Few days back, while
casually chatting about my daughter’s growing age and its related issues, her
physiotherapist told me about a patient she recently visited. They were old
patient of hers, and they had called her to have a look at their child’s
dislocated hip and to advice on further course of treatment.
That casual chat really
set me thinking about the various challenges we parents face while bringing up
a differently abled child. Primarily we start with treatments for the condition
which is diagnosed like ADHD, Autism, Cerebral Palsy etc. But as the child
grows, his/her body changes giving rise to secondary issues which sometimes
goes unnoticed till damage is done & surgery (in some cases) is the only
remedy to correct it or to prevent further damage.
For example sitting in
wrong posture can lead to Scoliosis, hip dislocation might be due to wrong
posture or muscle tone tightness, calcium or Vitamin D3 deficiency leads to osteoporosis
and lower back pain.
As most of the kids are
non-verbal, we tend to miss the signals of issues they might be facing like
vision or dental issues.
For example it is necessary
to get regular eyes checked of our children. So we were recommended to a
well-known and famous paediatric ophthalmologist in a well-known hospital. But it
used to take up 1 whole day as it was located in town and travelling used to be
tiring for all 3 of us, as daughter was growing up and it used to get tedious.
So finally and luckily we
found a paediatric ophthalmologist near our place of residence and we thought
of giving it a try. 1st day when we visited him he was little bit
shocked after checking her eyesight. So he called us next day after putting the
eye drops so that the pupil of eye is clearly dilated. Next day when we went
after the readings were taken we were again told to come next day. We were bit
worried (as we dreaded something might be wrong).
What he told next was a
total shocker for me and my husband. We couldn’t believe what he told. He told
my daughter doesn’t have any eyesight problem… She doesn’t need specs…
We had been to the other
doctor just 6 months back and she had told her number is increased and every
time we went she used to say the same thing and change Prerna’s glasses and advice
constant use. This was going on since past 6-7 years. Prerna never liked to
wear glasses so she used to constantly remove it and we used to scold her to
keep the glasses on.
To be sure we went to
another paediatric ophthalmologist, who was also of same opinion that my
daughter doesn’t need specs. We were surprised, shocked how come a girl having
a specs number 2.75 be reduced to 0.5 in 6 months. 2 doctors can't be wrong…. Unless it's an miracle...
Since Prerna can't speak
we trusted the renowned doctor on her readings and advices. I had felt so bad,
as I used to constantly make her wear specs, and scold her if she removed it. And
initially when we came to know that she has to wear specs all blamed me because
of me she got it too.
Everyone who came to know
about this incident was left in shock. But we learnt a lesson. It’s always
better to take a second opinion when it comes to any medical issue, no matter
how experienced or well-known that 1st doctor is.
Bringing up a differently
abled child is a challenge itself. But it hurts when people try to make use of
such situations & misled parents and guardians. In schools and centers
wherein we trust them with our child,
pay hefty amounts so as they take proper care of our children, are also the
places wherein mainly they are not taken proper care or neglected. More about
those experiences in coming blogs.
