This summer we went to see a new doctor for little Toddler Veg. I like my current doctor (not the originating doc who didn’t listen, this is doc #2), but feel like sometimes I am teaching her about the needs of my son. I was interested in finding a doc that was ahead of the game when it comes to food allergies and asthma. So after many many recommendations from people I know and some from our allergy group I visited a new doc. This one is a DO. She is described as “just east of western medicine.”
You kind of get used to things in life. The first/second doc office is newer, fresh, appears cleaner and more welcoming. The “new” doc office is older (which is fine) but seems overrun by kids, broken/dirty toys and not as clean. That was the first thing I noticed. Then when it was time to weigh my squirmy two year old boy who did NOT want to be there, he had to stand still on this awesome looking old time scale. He wouldn’t stand still so they couldn’t get a weight for him. Definitely, not as easy as the digital scale in the old docs office. But really maybe that doesn’t matter, maybe they don’t need an accurate rate for him? So just little things were bothering me at the beginning, but I couldn’t wait to meet the lady that everybody was raving about! I met her nurse partner first, whom I really liked! She was friendly, straight forward, etc. Then I met her, I met the new doc. She asked our story, as I began to tell it she interrupted several times and didn’t let me finish talking. Really? She asked questions, when I answered she never let me fully answer her. She would cut me off and tell me what I was doing wrong. She was quite pompous. The final straw was when she told me that a plant based diet is not good, especially for my son who has SO any restrictions. As a reminder, his restrictions are gluten, dairy, peanuts and tree nuts. He has a sensitivity to soy, but we are building against that and he does eat eggs. Seriously, the way she came about it was not becoming! She was actually almost rude about it. I felt attacked as a vegetarian. I realize that he has many restrictions, but the variety of fruits, veggies and legumes we eat provide a lot of nutrition.
I was not impressed by her in the least bite. BOO! That is not what this allergy family needs! We need someone who listens, someone who fights for us. So I came away from the appointment discouraged because I thought or rather hoped that she was an answer. An answer to a piece of the puzzle, I feel is still missing. But no, she wasn’t that answer. She did make me realize exactly what I want. I want someone who listens and someone who fights for us! It made me realize that even though Doc #2 doesn’t seem to be on the cutting edge of food allergies…she listens and she will fight for us. If I bring her something, she will research it and put it into practice with our son if need be.
So I certainly realized that the grass wasn’t greener over there; the journey goes on! Just got to keep fighting for my little guy to make sure that he has the best care possible! Love him so much!
Have you had good luck finding a doctor for your food allergy kiddo that is a perfect match?
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