It wasn't in my head

When I received the provider directory in the mail along with our new shiny insurance cards it was a good day. There were a lot of doctor's names on that list. We had never had a choice before. I started calling them, first the ones closest to us, then I planned on working my way out. The first question to ask, as I soon found out, was whether they were accepting new patients. A few weren't. My next question was whether the doctor saw many patients with special needs. It only took a few calls, really. Then I found her and made an appointment. It was only a few days away. I was cautiously optimistic about whether this doctor would help my daughter. She was already enrolled in kindergarten and would be receiving services there but she needed more. I did too. Answers.

The day of her appointment, my husband was in meetings and couldn't come with us. So I took my children, along with our youngest daughter's complete medical record from the military to meet the new doctor. She was a charming lady, with a heavy Filipino accent. She greeted my children warmly and made them feel comfortable quickly. They she examined my youngest daughter. Right away, she asked me what she had been diagnosed with. I explained that she was diagnosed with global developmental delays. She asked again for her medical diagnosis, then sat at her desk with her jaw hanging open as I explained our medical experiences so far. She looked through her records and was stunned when she read the first evaluation done by the school system. She asked me why no one followed up on this. My only explanation was that they wouldn't listen. That wasn't what this doctor wanted to hear. " Has she been checked for enlarged spleen and heart?" " Are you sure her hips have never dislocated?" "When was her last MRI?". The questions were flying and I had no answers.

By the time we left the office that day, she had orders for Xrays to check the size of her organs, referrals to see an orthopedist and a neurologist, and an order for a bunch of blood tests. I got home, away from the kids and sobbed. Sobbed out of relief that she was going to get help, but really sobbed because something was wrong somewhere. By the way, her organs were fine. So were here blood tests. The neurology stuff, not sure how to explain that.