I think peds should be able to, they just don't want the hassel. The first time I asked my son's ped about sending it when he has strep hesaid he did not know what to do. They do the rapid strep in their office and if it's negative they always send it to our childrens hospital to see if it cultures strep, so I told his to just write "CF Panel" and/or "Respiratory Culture" and it should get tested for PA and other things, so he said he would try it, and they did process it correctly. Sometimes I think u just have to push doctors, I just got him to do it this summer, and my son is 9. I've finally learned u r the customer, u pay for services, and if they can't accomodate a legitimate request, then there is always someone who can.
Melissa, I'm curious why u say that the culture is the only reason u take caleb to the CF doc. Don't u think it there is other reasons to be seen there? Don't they do PFTs everytime, and our center is always interested every 3 months in his growth. But I agreee somewhat, sometimes, it seems every three months is a bit freguent and unecessary unless they are sick and to keep current on the cultures. I have thought about doing every 4 months, but have not done that yet