Today will be Evan's first visit to his new, Italian, pediatrician. The doctor we chose came highly recommended by some other expats, and because she had lived in the U.S for 12 years, she speaks wicked good English(ha)!
We got Evan loaded in the car this morning, and Josh and I took him to see the doctor whose office is about 25 minutes North of Naples in the Puzzuoli area. The pediatrician's office is in a non-descript building, where she runs her own practice. There was no parking so we had to loop around, dodging rush hour traffic, and we eventually found a spot on the next street over. Of course, it was raining , which I should be used to being from Seattle, but this was the type of rain where you actually need an umbrella. Oh well, if we catch a cold, at least we are headed to the doctors office:)
We got to the gate and the Doctor buzzed us in and greeted us at the door. There was not a receptionist or anyone to check in with, we just went right into her office. Her phone lines were down so she and her assistant were trying to figure out her days appointments and what to do about the phones, but that only took her a few minutes, and then she got down to business with us. As we sat in her office, I noticed that her office is also the exam room. There was her simple desk, a bookcase with some medical books and medicines on it, a table to measure babies on, a scale, a changing table type thing to examine babies on, and a mini stretcher that she must use to examine toddlers and young kids. There were pictures of her patients all over the walls, and she said she has about 1000 patients, ranging in age from newborn to 20. As a pediatrician, she said she would normally see patients up to 16 yrs old, but once they hit that age, they continue to come back to her. She's been practicing about 20 years.
As the exam began, she sat at her computer while we answered her questions about Evan's birth statistics (weight, length, apgar score etc). We were never asked what kind of insurance we had, and we didn't have to fill out one piece of new patient paperwork or sign any waiver forms--very different from the stack of forms we had to fill out for Evan's first doctor's visit in Seattle. She then patiently answered all of our questions, sometimes referring to a reference book on her desk to find the answers to our questions--that concerned me at first, but as the exam went on, I got more and more comfortable with her abilities and knowledge. She gave us a prescription to give him vitamin D & K drops until he is 3 months old, and to give him flouride drops on a daily basis every other month. I haven't heard about giving vitamin K, so I want to learn more about that one. I asked her about vaccines, and was happy to learn that she will administer them in her office according to the US vaccination schedule (which we have to provide to her), and that we won't have to go to the Italian equivalent of the Dept of Health for them..which, to me, just seems a lot easier. I had told her that I do have a concern about a repetitive arm movement he makes usually with his right arm and a weird facial twitch I saw him do yesterday. She observed him and thought everything looked totally normal. Another pediatrician had come into her office to get a flu vaccine, so our Dr. asked for that doctor's opinion too. That doctor also thought what they observed together looked normal, but that they could call a Neurologist to get a specialist's opinion, since what I was describing, Evan was not doing for them to see. Our doctor really wanted to witness Evan doing what I described, so she did not rush us out of the office at all. In fact, when another patient showed up, the doctor asked me to feed Evan in the other room, and then to get her if he does the arm twitch thing. She went to turn the heat on in the other room, and since she couldn't get it working, she told me to just breastfeed Evan in her office while she sees her next patient...also in her office. So, there I am feeding Evan, and the next patient comes in and everyone just says "Ciao" to each other, as if its totally normal to have me sitting their breastfeeding while their child gets examined. Then, the doctor was telling me about this person's baby, while at the same time she's explaining to them about Evan. I guess everyone just wants to help each other out and care for each other...no rules about patient/doctor confidentiality here. So, after that patient left, a Pharmaceutical Rep came in to meet with our doctor. Our doctor also filled that person in on the fact that I was concerned about this arm twitching and that they were waiting to see if he did it. So, the Rep comes over and starts checking out Evan too. The doctor said again that she didn't want to rush us out, and said that since it's a rainy day, a lot of patients just don't show up. She also said, since her phones are down, it's making for a slower day at the office. Then, "because it's the Christmas season" she took out a tray of pastries/cookies and offered them to us and the Pharma rep. They were delicious..but I definitely didn't expect for our doctor to bring out some cookies for us. Next came the espresso..again, didn't expect to be sipping espresso in the exam room. So, anyways, after about 2 hours with the doctor, everything Evan did was totally normal (maybe a case of new mommy paranoia on my end), so we were ready to go. We paid our doctor 50 Euro cash, were given a written receipt stating "I received 50 euro for pediatric consultation" that I guess/I hope we can submit to the company's insurance plan, and we got Evan dressed to go. As Josh and I left her office, we were both totally surprised to see about 4 families waiting with their children in the small waiting area. Wow..I guess that experience was just another taste of the laid back lifestyle here in Napoli where people take the time to talk and listen, and in the case with our doctor, really do some due dilligence, vs. just rushing you out to get to their overbooked calendar and to their next patient. This was definitely a different experience than in The States!
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