Another Difference

Yesterday we took Colton to his 12 month appointment with the pediatrician (Dott.essa Maria Serenella Pignotti). At this appointment I was struck by some of the differences in medical care; well, at least pediatric well-visits.

First of all, we visit Dott.essa Pignotti at her house instead of at a practice. She officially works at a neonatal hospital but it's far away from where we live. So, naturally, she offered to allow us to see her at her home office - which is pretty close to where we live - after she is done working at the hospital. Therefore, our appointments are always at odd hours. Last night, for example, the appointment was at 7pm.

Another difference is that the doctor does not keep Colton's records on file. At our first visit she gave me a little green folder. She fills it out and puts things in it each time (weight, length, prescriptions, vaccination information, notes about child care, etc) and gives it back to us. It is our responsibility to take care of it and bring it to every appointment. The ever important folder is pictured below:

The actual appointment is fairly similar except for the fact that she does not take his temperature or look into his ears - basics at every doctor appointment we went to in the U.S. I asked her about why she doesn't look at his ears and she said that it is obvious that he doesn't have an ear infection - that we would just know by how he's acting. Hmmm.... I didn't actually think about her not taking his temp until I got home. He was warm so I took it and he actually did have a little fever - 101.5 degrees! Hmmm.... again.

Now, the biggest difference - pediatricians do not actually give children their vaccinations. Dott.essa Pignotti says that she does not want to give shots because then "the children won't like me." (She actually said the same thing about looking in Colton's throat...that's why she saves it for last in the appointment - so he doesn't get upset and cry the rest of the appointment.) She asked some friends of ours how vaccinations work in America and when they told her that every doctor has the medication at their office and gives the shots right then and there she said, "Why would the doctors have the medication?" Wow. Here there are public offices where you make an appointment and take your child to be vaccinated. It is free....if you can ever get in! She told me herself, "When you call, do not give up. They never answer their phone. Sit down with a big cup of coffee or tea to help you relax and just keep trying, it will take a long time." Great. After you actually get the place on the phone it can apparently be months before you can get in! And, for us, we have to make two separate appointments because he needs two vaccines that they don't give together. Lovely. Now, in Dott.essa Pignotti's defense, she did say if we can't get in to the public vaccination office she will give Colton his shots. We, however, have to call pharmacies until we can find places with the vaccine we need, buy them ourselves, take them to her, and she will finally give him his shots. All in all, we cannot escape a HUGE hassle. Bummer.

I miss our pediatrician in Orlando. Not that Dott.essa Pignotti isn't nice but everything is so confusing here, plus the language barrier makes it really hard for me to feel like I can ask everything I'd like to (plus understand the answer)! It's hard to trust in these new ways to do medical care, especially for my child. I have to keep reminding myself that there are plenty of healthy Italian babies so this system must work, too. I just miss it being easy. I miss a pediatrician who is less concerned with whether my child "likes" her than doing what she needs to do to make sure he's healthy (ie: shots, taking temps, looking in his ears.... the list goes on). Oh well.

The good news is that Colton seems to be continuing to grow wonderfully! He's already gotten much bigger since we moved!

At 10.5 months (the first time we took him to see this doctor) he weighed 19 pounds (8.66 kg) and was 30 inches (76 cm). Last night he weighed 22 pounds (9.98 kg) and was 32 inches (82 cm).

I guess the Italian food and lifestyle is agreeing with him. :)