Dr. Mom Shouldn't Be the One Diagnosing Sports Injuries

I can see the point of this article, and while I agree that the specialized training of physicians and medical personnel is necessary for diagnosing medical problems in some cases, quite frankly, if left completely in the hands of the doctors I have seen over the years, I would be dead many times over. While the situation varies, most mothers do not, and will not, ignore symptoms that their child is having, even when they are told that what is going is most likely nothing important. When trying to get their child help, many times they are argued with while trying to act as their child's advocate, and take the brunt of what essentially amounts to apathy and irritation on the part of people that, while they have specialized training, does not know the child well enough to realize that something is most definitely wrong, or aren't able to spend enough time to be able to properly assess and diagnose the problem. For 11 years, we were told that the symptoms I was experiencing were nothing important or to be worried about; my mother has worked tirelessly on my behalf to find someone that could give us a diagnosis and, more importantly, treatment, for the health condition that I have. While sharing the same syndrome and symptoms I have, she has also taken the brunt of childish and abusive behavior from those that while they have excellent academic and industry credentials, have the bedside manner of a slug, and no impetus or compulsion help their patient even at the point where they are desperate for help. You can only imagine our surprise when last year, a very simple test that could've been easily performed at any time confirmed that I had a potentially fatal and rare health condition on top of other very rare syndromes that are also potentially fatal and usually progressive if not treated promptly and properly, as we have found out. Both my Mother and I now have extensive organ damage as a result of these specialists inability to diagnose these conditions, and the chronic progression has accelerated to the point where there is no effective treatment-we can only manage the symptoms and wait for a medical breakthrough. While I very much understand the gist of this article, I would also add that in many cases, the parental assessment of a medical issue is invaluable and more accurate-if a child isn't acting quite right or something seems wrong, the parent will usually be the first to notice and to try to get them help. While this isn't the case will all in the medical field, many people in the medical industry must learn to listen to patients and their parents, and hold them and their opinion in a higher regard; to disregard this valuable information not only leads to a delay in diagnosis, but also treatment and, in our case, this has caused a monstrous problem for my mother, brothers, and myself that we can only wait and hope will be solved in our lifetimes, and before it's too late. Parents are, most often, the most valuable and only advocate that their child has, and to say anything less is an insult.

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