Costa del Sol yet again

Today I had an appointment in Costa del Sol hospital. My best friend, Susan came with me to give me moral support. It was pelting with rain and awful driving conditions so it was so good to have the company and support. Well we made it to Costa del Sol in good time and after a nice cosy coffee and warm breakfast at the cafe ( which I have to admit does delicious breakfast at a very reasonable price!), we wandered around the hospital's gift store - Susan even managed to do some Christmas shopping. There's loads of interesting stuff there - we may go back just to visit the shop sometime!

Well, then the adventure began - we made our way to the out-patients floor and guess what? My printed out page said that my appointment was in 'neurology'. Can you believe that when I asked the nurses where neurology was, they said that it didn't even exist. Finally we were pointed in another direction and after asking random people, we found the waiting room. Well, stumbled upon it because it had a hand-written sign covering a printed one on the door, saying 'pediatra' - whether neurology actually exist s there or not I don't know, and evidently nor do the staff - so why my appointment sheet said that on it, is beyond me. Susan was pretty shocked. It seemed bizarre.

Well finally we were called in to see the doctor. But guess what? I was expecting my usual doctor, I was expecting a little consistency, I was expecting an update on the results from the skin biopsy - what a mistakea to makea.

The Dr had never seen Tália before and said that he would chase up the biopsy - yeah we know that - I discussed that last week with another pediatrician there. Did I really need to drive through torrential rain, drag my friend out and miss Tali's physio for this - re-arrange my life and drag my husband out of the office to pick the other two kids from school??? To see someone who knew nothing of Tali's case - she wasn't weighed, she wasn't measured. He only checked her chest because I said that he may as well, now that I was there - otherwise nothing would have been done.

So where is my continuity?? Tali has lost weight over the last month and so what? Doesn't anyone care - does anyone realise? Do they even know her name? They certainly don't know her age - the Dr asked me how old she was. When I suggested that he look at my notes, he made out that he already knew everything.

So what do I do? Where do I turn? How can someone see an improvement if they haven't seen the child before? The medical world is sometimes frightfully ridiculous - what is science? Is medicine really scientific - is that really how we measure behaviour? Surely science should at least look at growth charts, weight, development milestones or is science merely waiting indefinitely for a result that may not even show anything. If Drs don't look at my child - how will they ever know how she is?

I feel utterly disappointed - what happened to vocation - what happened to warmth?

Well thank goodness my friend was with me and I decided not to be my usual fiery self and kick up a fuss - I just played a silly dodo and smiled and was pleasant and said I would really appreciate it if he could chase up the results. I was proud of myself for keeping calm - what's the point of spending extra energy - I need as much as I can get.

Well its back to holistic - medicine does seem so far behind. I have one fantastic Dr at Costa del Sol but quite frankly if it weren't for him, I would have no hope. I think I will go back to Hospiten for regular check -up's because my pediatrician there is so warm and you can tell he really loves his job. He really loves Tali and I know he will always do the best for her.

Anyway, despite all this, Tali looks great this evening - she is getting better and she is trying to chat - I really am communicating with her.

Well, Susan and I soon put the hospital behind us and went to La Cañada to feed Tali and I also managed to get my middle daughter her birthday present - it her birthday next Sunday (5th October).. And what is the present?? You'll have to wait till next wee as its a SURPRISE. Hee! Hee!