Found a Doctor
Jan. 28th, 2005 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenI think I've found myself a doctor.
I told the doctor that was working with me, through a good coughing/wheezing fit, that I was actually quite happy with where I am, i.e. my asthma seems mostly under my control, even with some wheezing. I am recovering from my second cold nicely and without undue terror of Not Breathing.
He didn't second-guess me, he didn't say I should do something different. He simply said, "Well, if you're content with this, then I'm happy. No need to drug you up more than you need."
And when I told him I hadn't had a step improvement from the small course of antibiotics he'd given me, he said, "Probably viral then, no need to try that again."
And when he heard that I was worried about facing another cold like this without enough Advair, he gave me refills on the stuff.
With a service-attitude, and the ability to admit that he might have been wrong, AND the ability to respond, directly, to my spoken fears, I think I may have myself a doctor. I asked his receptionist if he was taking regular patients, and she said, yes, his roster's open for new people. It's through a clinic, and some of the other doctors have so many people, they won't take on more, so it's good to ask. And I think I'd seen this guy through Urgent Care once or twice, and had had good experiences with him, so I think I may actually schedule an annual checkup. My first in nearly four years and 90 days. :-) I really should do it more often, at my age, but just hadn't had the gumption, yet, or real desire to pursue a relationship with a doctor. But this one, I think, I could be really happy with.
I told the doctor that was working with me, through a good coughing/wheezing fit, that I was actually quite happy with where I am, i.e. my asthma seems mostly under my control, even with some wheezing. I am recovering from my second cold nicely and without undue terror of Not Breathing.
He didn't second-guess me, he didn't say I should do something different. He simply said, "Well, if you're content with this, then I'm happy. No need to drug you up more than you need."
And when I told him I hadn't had a step improvement from the small course of antibiotics he'd given me, he said, "Probably viral then, no need to try that again."
And when he heard that I was worried about facing another cold like this without enough Advair, he gave me refills on the stuff.
With a service-attitude, and the ability to admit that he might have been wrong, AND the ability to respond, directly, to my spoken fears, I think I may have myself a doctor. I asked his receptionist if he was taking regular patients, and she said, yes, his roster's open for new people. It's through a clinic, and some of the other doctors have so many people, they won't take on more, so it's good to ask. And I think I'd seen this guy through Urgent Care once or twice, and had had good experiences with him, so I think I may actually schedule an annual checkup. My first in nearly four years and 90 days. :-) I really should do it more often, at my age, but just hadn't had the gumption, yet, or real desire to pursue a relationship with a doctor. But this one, I think, I could be really happy with.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-29 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-01 03:14 am (UTC)We talked, a bit, about it in the comments before, and that pretty much any adult human has *some* measure of bacteria in their throat, so if he'd taken a throat culture it would probably have shown a false positive anyway.
Plus, the culture would have taken a few days to grow to the point where it could have been identified, and when I go to a doctor with bronchitus, I want help NOW. That he gave me a short series of relatively low-strength stuff was a good thing, in my head, if he had to give me one. John's urgent care doc had just told him it was likely viral and left him on his own. My problem was that I couldn't breathe, and given even the possibility of a bacterial infection, if the antibiotic helped me it would have been a really big plus for the change he was taking with the negatives of an unnecessary antibiotic series.
I was more impressed that he admitted the mistake. I'd FAR rather have a doctor that can admit to a mistake and figure out a better way than one that keeps up a pretense that they knew it all along...