The most painful thing I had experienced while rotating in the pediatrics department is seeing parents worry for their child. It makes me cry thinking that most of my patients won't be able to live a normal life. Most of them will probably live most of their lives inside the hospital with a shortened lifespan and be subjected to multiple tests.
I had a patient who was struggling with Tuberous Sclerosis and was admitted due to changes in sensorium. He also had global developmental delay hence he was unable to comprehend and speak which made assessments very difficult.
Seeing him for the first time, I was very anxious because I didn't expect to handle a patient who was unable to verbalize his feelings. The resident on duty told me to monitor the patient's sensorium hourly. I approached him to take his vital signs and I had planned to assess his sensorium using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) . He was drowsy and quite unresponsive to his mother's voice. We had a hard time waking him up for assessment. His mother's voice was shaking, clearly about to break down in tears, as she called his name and tried to wake him up. It broke my heart hearing her voice quiver with fear of losing her child and it broke my heart seeing my patient struggle.
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