The World of Medicine

The Medical World

Okay, so on April 3rd I went in for hernia surgery. The operation and recuperation was really unremarkable; however, I need to comment on the medical world. First off, I live in a small town of about 3700 full time residents. The doctors in our area are small town philosophy type doctors. You know, the ones that care and have good bedside manner? The ones that you see on the old TV shows, remember them? Well, I think they moved and took their nurses with them. Before I start on my rant, I must tell you that my ob/gyn and gp doctors did move and left me in a quandry. It is treally tough to lose your doctors when you have had a history with them for over 10 years. They just up and left. My new slew of doctors do not know me nor do they seem to really care about knowing me either.

The Hospital:
I stayed overnight. Remember, I had stomach surgery so getting around is not the easiest thing to do, especially the act of getting out of bed. So for the first step out, I rang the nurse to tell her I had to go to the bathroom; unfortunately, it took her way too long to get to me. Not a fun way to start, especially since the floor was half empty. Then I needed pain medicine. Well, forget about that. I rang the nurse again. She comes in and tells me she refuses to me pain medicine until I eat. Come on guys, are you kidding me? So I have to call up the food staff to get something to eat, on an anesthetic stomach. It takes over an hour to get the food and to eat something. Ring the nurse again, it takes her over two hours to get back to me. At this point I want to kill the world. She injects some medication into my IV. Fifteen minutes later the IV explodes out of my hand and there is blood everywhere. Ring the nurse again, this time it only takes her 30 minutes to get to me. She looks at the blood, me, and says don't worry it is worse than it looks. I can put the IV back in, I chose not to have it done. Did I get new bedding? No, I was doomed to spend the night with no so clean sheets. Now, I decided there is no way I am spending the night alone at the mercy of the nurse from Misery so I had to beg to be switched to a private room so Cliff could sleep over and take care of me. After an hour of begging they finally did switch me. Now, I did speak to the surgeon who did my operation four times about a private room prior to surgery. I guess that wasn't important to her. Did anyone read the studies about people that have someone in the room with them recovery a lot faster/better? Guess the papers haven't hit Vermont yet.

Next question, so if you have surgery when it is over the doctor never comes to check you out in the hospital? Did not see her once after I was done. What happened to the good old days?

Next problem. So now I am home recuperating with a two week no drive restriction and I run out of my daily medication. I call the drug store for renewal and find out that there are no renewals left. So I call my new GP and am I told she won't renew it unless I am seen by her. Now, I must tell you she is new to the group that I go to (been 20 years on and off). Also, I have been on this medication for 7 years. So, I call the surgeon to see if she would renew it for me and of course she won't. Call back the GP and make an appointment to go in. Now, since I am not driving, I have to walk there. I get there and have to wait for an hour to be seen. The new GP comes in and talks to me, she is new here from Canada. Takes down the vitals, reviews my medical folder and says to me I shouldn't have come in so early after surgery. Now I want to kill her. She finally writes me a prescription but for six months only. I ask her why and she tells me she doesn't know me well enough that I have to come back again in six months.

So, the moral of the story is dont' get sick, don't go to doctors, don't go to hospitals and forget your medications.

If a doctor/nurse ever reads this, please remember bedside manner, getting to your patients quickly and making them feel valued. Medical techniques are getting better but the personal side is forgotten.