Dr. Li is extraordinary, and we were thrilled with the care she provided. She listened to the…read morepatient history and asked detailed questions to elicit additional information and clarify events, as well as other aspects of the history that predated the immediate illness, and listened to genetic patient history information as well. She was willing to hear and incorporate in her diagnosis process the fact that lung infections are common with our child, and common on the father's side of the family, with a predisposition (over-susceptibility) to having upper respiratory tract infections become lower respiratory tract infections.
Dr. Li did a very thorough examination of our child and expressed what she was finding in real time as she did so. She was trying to diagnose the issue in the lungs causing abnormally low O2 sats (about 4-5 points below normal, which is a lot for our child) and as she listened with a stethoscope she expressed a theory that there was a mucus plug - this is information I was happy to have, and asked about percussion to loosen any mucus. Dr. Li listened as I noted a further point of patient history was that our child had frequent chest colds when he was much younger and I had often used gentle percussion to loosen phlegm in his lungs years ago. The entire interaction was EXCELLENT and helpful to me.
I like to ENCOURAGE the practice of doctors providing MORE information as opposed to assuming that a patient won't understand detailed or specific medical information. I oppose the Idea of providers trying to over-simplify, and STRONGLY OPPOSE failing to fully disclose everything the provider is finding, or the diagnostic theory forming the basis of provider's diagnosis, treatment, and expressed prognosis. Dr. Sarah Li is AMAZINGLY GOOD at making sure a patient (in this case his caregiver parents) are FULLY INFORMED - a bedrock requirement of meeting the goal of INFORMED CONSENT. We can argue as an academic matter over whether someone with no formal medical training could ever be fully "informed" but, if we did so, I would argue that the information still needs to be conveyed to the patient in as complete a manner as possible, simplifying only as necessary or requested (less Latin, surely) with the understanding that patients are also obligated to have some basic understanding of how their bodies work and how modern medicine is practiced. I believe too much information is not a problem.
In the same vein, I appreciated the DIRECTNESS of Dr. Li when we discussed our prior treatment for Nigel's occasional colds with very low dose guaifenesin as an expectorant for unproductive coughs, and ultra low-dose dextromethorphan on rare occasions when he required a suppressant to sleep. Dr. Li was very clear as to why she preferred we did not use these, and then she explained why each of them was less effective than we perhaps presumed, even going into the history of DXM and why it probably worked better for my generation (Boomer) as a child - interesting bit of chemistry here which she succinctly and clearly explained how alcohol in cough syrup (back in the day) helped deliver the DXM once ingested.
WOW! A doctor treating a parent as an ADULT who actually might understand simple concepts from high school chemistry instead of treating me as if I were the 5-year-old on the treatment table. THANK YOU, DR. LI !!!!
At the end of the physical examination Dr. Li thoroughly discussed her theory on what this illness was, and her basis for that diagnosis, including what she and other pediatricians had been seeing this flu season. That process was interactive. She pronounced bronchopneumonia (just calling it "pneumonia" because she's not presumptuous, just brilliant) which scared us, as it should, but she was a calming influence.
Throughout the time, Dr. Li was very interactive with our son and called him by name and treated him as an important person. During the exam she told him everything she was going to do before she did it and made him very comfortable. She was smiling and reassuring with him, and with us. At the end she gave him what every 5-year-old wants: two stickers. He very much liked Dr. Li and I think he even enjoyed his visit.
Dr. Li is a top professional in every way, and conducts her exams in a way that made us feel as if our child was the most important person being treated that day. Her differential was logical and well explained. She was helpful in other matters such as how to best treat unproductive coughs during seasonal/occasional colds. OFF THE CHARTS SUPERB.
I don't usually spend this much time writing about something but I wanted to cover a lot of the visit and how fantastic Dr. Li treated my child, and us as caregiving parents. Dr. Li gets a lot done very quickly but she EXPLAINS EVERYTHING, which is important to us.
WE LOVE DR. SARAH LI and we want to say THANK YOU for such fantastic providing of care for our child. :-) :-) :-)