.212
November 04, 2014
