Kimberly Edgmon, MD

04/19/2025

I’m reposting a prior post because this is getting scary. I need my families to know that you do not need to wait to vaccinate. Research suggests that an infant at 8.5 months will have a good response to the measles vaccination (93% protected). We can give the vaccine starting at 6 months old but it’s not that great (about 58% effective 😞 This is due to T-cell immunity). BUT, a child, over 1 year old? That kiddo can have the second vaccine 28 days later. You do not need to wait until they are 4 years old. It will protect them at the same level (98%). They do not need additional measles vaccines.

I’m deeply worried about all the babies in my practice. Love all of you and hoping this outbreak calms down.

Repost:

Measles is a very scary virus. It is the most contagious virus facing humans since smallpox. Hopefully, some people remember that we eliminated smallpox WITH VACCINES.

A child with measles will infect 90% of unvaccinated people around them. The area they were in, even after they leave, is contagious for up to two hours!

But I want to talk about SSPE. It’s a complication that follows a measles infection. 1 in 609 of unvaccinated infants, under age one, who catch measles, can come down with this. 1 in 1369 for children under 5 years old. It happens a few years to a decade after infection. It starts with behavior changes, then seizures, muscle spasms, blindness and dementia. These worsen in the worst way imaginable and finally kill the child. There is no cure and almost all of the children will die...horribly.

I’m fearful for the many infants and young children with measles infections all around this country. Statistically, even if they survive measles, some of these children will die from this complication. It will come like a thief in the night and devastate yet another family.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/10/28/new-data-show-a-deadly-measles-complication-is-more-common-than-thought/?utm_term=.b6aa87ac1ce0

https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/home/topics/prevention/decline-of-subacute-sclerosing-panencephalitis-mortality-linked-with-increased-vaccinations/s

Age-specific mortality from SSPE is reflective of changes in measles age distributions; SSPE could disappear in the US if vaccination rates remain high.

03/30/2023

Some of you may not know about this. Please check your eye drops and discard any that might be on the recall list.

Here’s how to tell whether your eye drops are safe to use and how to recognize a potential infection

01/30/2023

Families, as most of you know, the forecasters are pretty bad at predicting winter weather around here. They’re amazing with tornadoes and severe storms…winter weather is another thing.

I just want you to know that it’s completely fine with me if you decide to cancel an appointment due to winter weather.

Oklahomans are not the best drivers on ice and snow. I will work you back in as soon as I can. I will work through lunch. Please do not put your child’s life at risk for a routine appointment.

Please be understanding when we close our clinic. We have several staff members who drive from rural areas. My nurse drives from Wellston. Her safety will always be my priority.

Stay safe and warm. I will do all I can to help you with remote care.

06/12/2022

Edit: thanks to all the people who helped me, I was able to get my medical supplies with no damage! I can’t thank you all enough.

This is a personal request. Families, if any of you have a direct connection to American Airlines, I would genuinely appreciate it if you would message me. I have medical supplies that are in jeopardy and I can’t get help. Thank you!!

01/06/2022

Families, if you are using a home COVID-19 antigen test with someone who is very early in their symptoms, I highly recommend that you swab the back of the throat. Like an at-home strep test.

You should still do the nose as well, but with Omicron, a throat swab is possibly going to be much more accurate. This is just my experience this week and the experience of many other physicians. It's very new to all of us in medicine, but I didn't want to wait to share this information. This is obviously not the "approved" use of these tests. This is just something I have seen over the last 24 hours.

Quick update: if you are an established patient in my practice and need an additional sterile swab to use with a home COVID test (for first two-three days of symptoms), please message me or call my office. I will do whatever I can to make sure you have the swabs you need.

11/13/2021

We do have COVID vaccines for 5 years old and up at the office. PLEASE have some patience with us. We are having to staff the shot clinic with two of our nurses, because the paperwork for the COVID vaccine requires a full nurse just for that part. We also have to have 10 patients ready to go to open the vial.

It’s a little chaotic.

The colds are BACK! If your child is in any form of daycare, school or group activities with other children, there’s a good chance they will be catching a lot of colds right now. Back to back to be honest. Maybe several colds at the same time. Please know that “green snot” doesn’t mean your child has a bacterial infection or needs antibiotics. It just means they have a good immune system. This kind of change in mucous is very normal with a cold. Usually days 3-8 of a cold and the average cold is 12 days. If your toddler or school-aged child is eating well, alert and doesn’t have a fever over 101, it’s probably fine to watch them. But trust your parent instincts! If you’re worried, please bring them in to see me or one of my partners. We are always happy to double check for you.

