TLPTPW---Kingdom Edition

A while back I had a large rash on my stomach that kept growing and getting redder and redder and even purple around the edges...the first few Dr's thought it could have been MRSA and put me on heavy duty IV antibiotics every 12 hours. At my 3rd trip in to get the IV a 2nd Dr looked at it and asked 'why aren't you on these pills too?', I said 'I have no clue' and she said 'IDIOTS!' and put me on some antibiotic pills too. After 7 days of every 12 hour IV's and the pills and several more Dr's, you see one during the day and then a different one in the middle of the night, this was all down out patient, the lab results came back that it was JUST the SA part of MRSA, a simple Staphylococcus Aureus infection I had picked up somewhere. AND it turns out the pills WERE in fact the BEST medication to get rid of it for me. The IV's stopped, the pills were finished and after another month or so the rash started fading away on its own.

The KEY for me was the Dr who gave me the pills was Asian and had had training all over the WORLD instead of ONLY in the US, she had seen and heard of things ALOT of Dr's never had!! That is why when I switched Dr's a few years ago I went 'interviewing' Dr's asking them where they had trained and worked. I tend to ask ALOT of questions and even do internet research on what I THINK I might have and possible treatments, even though I am OFTEN wrong. And then do the same thing after the Dr makes the RIGHT diagnosis giving us even more to discuss at the next visit. Sometimes my Dr learns things from me then researches them on his own to verify what I am saying, but more often then not he is hamstrung by the policies of the practice in what he KNOWS will work and what they will LET him actually do. Sometimes we are stuck with the old tried and still mostly works methods as opposed to something new and better that works much quicker, and with fewer side effects too. I have an HMO, Kaiser, and it just is what it is!!

I have had Dr's in the past after we have had tests done read me the other Dr's test results and when I have asked then to do a follow-up question have refused to do so, I never saw those Dr's again!! WTF does "Normal" mean when you are 48 years old and you have a hip x-ray because it's KILLING YOU? My NEXT Dr found out it means it's 'normal for a 48 year old hip, meaning some signs of age related wear and tear'. It does NOT mean "normal" for a 24year old hip, or "normal" for a 70 year old hip, but the first Dr even REFUSED to ask the question!! YES the x-ray Dr looked at MY record and matched the x-ray to what [b]I[/] was saying was the reason for the x-ray, and made their evaluation based on all the info they had available to them. The end result...I am now 63 years old, actively losing weight and the hip is MUCH better. It seems the weight caused stress on lots of things including the WAY I was walking which made one hip hurt LOTS more than the other one. Losing over 100 lbs, so far, has sort of evened me back out again and I am walking more like I am supposed to walk!!

[Dr Mike ignore this part, rant on] Dr's spend EXTENSIVE amounts of time learning things, but communicating to the pt is one thing they seem to miss, or lose, during the process. If you are being nothing more than a robot, why should the pt come see you except when they think they are REALLY sick? If you have zero pt report what makes you think the pt will come see and TRUST you when they have small niggle thing that can be easily treated LONG before it turns into something for the medical books?!! Communication is a two way street, YES Dr's EXPECT the pt to listen to them, but if the Dr's don't ALSO listen why should the pt come see them when they have that little niggly thing that can be easily treated? {/rant over]

The game is progressing very nicely and YES Chris S I CAN see the end in sight, how close or how far away that is is for you too find out when it arrives!! In the meantime all I can 'hint' is keep on playing!!!