Last visit to the Thoracic Surgeon
Maggie drove the interstate like a pro… well, a white-knuckled pro. Dropped in a Tia restaurant for lunch (it’s the little hole-in-th-wall wall where we’ve met for lunch, Mikey). Good stuff. My TS office is just on down the street..
Final consultation will be: Walk in, he looks at the scar and says “yes, everything fine” and then bills my insurance a bundle. I know he drill. However, first off I ask if he has time for a couple of questions and comments before the cursory examination.
II asked if I will always have this weak raspy voice or will it get better in the future.
Doc: “Well, that’s really hard to tell. I might get a better but again it might not. Hard to tell”
Me: “Spoken like a true highly skilled medical professional. I know that you are professional and highly skilled and very good at what you do because if you were not you would not still be a doctor. Right?”
Doc: “Well, yes I suppose that’s right.”
Me: “You know, before I retired I was a highly skilled professional and very good at what I did as well – and being a professional, one expects those with whom one deals to value honesty in dealing with others. When you visited me in the ICU – a place you must admit that I should never have ended up …” My best askance look and a pause for comment. It came.
Doc: “Well there are certain situations when the staff recommends ICU …”
Me – interrupting. “Even if everything went well? That’s what you told me in your brief visit to the ICU. If you recall I was having a terrible time and when you stood in the doorway and proclaimed “everything went well” and I replied “Oh, really?”, instead of being honest about what really happened, you, in what I could only take as reaction of what you felt was an incredulous remark, said “Yes, it went fine”, spun around and left. I just wanted to let you know how I felt about that. You could have explained exactly what had happened to land me in ICU gasping for breath – even if it was not your doing. It was as obvious to you as it was to me that “everything did not go fine. I would have appreciated some sort of explanation instead. I felt your response was arrogant and unprofessional.”
Doc:.”What I was referring to was my procedure (medianoscopy) which did go well. The damage was obviously done in the preparatory work to open the passage way. I don’t enter the OR until the anesthesiologist has put you under.” Pointing a silent finger to the gas passers. Not my fault.
He fumbled with my chart flipping through the pathology results as if there was a magical entry that would satisfy me.. Enough spanking – don’t enjoy seeing people squirm. I told him that I now understand the damage was from the prep work so I apologize for thinking it was his procedure … but that he still could have cleared that up during his visit. I thanked him for allowing me to speak my mind, and he in turn thanked me for bringing my displeasure on how he handled he situation to his attention. Shook hands. Ciao.
Fighting My Dragon 