On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:29:35 -0400, the infamous "Mike Marlow"
scrawled the following:
Larry Jaques wrote:
Thankfully, I've never even -met- a specialist. I'm only 56, though.
Hey - me too (for a short time longer...), or are you suggesting that I'm
some kind of old fart?
Or just one sick MF? silly grinne
Oh, I've always done that, too. And I find doctors intelligent, just
not really caring or sharing. Most seem quite hurried (their office
manglers overbook them on purpose, I think) distracted, and unhappy.
When it comes to specialists, I don't lump them into this category since I
don't have the same power of choice when it comes to them. However... when
it comes to primary care physicians, I sure as hell do and I exercise that
level of discretion. It's almost like an interview process. I want to know
what my doctor is going to be like - a pill pusher (a no-op in our book),
too busy to talk and to listen - another no-op, aware enough of me that I
don't have to re-introduce myself every time I come in? Admitedly, I live
in rural upstate NY and I can find family physicians to meet those demands.
Maybe people in other areas can't.
Downstate Oregon, 30k people in town, fewer doctors, overworked by old
farts, maybe?.
I hate to go see doctors, so I've always tried to have as much
knowledge about the subject at hand as they do, if not more (more
common.) I seldom have any disease of interest to them. House would
just _hate_ me. 
Geeeeeeezus - I hate to go see them too! They always want to stick a finger
up.... ummmm, well - you know. What the hell ever happened to "take two
asprins and call me in the morning"?
....and "That'll be $2.00"?
Most react to my attention to detail and awareness of what's going on
in my body with pleasant surprise and a grin. (I know that probably
sounds awfully arrogant, but that's not the tone of the interaction,
honest.) "I was going to pry that info out of you but you told me
without prompting. Wonderful." But I don't get the long and
informative conversations you talk of, Mike.
Oh hell - that's just because you're not the charming and engaging person
that I'm widely known to be. I may suck at woodworking compared to some of
the real good guys here, but two things I can sure as hell do is, 1) paint a
car and 2)....... ummmmmm,..... **** - I forgot. Damnit! Hate it when
that happens!
OK. kaff, kaff
I see doctors every 3-10 years, and then only if I -have- to.
Used to be that way for me, but recently I noticed that I somehow find my
way in there about once a year. And I still have to wait in that damned
chair out front near the snotty nosed kid!
I was chauffeuring my elderly neighbor and his daughter to the clinics
last year and got to see all that crap, too. It reminded me why I
didn't go see the doctor. I haven't tried stitching up my own scalp
yet, but I do butterfly my deeper slice wounds and they're healed in 2
weeks. I diagnose and cure 95% of my infrequent problems and
absolutely hate it when a doctor confirms my suspicions and has
nothing more to add, nor does he seem to care.
I'm wondering now if they'll give me free lesser-care if I get the DNR
tattoo on my left wrist. Soylent Green, here I come!
--
Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for.
-- Earl Warren