Overenthusiastic health care for the kids? I wouldn’t have it any other way
FOR those of you unable to remember the contents of my last column: Thomas went to the doctors with conjunctivitis but ended up in A&E. He shut his eyes and refused to respond to anyone for 20 seconds, so the GP sent him to hospital.
The emergency doctor didn’t fully understand and referred him to a pediatric neurology consultant.
Doctor Google helped clear up some confusion by telling me he’d had an epileptic fit, which explained the neurology referral. Since it was an emergency appointment, we only had to wait a week.
Thankfully, the expert’s opinion was, “it didn’t sound too much like a fit to me, sounds like he just shut his eyes”.
The neurologist also spotted Thomas had a squint so referred him to ophthalmology with the words, “it might be fine, but it might not”.
To be honest, I knew what a squint was and even though it needed an operation, part of me was thankful he hadn’t seen something more obscure because Thomas has been a victim of overenthusiastic health care since birth.
When he was only a few months old, he went to the doctors with a cough and was referred for arching his back.
The GP said, “it’s probably nothing but it could be something,” so best get it
checked out. Despite his reticence to tell us the associated condition, I got in touch with Doctor Google, who informed me back arching meant he had cerebral palsy. It was a very long fortnight of anxiety kept in check by the fact he seemed absolutely fine.
We finally saw the physiotherapist who said he arched his back due to colic. We both breathed a sigh of relief and then the doctor said she was referring him to the craniofacial department because he had a forehead ridge.
Doctor Google informed me this ridge meant his skull had fused early and he’d need surgery. The diagnosis seemed a little pessimistic but let’s just wait and see, I thought.
Fortunately, the expert’s diagnosis was he had a bumpy skull.
We’ve wasted a lot of time and energy on nothing, but what’s the alternative? The doctor explaining, “I’m not sure what’s going on with this weird rash, should be alright, I don’t want to put you to any trouble, here’s some Calpol and best of luck”.
The truth is, I’m more than happy to have legions of highly trained medical experts to care for my children and it’s all for free.
Possibly the only problem with the whole system is me blindly looking on the internet to come up with a diagnosis from Mumsnet.