Friday, October 9, 2009

Mary's Desk, October 9, 2009

Mary: "Dr. Grumpy's office. This is Mary."

Mrs. Parent: "Hi. My 13 year old son needs to see a neurologist."

Mary: "I'm sorry. Dr. Grumpy doesn't see anyone under 18."

Mrs. Parent: "Oh... But we'd heard such good things about him, too."

Mary: "I'm sorry. We recommend Pediatric Neurology, Inc."

Mrs. Parent: "Okay. But when my son turns 18, can he see Dr. Grumpy then?"

Mary: "Of course."

Mrs. Parent: "Can I make that appointment now?"
at

21 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 9, 2009 at 5:54 PM

    Just curious, why the cut off age of 18?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grumpy, M.D.October 9, 2009 at 5:58 PM

    Just the standard line between pediatric and adult medicine.

    I don't practice pediatric neurology, and don't want to.

    Gotta have a cut-off somewhere. I use 18.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 9, 2009 at 6:02 PM

    What reason(s) would someone possibly want to make an appointment that early (for that late)? Genetic disease? Prediagnosing Pick's or Parkinson's? Baseline neurological? Epilepsy? What else do you 'do', Dr. Grumpy?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Grumpy, M.D.October 9, 2009 at 6:03 PM

    I pull my hair out a lot. The ones that are left.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChristineOctober 9, 2009 at 6:36 PM

    So they didn't give you the "But my son is as tall as an adult! And quite mature for his age!" schpeal?

    ReplyDelete
  6. MickeyOctober 9, 2009 at 6:55 PM

    I have enough trouble remembering my haircut appointments that I schedule a week ahead of time... I can't imagine scheduling an appointment five YEARS in advance!

    ReplyDelete
  7. RonOctober 9, 2009 at 6:59 PM

    talk about no sense of urgency.... what's a few more years of seizing around on the floor? You MUST be good for them to want to wait.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Rekime ManOctober 9, 2009 at 7:23 PM

    Man, that kid is going to have the most exciting 18th birthday EVER.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 9, 2009 at 7:30 PM

    I can hear it now: Hey, Son, now that you've turned 18, guess what we're going to do today? We're going to go see Dr. Grumpy!

    Just what every 18 year old wants for his birthday! :-)

    (Don't worry, Doc, I'm a lot older than 18 and would rather see you than my neurologist, although there's nothing wrong with her.)

    ReplyDelete
  10. danOctober 9, 2009 at 8:20 PM

    Mrs. Parent: "Oh... But we'd heard such good things about his blog, too."

    ReplyDelete
  11. moppieOctober 9, 2009 at 9:07 PM

    If the patient is 17 or 18, it would really suck seeing a pediatric neurologist and to be in a room decorated with elephants and clowns, while lying on an exam table too short for him....

    ReplyDelete
  12. Doctor DOctober 9, 2009 at 9:19 PM

    Some things are just worth waiting for.

    Seeing Grumpy would be an excellent coming of age ceremony!

    ReplyDelete
  13. MCTOctober 9, 2009 at 10:14 PM

    are you kidding me?
    but I guess it should be a compliment to you that a mom heard so many good things about you and wants to schedule a neurology appointment with you in XX years!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ladyk73October 9, 2009 at 10:29 PM

    18???

    Lot of peds around here stop seeing kids when they are teens.

    Seriously....13 is young...
    But the 16-17 years old could use you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. MahaOctober 9, 2009 at 10:32 PM

    You should be all proud and stuff because you're just that popular!

    ReplyDelete
  16. ChrisOctober 10, 2009 at 12:19 AM

    Eh, take it as a compliment and move on.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousOctober 10, 2009 at 8:33 AM

    I don't know about pediatric specialists, but the regular pediatricians here stop seeing you at 16. Though they make exceptions for special needs children.

    I know, you want to dodge the glorious job of dealing with the parents. You hope at 18, mommy and daddy won't be in the exam room.

    You have enough weirdness without that.

    LD50 Rat

    ReplyDelete
  18. thegooddrlauraOctober 10, 2009 at 12:01 PM

    Dr Grumpy, it's good that you see patients at age 18. I had a 19 year old patient whose pediatric neurologist stopped seeing her. Unfortunately, many of the adult neurologists wouldn't see anyone under 21. This was several years ago. I think I eventually found someone to take her.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nurse KOctober 10, 2009 at 1:10 PM

    Random: My bff had trigeminal neuralgia that started age 16 (quite rare to have it start that early) and the pediatric neurologist didn't know what the problem was...she was diagnosed at age 18 when she went to the adult one. Sad!

    ReplyDelete
  20. S.S.October 11, 2009 at 1:33 AM

    hehehe...
    I see you are such a sought after doctor.

    ReplyDelete
  21. RiverOctober 11, 2009 at 4:49 AM

    Gotta get on those waiting lists as early as possible.

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?