There are also a ton of stomach bugs going around. Thankfully they are usually short lived. Terrible but usually only 3-4 days. However, the health department has been reporting sporadic cases of salmonella and e.coli infections. If your child has bloody diarrhea or prolonged, explosive diarrhea (more than 5 full days), they should be seen. Please do not treat a child with Imodium or antibiotics if you don’t know what is causing their diarrhea. Adult Pepto Bismol should also be avoided (it has an aspirin-like drug in it). Children are NOT little adults and you can do bad things by treating them like adults.

I hope you are all doing well. These past, almost two years, have been trying. Be patient with your children and recognize that they are likely dealing with anxiety/stress from the constant changes this pandemic has thrown at us.

Thank you for trusting me with your children. I truly love my job, and I adore watching your children grow every day.

08/25/2021

I realize that everyone is very concerned about the huge rise in COVID cases. It's an extremely worrisome and scary time for all of us. As our kids head back to school, the usual winter viruses are going to rise along with COVID. So I want to give you some guidance on COVID and other viral testing procedures at my office.

Please understand that there are severe supply chain issues right now. It is hard for me to get my usual COVID tests for the office at the moment, and I am not sure when this will improve. I am trying my best to get more antigen and PCR tests for my office.

If your child is sick or exposed and needs to have COVID testing to return to daycare or school, I HAVE to run the test based on the manufacturer's guidelines. I cannot write a note saying a child is negative and can return if the test is not run at the appropriate time as it is possibly a false negative.

COVID-19 testing:

I currently have a rapid antigen test that is run in the office and a PCR test that is sent out to DLO laboratory.

Rapid Antigen
This is done in the office with a swab to the lower part of the nose on both sides. Results take 15 minutes. A child must have at least one of the symptoms of COVID such as cough, congestion, fever, sore throat, fatigue, diarrhea, etc FOR AT LEAST 48 HOURS before this test can be used. Generally true loss of taste/smell occurs a few days into the illness and testing can be done immediately with this symptom. It is NOT a test used on a child with no symptoms even if they were exposed. It is not accurate and can give a false negative.

PCR
This is the back of the nose swab. I then send it out and results are generally available in 48 hours. This can be run at any point if a child has symptoms. If a child has a known close exposure but has no symptoms, a PCR can be run at any point but if it is run in the first few days and is negative, it needs to be repeated 3-5 days later to confirm that it is a true negative. So generally speaking, it's better to get a PCR 4 days or greater from the known exposure.

Influenza, RSV and Strep testing:

The tests we have for these illnesses are all rapid antigen tests. They are often falsely negative in the first 24 hours of illness. So if your child has JUST STARTED symptoms such as a fever, sore throat, cough or congestion, etc it's honestly often better to wait at least a full 24 hours before coming in so that the testing will be more accurate. In general, it can be very hard for me to know what a child is sick with in the first 24 hours.

A child with severe symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, fever over 105, severe dehydration, an unusual rash especially if it looks like blisters or bleeding under the skin, lethargy/extremely difficult to arouse, etc is different and should be seen immediately even if the testing may not be accurate. An infant under three months with a fever should also be seen urgently.

Finally, please be aware that patients older than 3 y/o and caregivers are required to wear masks in my office. This is an OSHA mandate, so it is not something I can be flexible about in any way. We can provide you with a medical grade mask if you forget yours, but please be aware we charge $1 for each mask.

I appreciate your patience with me as I navigate another surge that is unfortunately infecting more children than any other prior surge. I hope you and your family stay well.

07/22/2021

Hi families! I wanted to let you know that we have extended hours now. On Monday and Thursday, Dr. White is available until 7:15 pm

This is such a relief for me. It means my patients can be seen in my office by a Pediatrician with almost a decade of experience. I can easily see their care plan too.

She talks with me in the office about my patients who have complex problems. It really helps me to be on top of follow up.

If you need after hour care, you can be seen in my office on these days. I think your children will likely be more comfortable being seen in an office they know!

03/24/2021

First, I wanted to thank all of you for your patience as we repair our office. Everyone has been so kind and understanding. I appreciate you all so much!! And the fish are doing well. I’ve had a lot of children ask me about the fish. They are thriving.

I wanted to let you know about some exciting changes at our office. We have a very experienced pediatrician, Susan White, MD, who will be joining our practice in June. I’m very happy to have her join our practice. We’re hopefully going to have her schedule open in a week or two. If your friends are looking for a pediatrician, we’d LOVE to have them in our practice. Please spread the word! (We’ll be doing more formal advertising once our office is back to normal.)

Many of you have met our long-time nurse, Lauren. She worked as a nurse in the PICU at OU for many years. She will be our nurse practitioner starting this spring!

Thank you for all of your patience this year. It’s been challenging, and I’m really thankful to have such understanding families.

02/15/2021

2021 is trying to give 2020 a run for its money at our office. We had a water main burst today. Our office is partially flooded. I'm very thankful for Edmond Fire for helping us today in these sub-zero temperatures.

