Couch 75

At a baseball game with my friend and so far so good.

Sometimes I feel this way about Wal-Mart.

PDOC appt yesterday. Nothing special. A let down for me. I don't know what my expectations are. I need to ask for what I want, but don't really know what that is.

"""Warning::: Talk of SI """""
Received news today that an old college friend took his own life. We weren't real close, but I was very close to his best friend that is very shaken by this.

Hey all. Anyone here? Bored. At the hospital with grandma.

Ike...sorry to hear about that friend from college. So sad. You and his friends and family are in my thoughts and prayers.

Agreed. I refuse to continue with doctors who are a@@holes. I know it's possible to be both brilliant and personable. I mean, just look at us, right?

BTW, Hankster, I had my annual physical Tuesday. My PCP is excellent, and she is very personable. I told her what you said about only smoking after sex. She appreciated the humor.

I agree. Hopefully you realize that I was not saying the best doctors are bullies. Some are though.

We all prefer a good doctor with a good attitude. Sometimes though, particularly when you are dealing with a rare disorder where specialists aren't a dime a dozen, you have to take the bad with the good if that is what is available.

It took 15 years to finally find a specialist with the knowledge to treat my husband who also had a great attitude. In the meantime though, we had to put up with some pretty snotty specialists who were extremely good with their medical expertise; we just hated their attitudes but at least the medical care was maintained. We kept looking in the meantime and eventually found the specialist he's been with for the last almost 15 years now, and we are thrilled that not only is he a great expert in my husband's condition but he is also a pretty nice guy. We finally have the best of both worlds, but it was a long search to find it.

I have not met any I believe are brilliant, although many I believe are giant dickwads. But even more than just the mds - it is the entire mentality of the medical profession I find appalling. I now have a large stash of antibiotics for the sinus infections/strep throat I get, and I have quit seeing them for minor things like broken fingers/wrists etc. I have a stash of pain relieving substances too. So far, aside from some angles or no longer quite as straight as before, everything has healed in a not unreasonable fashion. When I get a bit older, I shall move out to where no interfering neighbors or misguided do gooders will interfere with my choices. Watching my bff dying in the system makes me certain that dying outside of it is a better plan for me.

Yup med profession sucks! Wont sleep tonight but atleast I know grandma will get proper care from midnight shift.

I hope you luck with good health continues. As you know, there are medical problems that can't be solved with a few antibiotics, nor pretty much ignored like a simple broken finger.

I've met many quite brilliant doctors over the years. When you need their expertise for illnesses beyond sinus infections and a simple broken bone, and their expertise relieves your condition and brings back quality of life, solves a diagnostic mystery that has eluded diagnosis for years, adds time to your life that might have otherwise never happened, you learn to respect their level of knowledge and skill for what they do.

I've been around doctors and hospitals in all shapes and forms my entire life having grown up with a sister who survived cancer 3 times and a husband who lives with multiple serious medical conditions. Despite dealing with those along the way who had horrendous bedside manners, the VAST majority of the rest have been wonderful physicians who have cared personally for us. They have been extremely gifted in their ability to work with very difficult medical problems and the patients who have to live with them every day.

You like to throw all medical professionals in the same basket which honestly doesn't seem terribly open of you, but that is certainly your prerogative, but you really are quite wrong in your blanket, stereotyped opinion of the entire medical profession as appalling. We won't agree on that. I do hope that one day you will be open to the help they will be able to provide you rather than rejecting the help outright.

I am glad your family has had experiences with the medical profession they do not regret. I have friends who make their living as mds and rns etc. And we do fine as long as both sides never discuss medical care. I do not plan on ever using the medical community's services. I have healers I go to. I live in some constant pain which I would rather have than take their drugs. I would rather be dead than submit to western medicine. And I have taken measures to educate myself and plan and prepare to make sure I am never in their clutches.

I don't reject help outright just stay on their behinds to make sure family is properly taken care of especially in a hospital/nursing home situation. Until they prove themselves to me they are nothing and don't deserve my respect. It's not the dx'ing that's the problem most of the time in my family's case...it's the care after they are admitted that irks the crap outta me. Like leaving my grandma tonight sitting on her poopy diaper for a few minutes for computer work. Really????

Yes there is a distinct difference between the prescribing of care and the delivery of it.

A health care plan is usually drawn up by a physician, the implementation of it (or delivery) is subject to the vagaries of the health care administration. Two totally different entities, often not in sync at all.

Even so, there are those at the bedside that are simply lifesavers. Attentive, knowledgeable, helpful, compassionate.

I've had experiences both ways.

Personally, I would rather use the resources of western medicine and live.

I support everyone getting to choose.

Pretty much CE. It's a pattern, whenever something is important to me (and not him) he screws it up on me.

What am I supposed to do with my anger against Madame T?

I wish I had an answer for you, CE.

JustShakey, that sucks. I'm sorry you are in that situation. (It's part of the reason why my H doesn't know I'm in therapy, though he wouldn't actually screw things up in that way.)

OK, asking here because I don't want to stand out as a freak in another thread, and I also don't want to derail it: People mention "annual checkups that women have" without explaining what that means. Do they refer to some kind of gyn checkup, or bloodwork, or what? (I do get mammograms, but I get no other kind of health checkups, apart from my annual visit to the dentist.) I just feel stupid for not knowing, it's not that I think there is something I ought to be doing which I don't do.

Pap smears and mammograms kinda go hand in hand here, so to speak! Also, they "let" a woman's primary care physician be her gyn, if she so chooses. But like i have high blood pressure and cholesterol, so i chose not to. I chose an internist as my primary and see him every 3 months, and a gyn hardly ever now.

I've been getting summonses for cervical cancer screenings approximately every year since I was in my 20s - maybe that's the same things as what they refer to. (I never go.) It is completely separate from the mammograms, though - those are done in hospital (where I live) and not by a gynaecologist.

Women's well exams generally include pap smear, breast exam, urinalysis, and perhaps bloodwork. We can have that done with a gynocologist or family doctor, whatever our preference. My well checks also involve EKG, skin checks for skin cancer, etc. since I have my family physician do my exams and he checks everything, not just the "female" issues. Mammograms are generally done elsewhere like a nearby hospital or screening facility.

Women's well exam? I don't know - I have never had one.
I would ignore a summons from any medical sort of person or facility. I would balk at the idea that they get to summon me to anything.

I suspect she is just using "summons" in a different context than what we do here. I'm guessing it is just a reminder/recommendation to have a cervical check done annually.

I get those reminders annually from my doctor too. My hospital sends me a reminder to have my mammogram done since I had to go through a biopsy a year ago and both of my sisters had breast cancer. My gastroenterologist sends reminders to have my colonoscopy done too (which I keep putting off). I shouldn't though. My last one found precancerous polyps that they removed and my sister had colon cancer. I just HATE colonoscopies. Keep avoiding it.

"Summon" was my own phrasing, which was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. It's just a letter saying that if I want my cervical I can call such and such a number and book a time for it.

Summons is a hilarious way to put it.