Friday, May 30, 2008

The Cure or the Problem?

So I took the kids to a new pediatrician today.

I had been looking forward to it for weeks. Finally we had a good plan for divorcing the old doc with someone well respected by parents we also respect.

You know where this is going, don't you? I'm pooped, so here are the quick facts at a glance.

Three weeks. (How long it took to get an appointment.)
Eleven dollars. (What it cost me to park in the lot.)
Two minutes. (How long they gave me to fill out paperwork.)
Zero. (How much help the nurse was.)
Stellar! (The description I got of this doctor's office from our referral.)
Movie star dad, mom we like/have talked with often. (Family who referred us.)
"He seems fine to me." (The doctor's response to, "He's autistic.")
Ninety dollars. (Our copay.)
Zero. (What we gained by this appointment.)
Zero. (Odds of going back.)
Zero. (Leads on a good doctor for our rooster in our area.)
Zero. (How I feel on a scale of one to ten.)

3 comments:

Niksmom said...

Ooh, that SOOOOO sucks! Sorry you got burned! Still holding onto a vision of success for you guys...

jen:) said...

so sorry to hear of your struggles...we too have been through the long road to a pediatrician, but we've found one! we love our dr. - he is a second career physician who went to medical school after a successful stock broker career - purely because it is what he wanted to do & it shows in his interaction with my kids. We've been seeing him for about a year now. We didn't know it at the time but he has a son in 2nd grade who has Aspergers - to us this was a tremendous blessings because not only is he a caring, competant physician - he is also the parent of a special needs child & it has made all the difference!...he actually codes our visits differently so we can take more time to talk through things! He is in Buffalo - which wouldn't be too far for you I wouldn't think... I'd be happy to share his info with you :)

redheadmomma said...

Oh my goodness!!! I can't believe that!!! Here's a thought - have you considered asking your local yahoo group/listserv about a great pediatrician for kiddos on the spectrum? I was just having coffee with a fellow mom friend who was saying that her ped was giving her a ration of sh*t...we immediately gave her names of two more docs who are more "with it".

My parting thought: sometimes we have to see how the shitheads operate in order to appreciate the good ones that we eventually find. i.e. "Wow, our new doctor is so much better than that tool we visited that one time!" And I know this is a total bummer, but be grateful that he showed you his ineptitude on the first visit! :)