Anyone Have A Spare Crystal Ball?

After reading my friend, Leni's blog, I decided to ramble on about our recent doctor experiences...

Over 2 years ago now, we noticed our son, Matthew, having trouble hearing. We took him to the ENT and got his hearing tested. He did in fact have some hearing issues because he had fluid on his ears, an ear infection, and the fluid was just not going away! So, tonsils and adenoids came out and tubes went in. Fast forward about a year later. We take him in because one of the tubes was not coming out. Doctor took care of it and said there was still a little bit of fluid on his ears. We went for another check up right before we moved here and yep, still some fluid on h is ears. We were told to keep an eye on it. Then we moved to Goldsboro....

A few months ago we were noticing hearing issues again *sigh*  So, to start the new adventure of finding a new doctor we of course had to start with his pediatrician. He told us that he did not see fluid on his ears and they looked normal. Uh huh. We got our referral. So, we took him to the doctor and he has mild hearing loss, his ear drums are recessed, his Eustachian tubes are blocked, and when tested for allergies only one type of grass came up and it is a mild allergy. So, where do we go from here, I asked? My answer? The doctor named off about 3 procedures that could be done, but they don't do them there, and then named one he could do but he didn't sound real sure about it. So, I asked what the chances were of it helping. He told me he didn't know because he does not have a crystal ball. Those were the only suggestions I was given and you could tell he was really stumped. We left and are not going back.

So, I call the ped clinic and speak to a very nice nurse who tells me I can have a whole new referral and take him to UNC. This was the beginning of September. So, I wait and wait and no referral paperwork gets sent. I go to the Tricare office. She can't find it. She finally finds it and it wasn't pushed through or something, so she says she will make sure it goes through this time. Again, I wait and wait. No referral paperwork. I go straight to the Tricare referral office and she finds the paperwork, prints it out for me, and the date on it was from a month earlier and it expires in December. Great! I call to get an appointment and when is the first available appointment? December 19th!! GRRRRRRRR  So, had to make a call and wait a couple days to get called back to get his referral extended, but only for that appointment. For any other appointments I am going to have to go through this all over again. In the meantime, my son still has fluid on his ears and mild hearing loss because a doctor can't give me any answers other than he does not have a crystal ball....