Doctor or Rock Star?

We’ve been thankful to find good doctors here. The ones we have dealt with have all had some experience or training in the US, UK, or Canada and we feel confident in their ability to care for us well. However, some may say they’re a little…eccentric. ☺️
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This is the boys’ pediatrician. Yes, he does have headshots of children covering every inch of the walls, those are hand-sewn patches of cartoon characters on his pants, and you would really get the full effect if you could hear the ice cream truck melodies being piped in from the surround sound speakers. He also helped us a lot as first-time parents who had no clue what we were doing and he is a pro at giving immunizations with minimal crying.
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On one of the last visits to my OB before Abel’s delivery, he informed me that he had a photo shoot in the desert with his rock band on my estimated due date, and he urged me not to go into labor between 2-6pm or he’d likely be unreachable. 😂😳
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It’s interesting how much the doctors engage in self-promotion here (maybe it’s just the private clinics). I bet you don’t have a coffee mug with a caricature of your pediatrician’s face on it…or a toddler t-shirt…or bib. And each time I visit my OB, I’m stared down by the bobblehead look-alike on his desk. It’s mostly amusing and just a smidgeon of creepy.
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Most communication with doctors and patients is done via WhatsApp. They urge us to text them personally anytime we have a question or concern. It’s super convenient. We get copies of our lab results as soon as the doctor gets them, and I can send a photo of Ezra’s rash to the pediatrician and ask if he thinks it’s serious instead of waiting for an appointment to find out. On the flipside, HIPAA doesn’t seem to be taken as seriously here, which is interesting when a lot of our friends use the same doc, “Oh, did you know so-and-so is having a baby too?” “No, no we did not.” 😬
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From what we understand, Saudis get free healthcare at government hospitals but foreigners have to pay. Regardless, most healthcare is way cheaper here than America and because Sean works at a hospital we’re able to get free treatment there. Talk about perks of the job!