Pediatrician woes

We've had a couple of issues over the last two years with Gabriel's pediatrician.  I'm not sure if it's the doctor himself or the staff being overworked and not providing very good patient service.  We were supposed to get a referral to a speech therapist for Gabriel, but have yet to hear anything.  Every time we try to call the referral person at their office, she is not in (or just doesn't answer the phone), and she doesn't have voice mail (conveniently enough).  Luckily my Dad knew people to ask to get us some help right away, and the wheels have been in motion for three weeks now.  

However, the most recent issue happened this week, and this one might just be the one that forces us into action.  The nurse called to tell me that Gabriel's blood work from his two-year checkup came back with a high white blood cell count, and wanted to know if he was ill when I brought him in that day.  Since it's been almost SIX WEEKS since then, I had to really stop and remember that he was coming down with a bad cold that day (the day after his birthday party).  She said that was probably the reason but they wanted me to bring him back in to get retested.  Well, that sent off all sorts of alarm bells in my "worried parent" area of my brain, which tends to be a bit overactive.  We went yesterday, and the doctor said they needed to retest to rule out anything more serious than a virus.  Of course I asked "like what?"  And he said that a high white blood cell count with no other obvious symptoms is a red flag for leukemia.  He was retested, and as we waited for the results I think I aged about 40 years.  The count came back in the normal range this time, and we went home and celebrated with a big bowl of ice cream (and many thanks for our blessings).  

The issue, of course, is why they waited so long to let us know that the first test came back with an alarming number.  I was supposed to ask this question, but decided while I was sitting there waiting that I didn't care what the answer was.  No matter what they told me, the fact remains that they didn't call us in a timely manner on something pretty serious.  So we are going to ask around to get some new names.  I really hate to change.  We've gotten pretty comfortable going there, and I like our doctor.  But now I have doubts about whether they are providing the very best care for my kid.  And that wins out over everything else.