I’ve blogged before about how much my old doctor sucked, and how much I needed to get off of my ass and find a new one. Well, I finally did it. I started out looking up a couple of clinics that I knew were close to home. I found that one was covered by my insurance, and happened to stumble across an online review saying glowing things about it. I also saw by the sign that it had a good handful of providers there, so I knew there’d be a few to choose from.
I still have to have my records sent to them and all that, but I needed to go see a doctor this week for a possible infection, so in I went this morning. The lady I saw apologized for being late—10 minutes late. This is after my last experience waiting 4.5 hours in a waiting room. Immediately I decided I was kindly disposed toward her.
The office was clearly very popular. I had a 7 am appointment (I love that they open that early!) and there was already a handful of patients present at opening. All the receptionists and nurses were actually smiling and friendly at that hour, which is a great sign. I knew they actually had some money invested in the place when I noted that instead of photocopying my insurance card and having me manually fill out all the information for it, they just scanned it in, much like the local hospital does.
That was nothing compared to the actual doctor visit, however. My doctor didn’t write anything down—she had a laptop for taking notes. She had a PDA with which she double-checked the prescriptions she was about to write me against my medications, and yes, she bothered to do that double-check to guard against unwanted interactions. She filled out my prescriptions on the laptop and just had them printed at the front desk for me to take with me. Clearly they have a nice budget and a willingness to make use of technology to make their work faster, easier, and more effective.
Best of all, though, she was a very cool doctor. She was nice and knowledgeable, and she listened. She seemed to be more up on things like allergic reactions (very important to me!) than previous doctors I’ve had. So now I have an antibiotic prescription to fill, and more importantly, I finally have a good doctor!
Unfortunately when I asked her if she could recommend a decent psychiatrist in the area, however—something no one has been able to do so far, since apparently they generally suck here—she just made a face and said that no, she didn’t know of any good ones. So apparently that’ll be a harder problem to solve. Still, one at a time. If I can find a good doctor, then I can find a good psychiatrist. It’s just a matter of time.
…OMG, I’m turning into an optimist!
Gratz. I don’t trust any doctor farther than I can throw him, but courtesy and genuine interest in their patients are always good signs. If you’re anywhere around Texas, my sister’s psychiatrist might be able to recommend a good one.
I finally got around to reading your husband’s article on static world creation. Great stuff. I’m a big fan of using the real world as a model for fictional worlds, too. I didn’t see a place to comment there.
One thing he might consider while he’s mixing real-world nations around in his fantasy map is that geography has a huge effect on culture. America wouldn’t be so independently minded or powerful if we weren’t so physically distant from our European heritage and protected on two sides by great oceans. Switzerland wouldn’t be neutral in foreign relations if they weren’t stuck in the middle of it all. And nations like Australia and Russia would be much wealthier if most of their lands were not so inshospitable.
I have had one or two good docs in the past, so I know they do exist. They’re just almost as tough to find as a needle in a haystack, and sadly the criminally poor ones exist in greater numbers. Like the doc I saw during high school for headaches. I found out later that I’d had impacted wisdom teeth (impacted against my sinuses) show up on my sinus x-rays, which he took toward the start of the whole ordeal. Yet he ignored them, became convinced I was suffering from tension headaches, and put me on progressively more debilitating medication over the course of about nine months. Finally a chiropractor, of all people, asked me if I’d seen a dentist about my headaches, and the mystery was solved. Even after the teeth were extracted and the headaches went away, however, the original doc tried to insist he’d been right. He was later banned from the local hospital for misdiagnoses.
So far my husband has definitely been exploring geography’s effects on culture. It’s been interesting to see, because the main city the current campaign takes place in has a very unusual topography, and that has had some fairly strong impacts on trade, economics, and religion. I love it.
I’m glad you found some good, helpful people. Hopefully the rest will all fall right into place soon.
Aye, and thanks Scott. New antibiotic seems to be working out well, too. Makes me a bit nauseous, but I’ll take that over an allergic reaction any day!
high minded me – ooh i am so happy that worked out for HER
petty me – jealousy raging resentment – how come OTHER people get good doctors but not me?
intellectual me – this proves that it is possible, my search will continue
I do so hope you find a good one soon! Luckily there are some doctors out there who truly do wish to help others. I just wish there were more of them!