What Makes a Doctor Good?

I feel I am an authority on "doctors" these days.  My son sees a lot of different types of doctors and I've seen quite a few in my day too.

So I was thinking the other day after driving home from my son's doctor appointment - why I like his G/I doctor so much.  What is it about her that makes her "so good" in my opinion?  And it boils down to the fact that she is a "human being".  She doesn't walk into an exam room smug and full of herself - she walks into the room with her "Mom" coat on.  I feel like I can talk to her.  I am fortunate that my sister hand picked the doctor for me.  I think she knew what I would be most comfortable with and recommended this doctor for that reason.

I owe my son's G/I specialist a debt of gratitude.  She is the doctor that spotted the heart murmur after a follow-up visit for my son's reflux issue.  From that visit our life changed in an immense way.  A few weeks later we found out that my son has Noonan Syndrome.  It might seem like such horrible news, but we are so lucky that we found out when we did.  Some parents go through months and months of medical exams and procedures before their child gets diagnosed - we found out when my son was 5 months old and we didn't have to put my child through oodles of exams and poking and prodding.  We were also able to get "help" quickly to make sure he stayed on course with his development.  Had my son not seen this doctor, I'm not sure we would have caught things as quickly as we did.  So for that, I am so grateful.

So not only is she an "intelligent" doctor, she has an awesome bedside manner.  My son has never really shied away from her at any visit.  She's not only good with her patients, she's excellent with the parents.  She has given me some wonderful advice, as if I we were friends.  Because of her, I put forth a lot of effort to making sure my relationship with my daughter is always in a good place.  Not many doctors, will pull you aside and tell you that although you have a child with special medical needs, don't forget you have another child that has "basic" needs.  This doctor pulled me aside early on after my son started to see her, because as a Mom, she realizes how a siblings health condition can affect the "well" sibling. So I always think about how things affect my daughter and make sure her needs are met.

So when my son had his unfortunate and rare "endoscopy complication", my husband and I genuinely felt horrible that it happened under her care.  We knew this situation hit her hard, as it did the whole pediatric G/I practice.  It was sort of comforting to know that too.  In a world where people are so quick to sue over medical practices gone wrong, doctors tend to be very apprehensive anymore.  In this case, we knew it was a fluke, or a situation that couldn't have been anticipated by the doctors.  Honestly, I was  just happy that Friday when a team of 10 medical professional sitting in the radiology/ultrasound room figured out what the problem was.  I never in my mind would have considered placing any blame. My son's G/I doctor is working on writing up a "medical paper" on my son's case, if certain medical tests fall into place the way we are anticipating, we believe new endoscopy practices will be set into motion for kids with Noonan Syndrome.  To me, that is huge.   I guess I'm at a place that if his situation could help another child/person with Noonan Syndrome than all of this was not for naught.

My son had a follow-up appointment yesterday with his G/I doctor and he's doing well.  In looking at his weight growth chart, he had plateaued at around 18 months when it came to weight increases - just about 6 months after eating "table" foods.  Then you can see the decline in his chart hit rapidly.  With removing gluten from his diet, you see his weight chart slowly but steadily rising. There is also a huge difference in his "eating".  Weeks before the endoscopy, he wanted nothing to do with solid foods.  All he wanted was "milk".  He now happily asks for solid foods.  Although, his basic intake is still "small" and he only consume a "small variety" of foods - he's asking for foods where he once wouldn't ask for it.  So even though his biopsy showed minimal abnormal cells and his blood work for celiacs looked normal - we are thinking he at least has a gluten intolerance if nothing more.  We will be staying the course with the gluten free diet.  He will be genetically tested for celiacs mid-summer.  I would be surprised if he came back negative.  His G/I doctor is leaning that way too.

So in looking back at all the doctors my child has seen, I realize that "intelligence" is good but having that good connection with the patient is much more important.  Having the ability to put a child and parent at ease when their child is sick is as important as being able to diagnose and treat a medical problem.  She's also directly involved with "Fellows" who are looking to specialize in the pediatric G/I area - and each Fellow that crossed our path during my son's hospital stay were exceptional doctors too!  I'm not surprised as they are learning from the best!   The Cleveland Clinic is lucky to have this doctor!