After being home for just a week, we had our first appointment with Shriners Hospital for Children Medical Center – Lexington today. We went in nervously, not knowing what to expect. We came out with HG having casts on both legs from his hips to his toes and a return appointment next week.

I’m happy that we’re already moving forward with treatments, but I have to say that visits to Lexington Shriners look to be short-lived. We had heard from a few people that the Shriners in Lexington was disappointing when it came to treating AMC, and we walked away feeling that way ourselves.

We loved the technician that applied the casts, but unfortunately, that was the only person we were impressed by.

I understand that these nurses and doctors are seeing countless children a day, but when you come into an exam room, I shouldn’t know more of what’s going on than you. We went into this first appointment expecting Shriners to be looking at HG’s arms and hands. What we got were a group of people, who each seemed to be more concerned with his cardiology follow-up next year than anything else our little guy has going on. The exam started with a quick look at his arms. Then we had to remind them he has scoliosis. One doctor started pulling on both his arms before we had to remind her he had a fracture, and then they went straight to his legs and feet.

Again, I understand; countless children, but I shouldn’t walk away feeling like you just applied a generic AMC treatment to my son, without taking the time to actually exam his condition. It felt like they took one look at his chart (if that) saw he has AMC, then went to a default script.

You know that feeling you get when you call tech support? You know they’re just going down a list checking off boxes rather than listening to you regarding your particular issue? That’s the treatment we received from Lexington Shriners.

I’m sorry, but I cannot simply reboot my son to correct his issues!

It’s unfortunate and disappointing, but like I said; it was something we were expectant of.

Thanks to other parents in the support groups we’ve joined, we were already looking into other Shriners locations and medical centers outside of Kentucky for treatment. This first experience with Lexington Shriners only furthers that drive. A week into this new path and the bar has already been set fairly low in terms of treatment and expectation.

We’ll continue to make our weekly trips to Lexington for new castings during this first phase. We know this is a step and process we’d be taking, regardless of where we’ll be going next. Outside of serial casting though, Shriners Hospital for Children Medical Center in Lexington’s time in this journey is short-lived, at best.