Monday, September 28, 2009

I should have hit her...

Not hitting my wife led me to the Doctors office. Not hitting my wife put my right arm out of commission for several weeks. Not hitting my wife led to my worst doctor visit ever.

Maybe a little background is in order. Last week we were working in the laundry room. Of course, we had plenty of company, the dog and a small child were underfoot. I swung around unexpectedly and found my elbow about to contact my charming wife's head. A decision was made in a split second that would lead to my downfall. I chose to avoid hitting my wife and I hit the corner of the wall instead. Several days went by and all was well, no pain, no swelling, only a slight bit of discomfort.

Tuesday morning was when it all changed. I woke up to a swollen and inflamed elbow, it was warm to the touch and very tender. I immediately started heating it and starting taking Motrin to keep the swelling down. The week went by with only slight improvement. Friday came along, no swelling, but still tender and it felt that there was a bunch of fluid around the joint. I begrudgingly went to the clinic. After reviewing the dates nobody seemed very impressed with my delay, or my self diagnosis (which was correct by the way). Obviously, the first thing the Doctor ordered was x-rays. My first question was "Why?". I have decided that since I pay for it, I have the right to ask all the questions I want, and to deny tests if the Doctor cannot explain to me why they are neccesary. Little did I realize that this would change the tone for the rest of the visit. She was offended that I even questioned her judgement. She told me that she wanted to check for a break. I told her it wasn't broke. She said I couldn't possibly be smart enough to know that. Well, at least she insinuated it.

When in the room, her body language told me that she didn't want to be there. Her tone confirmed it. There she was, about my age, reasonably unattractive, hair pulled back in a simple pony tail. Her makeup was splotchily applied, foundation poorly covered by powder. I made no judgement, unfortunately,I was the only person in the room with such courtesy. She judged me based upon what I was wearing, my uniform for work. Black pleated pants, and a button down grey shirt, complete with name tags and an ISO 9000 cert patch. I also like to call it suburban camouflage. You don't know who I am, what I have done or even what I do. You are payed to provide a service to me. I expect courtesy to come along with the deal. I do not expect attitude because I dared question your judgement.

The xrays came back and confirmed all of our suspicions, the fluid in the joint was inflamed and causing the discomfort. She offered to drain it, but said that it would probably refill later. She also told me that the xrays showed no sign of gout or any other diseases.

So here is my point. I will not be accepting her services again. Why? Because I payed for a service and was not impressed. What was she looking for in the x-ray? Gout. I did not pay for xrays for her to mislead me so that she could check for gout. She didn't tell me that in the beginning, I would have said no and she wouldn't have gotten the up sale. Luckily, I pay for my own health care and nobody can tell me who I can see and who I can't. I will not be needing her services in the future. Thankfully I live in a Country where I am not told which doctor I have to see and when.

Next time, I'm just going to hit her.

2 comments:

Deschain said...

What an idiot. Why'd you even consent to the X-ray? I mean, sounds like a pretty clear-cut sort of deal. Also, way to judge her makeup.

Sigboy said...

I consented to the xray because she said she wanted to check for hairline fractures. I only went to the clinic because I still had a fluid mass after a week. Everytime I have seen this on somebody else it led to surgery.

 
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