Hope she got help and went to the doctor!

Why do I need to go to the doctor when I have you all. Smiley face.

Oh, it is better and I didn't call the doctor. Thanks for asking. You guys were great. Still need to try the garlic. I know, I need to get another doctor. The fact is the "new doctors" in my area are so efficient that it isn't my style. As you talk, they type notes and when they are done you are done. Also, the front desk people are not like the ones I have who are serious and do everything they can so you don't have to. They say an oncologist's office is much kinder and gives one more time than others. Unfortounately my doc is old and I hate to say it but doesn't remember things so I have to type out what happened last time and in between. I know, I'm nuts.
Have you had trouble finding caring doctors who don't give you the bum's rush?
I thank you for your thoughts and a bit of a push. Once I feel better I forget I had it.

Try the onion,too. I read somewhere that in olden times they would put a cut onion on the night table of a sick person. supposedly the onion attracts all the impurities and in the morning the onion would be black.

I have a wonderful general physician. He looked at my neck and thought my thyroid was swollen. Sent me for a CAT scan. My thyroid is okay but I have trouble with my parathyroids. Need to take medication every day. Glad he spotted it. When my kids were little, I felt "rushed" at the pediatrician and saw a different doctor each time. I wrote down the questions I had on 3 by 5 cards. That way I made sure I got everything addressed.

So glad you went to a doctor!

Ellie- My DH is a medical oncologist and his office sounds like your oncologist's. They try to do whatever they can to help the patient, not just with the medical treatment, but with all those other things that a patient has to deal with. The chemo staff spend a lot of time with patients receiving treatment and they get to know them and their families, and they knitted afghans for the patients getting chemo who might feel chilled. I think they're a remarkable group. I have a box full of notes from patients thanking my DH and even letters from family members who have lost their loved ones but still felt a need to thank him and his staff.

But I'd like to add something about the comment you made about the new doctors who are so efficient and who type notes as your talk. They might not have a choice in this. The federal government has mandated that physicians must be online with Electronic Medical Records by 2014. My DH's office has been converting to EMT's for the past year in order to be in compliance with the requirements.

This is a hugely expensive and time consuming undertaking requiring both hardware (notebook computers for all the doctors, nurses, and assts. working directly with patients) and a even more expensive proprietary software package to organize the data and allow for transmittal of the information. The cost for the hardware, software, and extensive training sessions for all the staff is roughly estimated at about $30,00 per physician and there are 5 in my DH's office. The government has mandated this but there is no reimbursement for expenses, it's just the cost of doing business. If a health care provider fails to comply there will be penalties.

My DH isn't thrilled with this undertaking. While he can readily see the advantages of EMR's it has added more work to his day which is already long. The part that he really detests is the "taking notes while the patient talks." Unfortunately there is no way around this. The software program has a list of questions that has to be asked in a set order - and of course he then has to record each of the patient's answer in his notebook. He schedules 45 to 50 minutes for a new patient. He complains that he now spends the first 20 minutes with this EMR routine - then he can spend the rest of the time with the exam. He misses the direct eye to eye contact that he previously had. Obviously he can look at the patient when he asks the questions but he has to keep referring to the program to ask the right question in the correct order and then typing the answer. He knows the patients don't like it either. When he comes home from work he spends another 1 to 2 hours checking the EMRs that have been sent to his inbox. These new messages include all the records that have arrived from his other patients - their lab work, follow ups, tests, MRI reports, cat scans ....any medical report.

Unfortunately we'll be seeing this everywhere. My neighbor is a family practice physician in a poorer part of the city and he has decided that he won't convert. When the time comes he'll just retire. The health care system in the US is undergoing a tremendous change which will have major effects on all of us.

quilly, thanks for telling me something I didn't know. It is horrible information. You understand so well how an oncologist's office is. Your husband and his office are so dear and what I'm used to. I know you are a waiting wife so much of the time. I'm sorry about that. How can we make it different for you?

I also judge an office by the front desk because they make changes happen and call the hospital STAT without being told to. They work late changing appointments to suit our chemo reaction.

They can be so helpful in getting things done. I went to a well-known heart doctor for an appt. and was in the middle of atrial fibrillation and told the "girls" I was feeling so sick and they said my appt. was in 15 min. and someone would be out.It was luchtime. No one came out to get me and I called an ambulance. My oncologist took this "well known" doc a part.
The guy was scared and came to see me in the hospital and asked me to go back to him. I said not until he fired those girls who shared their thoughts on clothing in a magazine as I got worse. I never folowed up.
It is hard for me to accept doctors who don't care enough about their patients to hire smart, experienced people who translate my needs and make cognitive decisions and know good references for me until I can see the doctor. They should be paid well. That's my conundrum.

I feel old and discarded when I look for a new doctor. I honestly feel I will die from the next big hit because the medical world is all about billable hours and multiple practices. I never knew when I got on Medicaire that it would become a roadblock as well. Another sigh tonight. think I better turn in.

Thanks for your valuable insight and understandin.

I love this forum. Look how much we've learned from an earache! Thanks from me, too quilly. Even though the info was scary and sad, it was good to know so that we won't prejudge.

Ellie and Georgysmom - how kind you are to thank me. I believe that's a first for me! You are so right about being a 'waiting wife'. My Father worked a regular 8 to 5 job and dinner was ready and waiting for him when he arrived home at 5:30. My Mother just couldn't understand why our dinner might be anywhere from 6 to 9 at night. I always felt that my role in our marriage was to ease his way at home so that he could unwind from a stressful day. But I'm not unique, there are many wives who have husbands working long hours in all types of jobs.

You are right too about Medicare - a number of physicians have opted out of Medicare because of low reimbursements, the amount of paperwork required, the increasingly complicated regulations and restrictions on which treatments they will cover. At one time a physician could appeal a denial and with the right information to back up the physician's decision many times Medicare would then approve it. That rarely happens today.

I hate to say this but my DH is also scared about the future of medicine. We have a shortage of GP's now and that will certainly worsen. Instead of seeing your doctor when you have your appointment there will be more Doctor's Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. The link below is a little old but it highlights some of the issues in trying to find a doctor who accepts Medicare.

One of the physicians who works with my DH has a daughter entering her third year of Medical School. She took out a $250,000 loan to cover tuition and living expenses. Originally she had planned on becoming a plastic surgeon and wanted to specialize in Pediatric Reconstruction because she herself had a severe facial deformity as a child. She's just about given up on that dream because she's afraid she'll never be able to pay back all the additional loans she'll need if she tries to specialize. At this point she will probably become an Internist or a Pediatrician. My DH loves his profession and has great compassion for his patients, but he is discouraged at how the medical field has changed and because he doesn't see the same dedication in the younger physicians who have recently completed their training. None of our children have chosen to follow their father and he hasn't encouraged them either. Medicine has changed so drastically that he can barely recognize it and he still has quite a few years before he retires.

Sorry this is so long, yet I've barely touched on the difficulties and controversies associated with medicine today. Ellie I hope you can find a family doctor that you trust to care for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times

Yes, again, thank you.