I love our ophthalmologist. Today my husband took Josh for his half yearly visit to his pediatric ophthalmologist. I needed a break from trying to keep Josh occupied during the unavoidably long waits in the waiting room (our doc is a very popular guy at a top teaching hospital). I don't usually mind the wait, though. Our ophthalmologist is a phenomenal guy.
When Josh was first diagnosed (and back when we thought that his visual impairment issues would be his primary disability) we went to another doctor, who practiced at a hospital closest to us. This doctor did not have a very good "bedside manner". She exuded very little patience with actual people and a lot of fascination with "cases". I felt like she never actually looked at me. It was a strange experience of going to an eye doctor and not being seen. She was one of those people that made you wonder why certain people go into pediatrics. She was so clearly not a kid/ baby person. She wasn't great with stressed out parents either. Maybe she felt like little kid eyes would be more challenging to deal with? During our second visit with her, Joshua (who had really bad reflux at that time) threw up all over her and me in a massive fountain or semidigested formula. It was our last visit with this particular doctor.
Anyhow, our current doctor has the most amazing manner and tone. In addition to being a well-known, widely respected teaching physician, he has a way of making you feel like you (as a parent of a child with special needs) are doing a really good job with the challenges that you face. He asks lots of questions, really listens well and always finds a way to affirm us personally. (Thus, the long waits in the waiting room?) I always go away from these appointments encouraged. And this is not always the case with the other billions of doctors that we see for our son.
Apparently, today our beloved doctor asked how we were doing as parents with all that we have to handle. "Do you guys get away at all?" he asked my husband. My husband responded that we are trying to get back to regular date nights but we haven't gone away on an overnight in a while. Doctor Awesome responded by gently encouraging my husband to make it happen, which he was very open to.
This afternoon, when I asked my husband how the appointment went, he said, "I want to be adopted by our ophthalmologist. I felt so cared for. Our son got his eyes checked by a world class specialist while I was urged to look at my the health of my marriage and my initiative in it!"
What's not to love about that?
