It’s a bitch getting old’, the guy in the Phlebotomy waiting room said to me as we were both waiting to get our blood drawn. I nodded and hoped that he saw my appreciation for his comments in my eyes as we were both masked. Turns out he, like me, have now added trips to the Urologist as part of our ‘routine’ check ups. As I’m now entering my 6th decade, I have an internist, cardiologist, oncologist, dermatologist, endocrinologist and now a Urologist all on my speed dial. I’ve been poked and prodded in places I’d always prided myself on keeping untouched except for Saturday’s night’s back in high school after a school dance…if I was lucky. I have met ambitious young physicians who more and more fill the profession, opportunists with a fashionable hoodlum image, openly hostile to their patients. My brief stays at some hospitals had already convinced me that the medical profession was an open door to anyone nursing a grudge against the human race. Then I decided to find better physicians. I’m happy to report that my current ‘medical team’, across all disciplines, take the time to understand that each human being they treat, every situation, and every point in time are all unique. It’s hard to find these types of guys. I once had a nurse tell me that a doctor listens to a patient for an average of 9 seconds, then intervenes with a prognosis. The amount of time the doctor is willing to listen before intervening has gone down over time, presumably as health insurers have pressured doctors to increase output as they have greatly increased the amount of paperwork required of doctors. In other words, it is in the name of efficiency. The efficiency fairies are at work in the doctor’s office to eliminate all that wasteful time spent in creating a doctor-patient relationship. That makes for problems. I once wrote about sitting next to an elderly couple who were waiting to see their oncologist for test results. When the man was called in to see the Doctor, the office door was left opened and, as I was waiting for my turn to see this guy, I heard him say to his patient, “You have six month’s….tops”. Before one of the nurses jumped up to close the door, I heard the man say, in the softest voice, “What if I want more than 6 months?” . I can tell you that I didn’t hear the Doctor’s response, But I can tell you that I found another Doctor in his specialty right away…..
So, the point of this post is to, I guess, just say, that there are good, caring Doctor’s out there. Guys who understand the side effects of medicine before the prescription. Now, back to my new medical team practitioner……..my Urologist. I promise I will tell him where the weapons of mass destruction are hidden…….as soon as he stops picking me up by my testicles!……
The Valley Viewpoint 