Was the Mother for Real?

This afternoon a male child of 13 came in and noisily barging in behind him was a woman and two other children, both less than seven or eight years old. The woman's handphone was ringing away and the two children came to park themselves, unceremoniously, right in front of my desk and I could smell their acrid sweat and sensed their excitement. Even a "bomoh" (traditional medicine man) would be intimidated by this formidable trio, I thought.

I asked whether the patient, the 13-year old boy could speak and the woman, handphone pressed at the ear, said yes but the son ( she was the mother), according to her, wanted her to be around. What? History-taking and physical examination with this motley crowd breathing down my neck! So politely, the mother and the two kids were asked to wait outside and should further information be needed, the nurse would call her. She walked out, her phone still at the ear with the two excitable kids trooping behind fer.

We have had this kind of situation before and the parents accepted it in good faith. Parents usually like to tell their own version of circumstances leading to their child's illness rather than the child's. So my policy is, if the child can relate his story then the parent should stay away and come in only for any additional information or corroboration.

After hearing the boy's story of feeling itchy all over his body for the last one week, not subsiding despite having been treated at a clinic, I proceeded to examine him from head to toe, so to speak, and noted that his skin was unusually dry, in fact some areas were so dry you could see white crusty patches interspersed with scratch marks. No wonder he was feeling itchy. When asked whether he was on any medication or what sort of soap he was using, he did not know. At that point, I asked the nurse to call the mother in. She was heard shouting away that she did not know anything because the boy was studying in a boarding school and that he could talk for himself! She sulkily refused to come in and later complained to the reception that she was roughly treated.

Rough indeed! What kind of mother who would not cooperate in her child's treatment? Her demeanor was also rude and disrespectful, with that handphone of hers and arrogant and foolish, to say the least for probably thinking that her action was justified... I must admit I have yet to come across a mother like this ... was she for real?