Wednesday, April 29, 2009

When the Doctor Makes You Think....hmmmm?


Over the many years residing in Bahain Ive had recourse to seek medical help on many occasions. Usually the outcome was good and I was happy with the results...other times Ive sat there (or writhed around on the floor or was curled up on the bed unable to move...you get the point) and wondered if this person in front of me was a REAL doctor or just someone that wandered into the hospital, donned a white coat and plastic smile, and had thus far gone undetected? It happens...so dont laugh at me.
Most of the time Im left with the feeling the doc know his or her stuff and is in full command of the situation..other times I feel like I need to start hunting for another facility...or at the very least...start googling my symptoms on my phone and clue the doc in...point him in the right direction so to speak...(I got my story there so once again...dont laugh).
When it comes to my own health and health concerns Im way too flexible (lazy)and lenient about proper care and treatment...I will let things slide and drag on quite awhile before I get up enough desire (or endure enough pain) to drag myself to the doc. Usually after friends and family have had to practically drag me there under extreme protest and foot dragging. Im like that.
Now..when it comes to my children its a completely different story.. One sniffle or stomach cramp and they find themselves sitting in a doctors office before they know what hits them. (this does not include children that try and pull one over on Mom by faking symptoms or trumping up minor ones to get out of doing something...you know who you are). Unfortunately Ive had my fair share of, what I assume to be quack doctors, sit in front of me disguised as a Pediatricians just as often as not. The things that these doctors come up with....some actions they take...and conclusions they come up with just leave me wanting to scream and run for the nearest door....however....now and then they just completely floor me with the some completely off the wall questions...questions that just make me say....Um? Here is a short, but by no means complete, list of such moments.


1. When my son was 6 months old I awoke in the morning to discover his soft spot (fontanel) had swollen considerably over night. It was severely protruding from his head...any idiot could easily see it. (I was seriously considering my little "demon child" was sprouting his devilish horn at last...late bloomer that he was...for some reason he doesnt find that in the least funny...sigh). Anyhow...I rushed him to the hospital imagining the worst...sat down in front of doc with my swollen headed kid...the doc looks my son up and down and asks...."ok...why have you brought your child in today?"... Um? Well lets see. When I pointed out what I assumed to be the obvious...he smiled at me and said..."your such an observant mom to see that and bring him in so quickly". Really? Do I get a cookie now? I would seriously like to meet the mom...any mom (any person)...that would NOT be observant enough to see such a swelling...anyhow. Turns out he had viral meningitis and spent a week in the hosp. That, my friends, is a story for another time all by itself....sigh.

2. When my other son was also around 6 months old I took him to a specialist because he had been sick for quite some time and the local clinic was not getting anywhere with finding the cause. I was stressed out and worried because, among other symptoms, he had blood in his stool. I didnt have money for a specialist but begged for it just to get to the bottom of his symptoms after suffering for so long. Soooo.....sitting there in front of this serious confident sincere doctor who was talking with a calm voice and making me relax and believe I had finally found someone that would take all this seriously...right in the middle of discussing tests that would be done and possible outcomes and treatments etc...the doc looks at my (ex)husband and I and asks..."whose idea was it to name your son Adam?" ...Um?....mine. Ive wanted to name my first son Adam since forever...but what has that got to do with anything right now? "Its a very old name you know...not very common among Arabs though...so I was just wondering whose idea it was"...he added...well that would be me...my idea...and btw its the OLDEST name there is. So now that we have that out of the way...back to my son and his illness...gee thanks.

3. When my daughter was 4 she stepped on a piece of glass and managed to cut out quite a chunk of meat from her foot. It was horrible and bleeding terribly. After sitting in the emergency room for hours...the doc comes up (after literally dragging him there)..takes one look and says..."did she cut her foot?"...um? Im thinking...yes. His powers of observation were almost as good as mine when I "diagnosed" my son with the swollen head.

4. When my daughter was 3 she swallowed a whole bottle of Ibuprofen 400 mg. (I might add that this daughter was known throughout her childhood for putting absolutely everything in her mouth...this was just one episode of many). We rushed her to the hospital and the doc ordered her stomach to be pumped. Afterwards he gave me a large glass of liquid charcoal and told me to try and get her to drink as much as possible to absorb whatever remained of the meds. He told me she probably would refuse and I needed to make sure she got as much as possible. Ok...no problems. I handed her the glass and told her.."baby, mommy needs you to drink this ok...it will make you feel better". Imagine everyones surprise when my daughter took the glass and drank the whole thing down...hardly pausing along the way. They all clapped and cheered and the doc looks at me and asks..."have you given this to her before?"...Um?...yeah...I keep liquid charcoal at home and give it out only as a special treat when the kids are being extra good.