However, I'm not sure when we will be open again. We may be out all week. We are trying our best to figure out what is safe to do at the office. We may be doing virtual visits and drive-up testing. We may be working this weekend to do our scheduled wellness visits.

I want to do all that I can to care for your children, but we've had a bit of a hiccup.

Thank you for your patience!

11/20/2020

We are at a critical point with COVID-19 in Oklahoma right now. The hospitals are overwhelmed. It’s bad. It’s really bad. COVID-19 is everywhere. Please stay safe.

I want to talk about testing. There seems to be a lot of confusion about it. So I want everyone to understand how testing works and when to use it.

First: people with COVID-19 can have no symptoms but can be highly contagious. Research suggests that younger people have a quicker incubation period, but we don't really know.

So what should you do, if you are concerned your child has had a “close contact” exposure? That means that you have been within 6 feet, without a mask, for greater than 15 minutes with someone who has a positive test. The 15 minutes means you have to count all the people who have possibly exposed you within a 24 hour period.

PCR

This is the gold standard. It is the most sensitive. You can get this at any point if you are having symptoms. If you have been exposed but have no symptoms, testing around day 4-7 (day 7 is ideal), can help you to know if you’re infected.

OU and IMMY labs offer free testing. You have to make an appointment with them. The testing is drive-thru. Results are generally available within 24 hours. These are free options, but the appointments fill up FAST right now.

https://portal.immylabs.com/
https://www.covidoumedicine.com/protecting-your-health/covid-19-testing-sites/oklahoma-city-testing/

You can also do testing through many pharmacy chains in the city. They will file your insurance. They require you to do the swab yourself. This means doing the “brain biopsy” on your own. This can be very challenging as a parent, and if you don’t do the swab correctly, your results may not be good. But if you feel confident that you can do the swab, they are a good resource.

I can do nasal swab, PCR testing through DLO at my office too. Results are generally taking 48 hours. This can change quickly though.

Yale developed a PCR spit test that, in their research, is as good as a nose swab. In Oklahoma, we have a lab that is offering this test.

https://wheeler-labs.com/covid-19-test-kit/

This company does not file insurance, so you have to purchase the kit and then send it to them. They do send you all the information you need to file your own insurance to get reimbursed. They currently have a very fast turn-around (less than 24 hours), and will allow you to drop off the test at their lab in OKC for faster results. I realize that the nasal swabs can be a huge challenge for my patients with issues such as anxiety or ASD. I have a few of this company’s test kits at my office if you would like to purchase one to have immediately and to avoid a nasal swab.

ANTIGEN

These are rapid tests. Just like a flu/RSV/Strep test. We do have these in the office. We have to swab both sides of the nose. It’s not a deep, back of the throat test, but it’s not comfortable. Your child should have symptoms for at least 48 hours before you consider a rapid test. And, if that test is negative, it DOES NOT rule out COVID-19. So again, rapid tests are good if they are positive. Negative antigen tests are not reliable. A PCR test should be done on a child with a negative antigen test with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or if a child has had a close exposure.

ANTIBODY

Antibodies against COVID-19 take time to develop. Generally speaking, initial antibodies are not going to show up until 2 weeks into illness (this includes the ~5 day incubation period that is before the symptoms show up). This means that antibody testing is not a useful test in early illness, but may be helpful in late illness. There is a child-specific illness, called MIS-C. This seems to be a late immune system response to the virus. Most children have recovered from the first part of the illness. So this disease appears to be a weird auto-immune problem. Antibody testing can be helpful in this case. Many children have no symptoms of COVID-19. So knowing a child has antibodies to the virus can help to diagnose MIS-C.

RETURN TO WORK/SCHOOL AFTER A POSTIVE TEST

A person with COVID-19 positive testing should not have another PCR test for 90 days after their initial test. It may be positive but unless they have true symptoms of COVID-19, it is HIGHLY unlikely they are infectious. However, a PCR may still be positive. People who have recovered from COVID-19 may be PCR positive in the first 90 days. Employers/schools should not use PCR testing in a person who has recovered from COVID-19 until that person is greater than 90 days from their initial positive test unless that person has symptoms.

QUARANTINE

If you have a positive test, you must quarantine for 10 days after that test. Your family needs to quarantine for 14 days from the positive test or 10 days from their own positive tests. You cannot “test” out of quarantine. A negative test of any kind does not mean you are not infected. This is the hardest part of quarantine. I wish I could say otherwise, but it’s a hard reality right now.

Please take care of yourself. Please protect older family members. They are the most likely to have severe disease, and I am very worried that they won’t have access to a hospital bed if they need it. I realize this has been very confusing for all of us. I’m here to answer your questions. Please contact me if you are unsure.

I’m worried about all of us. I appreciate that you trust me with your children. I have personally spent thousands of dollars in protective equipment/PPE to make sure my office is a safe place for your family. I love seeing your kids. They bring me so much joy. I need to see them become happy and healthy adults.