June 1, 2007
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Milestone reached…and I got lucky!
I don’t know if I told you about the doctor fiasco and I am a little too busy to stop and re-read my entries but…suffice it to say that my original chosen doctor was female and a new patient appointment took me almost two months into the future from when I called. However, I figured to find a compassionate doctor who would listen to my concerns was more likely to be a woman than a man. They think we are all whiners and usually suffer from a *god complex* that is nurtured in medical school and during their residencies. I worked at a medical center for almost six years and I remember my frustrations with many of their attitudes that usually ended up with patients in my office, hoping I could translate what (little) the doctor had told them. I digress……
Less than a week before my scheduled appointment, I received a call from the office and was told that my chosen doctor was having emergency surgery and they would either have to reschedule me or I would have to see one of her associates. Told it would be approximately two weeks before I could be rescheduled, I figured I would wait for her to return.
Well, it turns out she had some complications but the nurse, who was extremely patient, spent some time with me being very candid about the associates and I decided that I would give this one doctor a try. Not too old, father of three, had his parents move in with him last year so that he could care for them (they both have some worrisome health concerns that I won’t bore you with) and never in a rush. He sounded like he MIGHT do but I could always change to the original female after she returned to the office if I wanted. Hearing that, I figured, “Why not?” I DID need some medications and was hoping to get some relief from this ongoing back problem.
I was greatly surprised today when I arrived for my appointment. Although there were a LOT of people in the office, things moved at a nice clip. I found out many of the patients that were being ushered in at a rapid rate were there for lab tests (they have a fully-equpped lab on site) or for physical therapy. That calmed me down because I was thinking they were being treated on an assembly line and that didn’t bode well for me to be able to go over my list of concerns. Yes, I really did go in with a list so I wouldn’t forget anything. **color me embarrassed but my memory sucks lately**
Not only was I taken care of efficiently by the nurse (weight, blood pressure, pulse rate) but she sat calmly and unrushed and asked me a preliminary set of questions. More importantly, she LISTENED and her comments told me she really WAS listening and thinking about what I was saying.
It wasn’t even 5 minutes before the doctor came into the examining room, opened and spent some time reading my chart (my doctor from Florida had faxed over copies of my records already) then said to me, “First, I am going to ask you a few questions. Then you can tell me what is going on with you and what you are concerned about.” I was a bit taken aback but felt…..”this is the right start anyway”.
He then asked his questions, most pretty normal for a first contact and a few more pointed ones about most prevalent causes of death of family members going back to great-grandparents. He asked me about my blood glucose readings lately since he felt I was on an awful lot of oral medication. Since this was one area I meant to discuss with him if given the opportunity, I was impressed. He also asked some pointed questions about the medication I am on for my kidneys (I discovered it is called an *ACE* inhibitor which I never knew before and it’s purpose is to hopefully prevent me from ever having to have dialysis later on in my life). It is primarily used for high blood pressure and he thought it might be a bit too strong since my last few blood pressure readings have been eyebrow raising in how LOW they have been. He also felt my hands and feet to see how hot/cold they were. This was ANOTHER thing I had on my list because I thought it might just be dropping my blood pressure enough to slow down circulation. I have NEVER had high blood pressure: it has always been on the low side of normal and I found that my feet and hands were increasingly cold on me to the point they were painful. I was hoping it was the medication and not a sudden outbreak of arthritis because, as you know, I crochet and that requires a LOT of hand useage.
So, before I get to voice any of my list of concerns, he’s already asked me pointed questions about two of them. Now wouldn’t YOU be impressed?
When it came to my turn, I went over the list with him (he liked the idea of my list, by-the-way) and asked about how it might be related to my disease/medications. He took his time, explained things to me and even told me how my back problem is probably aggravated by the neuropathy in my legs that we just started treating today with a mild medication that can be adjusted upwards if necessary. He asked me about sciatica (and I am ashamed to say that I had forgotten to put that on my list of questions) because he said if I had it, it would probably flare up until we started treating the neuropathy. It was true because my sciatica on the left side had started bothering me a couple days ago and I was ready to bang my head on a wall. All I could think of was…..can’t I even catch a break here?
So I left today with three new prescriptions and have to stop one that I was taking. I was given pain medication and several refills since the nature of my injury (he believes) will take some time to heal. All I know is that I took the first of THAT medication about six hours ago and am more comfortable, without any dizziness or sleepiness, than I have been in months. He urged me not to try to *tough it out* because it’s unnecessary and only creates other problems down the line with muscle atrophy and other things. So, although I could have taken more pain medication as early as two hours ago, I didn’t because I wasn’t the least bit uncomfortable.
I will be on the new regimen for two months and tracking my glucose levels twice daily until then before we start adjusting the diabetes medications themselves (I take two oral ones, twice a day). I might actually only have to take one twice a day by the end of August. He wants me to be stablized on all the medication before we fool with that but also told me to watch for low blood sugar episodes. I showed him I had glucose tablets in my purse and that went with me EVERYWHERE, just in case. The beast is a complete dork about what to do for me if that happens but even he knows I carry them. Of course, if we are at home, there’s always orange juice or chocolate available and he knows about THAT too. <
So now I am feeling good about having a doctor that I like and that actually listens to me and my concerns. I really MUST find out where he went to medical school and took his residency. They did a wonderful job on a man that was probably raised well also. If he’s any example of the quality of doctors here in the South, I am in good hands.
Have a great day everyone and cross your fingers that we might get some actual rain this weekend. We really need it here in northern Alabama.