5. My son had quite a few injuries as a child from his unquenchable desire to climb anything and everything. He also apparently preferred the express descent over the slow and cautious one. Consequently...he's has his fair share of stitches and mild concussions. There was one period of time that I actually had him in the emergency room 3 TIMES in one week with injuries that required a few stitches. Thankfully this isnt America or I might have been charged with child abuse...whew! Dodged a bullet there. Anyhow...after the third trip there (but by no means last) the doc, while looking over his file says..."looks like hes been injuring himself since before he was born"...Um? yeah...you cant imagine how many times he needed stitches after climbing my ribs and falling down and smacking his head on my pelvic bone while in my uterus.

Im happy to note that I havent had to take them for anything too serious of late...with everything else going on in my life...I think Im right at that point where I would not hesitate to smack the doc upside the head and head for the door.

15 comments:

janice said...

Oh my goodness, CoolRed! You never had a dull moment with 5 little ones.


When I was 3 I consumed an entire bottle (80 or so) of St Joseph baby aspirin. I loveed the smell and to this day i still love the smell.

Anywho, our doctor told mother to give me syrup of ipecac and I'd be fine after I throw up. The plush white carpet did not survive.

San Antonio Cicily said...

This made me laugh so hard!!! liquid charoal!!!LOL

Nawal said...

Thats wonderful you get the medical attention your children need, but why not yourself as well? You are just as important.

Its like they tell you on the plane, in the event of an emergency you have to get your mask on first-otherwise if you arent there to take care of your kids, who will? We have to learn to take better care of ourselves and in doing so you can be teaching your kids to do the same for themself.

Sorry, my inner nurse is coming out, have a nice day.

Chiara said...

Coolred, AND Janice--it is not nice to make a Dr laugh out loud in a library!!! :)

coolred38 said...

Janice...exactly...never a dull moment...oh how I pray for dull moments...lol.

San Antonio...yeah...I can laugh about it now...not so easy at the time.

Nawal...I know I know...easier said then done. Im slowly getting into the swing of looking out for myself.

Chiara...shhhhh! If you cant behave...please leave.

Yasemin said...

Oh my gosh, this tells me that my husband's boss who "thinks" he is a doctor, is actually working in other countries. Terrifying!

Gosh just think of all the money that could be saved if you had some liquid charcoal. Or if you had just helped your son on your own instead of listening to some doctor's feelings about the name Adam.

I am seriously in love with this blog! Keep it coming dear. Love you.

Chiara said...

Yeah, got the looks alright! LOL

On the other hand, medically speaking of course, what is more important: who named the child Adam and how Arab/Islamic it is/is not; or your child's health? Why the first of course! Lucky for you Child Services weren't called.

BTW a top Harvard pediatrician had Child Services called about her, when her husband took the innocently injured child to the ER. They waited until both parents were present and then did the surprise interrogaton. Don't you just love the overinclusive thinking!!

And, alot of "specialists" are GPs who either like doing only one area of medicine, or are forced into it for whatever reason. Very prevalent in countries with private health care, or restrictions (cultural) on women physicians who all seem to turn into obs/gyn or peds "specialists".

coolred38 said...

Lisa...scary to think some docs out there might have been the lowest scorer on their finals...lol.

Chiara...about the only time Im thankful that Bahrain/Arabs seem rather lax about child safety and all is when Im once again dragging a child into the emergency room for yet another accident. With 5 kids it happened far too often. If I had been in the states and had files that thick on toddlers (especially the second son) who knows what red light I might have set off....ouch!!

Suroor said...

Haha! This was funny :D

Nzingha said...

LOL I can't believe your daughter drank the charcoal. I've had my run in with idiot drs. The best was my SIL who was told her son had HUGE kidney stones and showed her the xrays. He was 11 at the time and they wanted to operate. I said NO WAY bring them to our house and to our drs. They had someone elses xrays they would have operated for nothing.

ohhh even better.. told our niece who has PCOS which produces male hormones in the body that she was a boy not a girl :)

*~Ange~* said...

you sound like a tough woman

coolred38 said...

Nzingha...I have my own story about my gall bladder...may be coming up soon. lol

ange...I dont feel so tough most of the time.

Chiara said...

Nzingha--now those are dangerous, not just amusingly dense! Good thing no one was operated on, but being told you are a different gender could really hurt. Hopefully she didn't believe it for a minute. Even XY women (testicular feminization) are not told they are a different gender, only that their chromosomes are different, and the testosterone is made but not "received".

angie nader said...

i loved the charcoal story.

coolred38 said...

Angie....thanks and welcome to my little world.