We went in to Halifax for the second time in 7 days to bring Ava in for her special opthamology appointment. I had booked in 7 months ago and had specifically requested we see the senior opthamologist so that he could say one way or another whether Ava's lack of tears was neurological. Her neurologists are not looking into that as a symptom until the opthamologists say it is. So I had no problem making the extra 2.5 hour drive each way with two young children because it was important.
When we got there we were seen not by the senior opthamologist nor by the student but by a feaken optician or optics or whatever she was. I was so angry. I asked her what her education level was and if she was able to spot alacrima or closed tear ducts or anything. She said no. I asked what the difference was between going to the mall down our street vs the drive to Halifax. I stated how important it was that Ava was checked why she was not crying tears and if I wasn't mad already her response made me grit my teeth.
"Why do you care," she asked.
I care because it is an avenue that we have not explored in finding a cause of her seizures and delay.
"It's not like it's going to change anything," she said.
It will give us the best options for treatment, I gritted out.
"Who cares if your child has developmental delay, so they don't walk or crawl for a couple extra months, but if her vision is damaged it could be damaged for life."
Many responses came to me including a whole lot of profanity and name calling but I realized that this ignorant woman has no clue that many if not most children with this extent of delay never catch up. We wouldn't be worrying like crazy if it was only a temporary delay. And Ava is not a couple months behind but at least a year to 16 months behind. My breath would have been wasted on this stupid woman.
I don't mind when people say ignorant things who are willing to learn and know about Ava's issues. I needed to learn once too. But for a health professional at the IWK children's hospital? Really? She pissed me off. I still don't know what to do about this. Do I complain to the director? Do I leave it on the comment sheet? What do you do when you get substandard care for your child? What can you do?
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Oh, Amy! I am absolutely LIVID! You should definitely write multiple people at IWK from the dept up through general management. That was unacceptable! Grr!
ReplyDeleteSadly this has happened to me before too, although not in such a spectacularly awful way. I've since learned to google-stalk the faculty/staff beforehand and specifically request who I want. This may not be possible in your healthcare system up north but it has become second nature to me here. It's sad that such measures are necessary.
A side note: Bertrand's pediatric ophthalmologist is one of the top 2 guys in the state and he completely blows off my alacrima concerns. :-P So sometimes even if you go to the best and most experienced people you can still get astonishingly ignorant replies. :(
My best advice would be to send this link to the director and the head of the ophthalmoloy department. Maybe to the halifax herald also. grrrrr Aunt Debbie
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