doctor?

After two weeks, my son is still coughing his little lungs out. He finished the medication from the private doctor so I took him to the government clinic for a different opinion.

Since the government clinic is not “officially” opened on Saturday, they only had two registration counters, two pharmacy counter and two doctors are available. I can totally understand this. Even when cueing to register and when it was finally my turn, the doctor called the lady and she took about 10 minutes to entertain him, I understand. Even when she had no change for RM10.00, I understand. What I don’t and WILL NEVER understand is their numbering system.

The government clinic’s numbering system is a matter of luck and good timing. It doesn’t matter you arrive before the sun rises because they will assigned you to rooms alternately based on the available doctors. April is a totally crazy month and somehow I ended up with the doctor in room 17 and that’s when everything just went irritatingly weird.

The doctor in room 17 takes forever to treat his patients. It’s not like he’s with them long, no. It’s the time in between the patient that is slow. The other doctor in room 16 was quick. People were going in and out of the room, while the rest of us waited patiently. After more than an hour, I was getting really annoyed. Babies and children were crying. The senior couple in front of me fell asleep. Ekiel wanted to go home and watch his cartoons. When Ekiel asked me why it is taking forever, I told him to ask the doctor. He refused. Hee.

Finally we went in the room and what happened in the room, in my opinion, was crazy.

He asked me what is wrong with Ekiel so I explained to him about Ekiel’s coughing and what not while he uses the stethoscope and placed it on Ekiel’s chest.

He asked me if there’s any asthma history in the family. I told him about my asthma attacked days but it stopped when I turned 10 years old. Then the doctor asked me the stupidest question. “I think your son needs an inhaler. What do you think?” I stared at the doctor blankly. If he was someone I know well, I’d give him my infamous one eye brow raised, a loud “HEH?” and a smack on the head. How does one, with no medical knowledge answer that?

I nicely told him I am not the doctor and asked his opinion. He quickly tells me Ekiel needs to use the inhaler. He will need to take two types of medicine. One BLUE and the other orange. He continues tell me that the green medicine needs to be taken four times a day. WTH? Where did the green medicine come from? So I asked him if he meant the blue pill and he nodded and continued to say that the blue pill stops when Ekiel stops coughing. The orange one needs to be taken three times continuously. I blinked my eyes a couple of times and asked him if continuously means forever. The doctor said Ekiel cannot stop taking the medication. I blinked my eyes again. I asked him there is any side effect to this and he tell me there is. He also told me Ekiel would need to gargle and wash his face every time he takes the pills to prevent fungus infection.

WTH?

All the doctor did was put the stethoscope on his chest a couple of time and he is prescribing my son with permanent medication, which comes with side effects. Is that how you diagnose asthma? He doesn’t have symptoms like wheezing, shortness of breath and he is still like energiser bunny despite the cough.

I looked at the doctor and I all I saw was a guy who has no idea what he was doing. He didn’t look confident about his prescription and was babbling when I asked him question about the medicine. So I asked him if there is any alternative. He looked at me as if I have accused him of giving my son asthma. I told him I am not comfortable giving him a medication that he has to rely on for the rest of his life as he is only five years old.

What I really wanted to say was, “HELLO??? DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD LET YOU SCREW UP MY SON’S LIFE JUST BECAUSE YOU PUT YOUR BLOODY STETHOSCOPE ON HIS CHEST A COUPLE OF TIMES? I DON’T THINK SO!!!

He didn’t sound too happy when he tells me he could prescribe cough syrup and stronger antibiotics for Ekiel to which I immediately agree. He reluctantly cancelled the inhaler medication and wrote the cough syrup. He told me to make sure I bring Ekiel back if he doesn’t get any better.Like duh.

I don’t think I did anything wrong when I ask for another alternative. So what if I pissed him off, but hey, this involves my son. Imagine all the other children who are now dependent on that inhaler no thanks to him.

If we cannot trust doctors, then who else can we trust? *sighs*