What a waste--follow up Dr. appt.

[sidmand]

So we paid a $40 co-pay for the ENT to look in DS's ears, tell me the tubes were fine and that we now have to set up another hearing appointment (which I thought was going to happen today as well), a follow-up appointment with him, and then possibly a brain stem scan to see if DS is hearing anything.

When I told him that DS obviously hears, he said, "We'll see." WTF! DS's favorite toys are ones that play music and/or talk to him! The fact that he hears has never been in question, it was a matter of what/how he hears, but not that he's hearing anything in the first place.

I discovered when we had DS's tubes put in that this doctor was the doctor of note for many of the pediatric patients. Before that I didn't think he was a pediatric ENT and excused some of his (lack of) bedside manner because of that, but he's horrible with DS and horrible with me. The only thing I liked was that the surgery was done at the Mass Eye and Ear which is where I would go if I had something to do with eyes or ears and he's the first one to find fluid in DS's ears when others have tried to check, but still...

As soon as we walked into the exam room, DS recognized it and started screaming. When the doctor examined him he screamed. I know it's not easy to check his ears or his hearing because the screaming kind of gets in the way of that and the best way is probably to do it as quickly as possible, but this just seemed like a huge waste of time. I thought we were done with appointments for awhile and now we have to go back again for a hearing test in a few weeks. ARGGGHHHH.

Debbie
http://b2.lilypie.com/BI7Tm5.png

[ShanaMama]

Sounds like you had a frustrating day! We're evaluating whether to go for tubes, so I can kinda commiserate. Can't blame the kids for freaking out when someone is trying to jab something into their ear, however gently. You'd think the docs would be a little more understanding.
It does sound like you like him, but just remember, he's not the only one out there. If you keep getting frustrated like today, maybe try looking into some other doctors.