August 15, 2001 ~ Small town vets and small town doctors
are really special people. They could make a lot more money if they practiced in a big city, and they probably wouldn't run into their patients or their clients every time they turned around, and they probably wouldn't get so personally involved. But I'm so grateful for our small town docs!
I had an appointment with our family practice doctor this morning. Last night I grumbled a little about it to Larry.
"Have you noticed how he makes his patients go in to see him all the time? How no matter what, he wants you to come back in a month or two, or three months? Other doctors don't."
"Yeah. Is that good or bad?"
"I don't know. I was wondering about that. It makes me feel like a hypochondriac. Sometimes the nurses ask me why I'm seeing the doctor and I blank out! I mumble something about a recall visit and how he wanted me to come back in... must be for the arthritis or the numbness or both."
"Me, too!"
Maybe other doctors try to get their patients to come back for follow-up appointments; maybe our old doctors did, and we just never followed up. Back when we had to pay the full amount for every visit, we just didn't visit very often! And other than routine (women's) checkups, I used to go a year or two without going to the doc. Now it seems like I go... well, every couple of months. Mostly to see how I'm doing on the various arthritis medications. Still, I feel silly going in when I'm not sick. BUT, I'm glad I went in today. Doc asked the usual questions and I mentioned the neurologist and the brain scan and he asked, "Why'd she schedule that, to see if you've got one?" Hardee har har! Just what I've been saying! And I like humor from a doctor, I like it a lot. It's preferable to the doom and gloom stuff, that's for sure. And then, bless his heart, he said, "Really, what is she looking for?"
"I think she wants to rule out MS and a couple of other things," I said.
"Well, it's almost impossible to see a neurologist without having an MRI of the brain done. They just always like to do that, to rule things out. When is the test?"
"Friday."
"And when will you see the neurologist again?"
"In September."
"That's crazy!"
Can you see why I like this guy? So I feel a little better about the whole thing... Doc is making this sound as if it's not a big deal at all, nothing to be concerned about. And he thinks the long wait for test results is crazy!
After seeing my doc I went to see our other favorite docs, the vets. I needed to pick up a few things, pay our bill, and since I was there, I asked about our limping bull. Bless his heart, the vet had the grace not to laugh when I told him about the bull getting stuck in the head gate. I suppose it's because the same thing has happened to them when they've been working on bulls, so he knows it's not all that funny. Anyway, he doesn't think the bull is seriously injured, and said that if there is no severe swelling, etc, that he should be okay. "Give him two or three weeks," he said. "Maybe even four. If he's still limping, bring him in." So that's a relief. He thinks he probably injured some ligaments or something like that, which would be painful but not awful.
Oh, and I should tell you... the dog people are truly jerks. They never paid the bill, of course. And they never responded to my nice letters. I've paid the vet bill for the cat, and the vet was nice enough to reduce the charges, to cut me some slack, knowing the circumstances. Dr. Tom and everyone at the clinic is just so nice...
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