Hopeless,

my dad was a nurse anesthetist (like a anesthesiologist, but the initials after the name are different. CRNA = Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist). He retired a couple of years ago...at the age of 72 or 73. He'd have stayed longer, but he broke his arm, and his heart condition was starting to get a bit more serious. So when he broke his arm, he retired.

My dad's little brother was also a CRNA. He died about 20yrs ago. I've got cousins that are nurses, respiratory therapists, x-ray techs. No doctors tho.

Even my grandfather (dad's dad) was a nurse, and an orderly. He made more money as an orderly tho. But, he got his nursing license because he was pretty much a jack-of-all-trades in the hospital he worked in. (this was way back in the 40s and 50s). He would do everything from shaving people in sensitive places for surgery, to putting in catheters, or IV's. I'm told he was a pretty good nurse/orderly. Wish I'd gotten to meet him. My dad's sister that passed away a few years ago told me once that my dad, and my uncle are/were a lot like my grandfather was, gentle personalities. Perfect for nursing.

My nurse practitioner aunt is very...outgoing. (she was married to my uncle). She can wake the dead with her "nurse voice". She has the authoritative nurses voice. (I swear, she kept my dog from dying in the front yard when I wasn't home after he got poisoned. She woke him up with "the voice", and he lived another couple of days)

Hi Erin,

What a great medical background to have in your family and now I am REALLY envious. So much access to people that have the information patients seek.

You obviously come from a very caring family that devoted their lives to the care and help of others.

It is like our service people, they go unrecognized for their services. I so admire those that provide service to the public; medical personnel, military, fire fighters, etc. To be so giving of themselves to others is very admirable in my book.

Thanks for your post.

Erin,
I was a teacher of Emotionally Disturbed kids for years. The Psychologists wore clothes we could not as students acted out or threw up on us, etc. We said we were in the trenches, the first lines. Our job was to hold the universe together when kid's worlds broke apart and still teach math. I loved it. Like mothers we got so many unsung wonderful moments. What other job would offer such variety - running (mostly after students) and playing basketball at recess (I really was bad).

Hi y'all nice ti see you.

Hey ya Sally, hope you're doing well!

And no, Atlanta is definitely too far for me to travel for my medical care. Instead of an hour or so, I'm looking at far closer to 8 hours to get there, especially when you factor in the number of times I need to stop when riding in a car. Once the car ride starts to exceed about 45 mins I really need to get out. It's one part muscles spasming and one part anxiety in cars that still hasn't gone away (improved some but not gone).

But I am hoping to meet with one of the other doctors that will be taking over for my retired doctor sometime next week. My mother needs and appt to go see the PCP for her heart and was recommended to one of the others in the group as a PCP, so I'll get a chance to see how they are. My mom almost always goes with me to my doctors appts and me to hers so we get to double dip in the doctor pool .

But I really can't imagine having doctors that aren't part of the same group anymore after getting everyone into the same group. It's just so easy for them to compare records, I don't have to remember when I went to see this doctor or that doctor or when tests were ordered or what the tests were. Everything is right there on the computer screen for the docs and specialists to look at and review and they get all the doctor's notes and info so I don't even have to worry about one doctor making a notation that my other doctor won't see until after I've seen them when they get the records passed over from the other office.

I have been quite spoiled these past couple of years. But at the same time I remember the horrors of what it was like with my PCP being through one group, my neuro through another, and pain management through yet another group. I can't even count how many times I had the same blood tests run just because one office didn't send the information over to the other office, or how many times I was nearly sent to get another set of images (MRI/X-ray) done because one office didn't send over the scans and I was just lucky that I keep all that information with both the discs and the radiology report. But that was another bother as I was constantly toting around almost 9 years worth of images and reports.

But having everyone in the same group... Not once has a doctor had to ask why a medication was changed, what medications I was taking now (other than to confirm what they had on file) allergies are a mere confirmation, and if it gets reported to one office, all the offices have it on record. They don't have to ask when I last saw my primary, or neuro, what tests were ordered. Nothing... It makes the visits so much easier, and the doctors can even ask each other questions directly without having to jump through hoops.

I was in with my neuro and she had a quick question for my primary so she just shot her something like an IM/text message thingy and got a response right away. There was none of that "have the receptionist call this doctor's office and see if dr xx is available. Oh he's not... well leave a message that I need to ask about this patient... yes we'll hold while you look her up... when was she last there???... Ummm.... " To which they have almost always come back from "asking my primary/specialist" with well once we find out about XXXX we'll give you a call to let you know if you should AAAA or BBBB.

I can't go back to that again... I just can't... I need all my doctors to be in the same house . On the same page and locked into the same system. It's just too nice, too easy, and makes things far too simple for me to ever step outside again. And I really don't like the neuro for Baptist, and Southeast scares me (they kill people ). But well, things will work out somehow I guess. One advantage if I don't like any of the doctors taking over is that I do LOVE the primary care doctor for Baptist and he was my old doctor before he ran away to Virginia on me. Worse case scenario I'll just have to step outside and use him.

Some day we will have robot doctors or doctors on a computer screen that has a technician with you and he/she watches the exam and analyzes.

I hate to say it, with as much as I dislike technology... especially when it comes to the medical field for a lot of things. But the idea of having some kind of computerized doctor truly fascinates me. Of course I suffer from a very slight case of mysophobia that's largely limited to Walmart, hospitals and doctor's offices so that may explain why I have my fingers crossed. I'm just always so afraid that I'm going to go see my doctor for a regular check up and end up with meningitis or something. Or go to the hospital and catch some flesh eating virus when they draw blood... And well... Walmart is just Walmart, it seems to be the place people go with the sole intent to be completely nasty so there's no telling what you could walk out of there with.

But the thought of having a strictly computerized doctor, is just rather awe inspiring and we're getting ever closer to it. There's some speculation that we will have solved for the cooling problem on a super computer that can analyze the entirety of a strand of DNA in seconds. The implication of that for medical is huge! Imagine being able to get customized health care from a single drop of blood. All your medicine, diet and necessary exercise routine from just one drop of blood or a simple swab of saliva. We're still at least a decade out before we can even make such computers that can compute with enough speed, but we're getting ever closer. And if in twenty years I never have to go to the doctor again, I'll be one happy person.

But I'm really praying for the day when we no longer have to gather all our sick (and more often then not contagious) people into one tiny room and keep them trapped there, coughing, sneezing and spitting away, awaiting the call of their names as they continue to spread their pestilence and disease among the masses.

Yeah I'm that crazy woman at the doctor's office who's sitting on the very edge of the waiting room chair, not touching any of the magazines, nor making eye contact with anyone else in the waiting room and who all but runs once her name is called. I also tend to wear a mask at the doctor's office if there's anyone else in the waiting room. I have managed to keep myself from wearing gloves however, but mostly because I just don't touch anything. I make my mom or husband fill out my paperwork, and also make them open the doors for me that the nurses don't open.

Yet another reason why I love my doctor's offices. They picked up on how uncomfortable I am around sick people right away and since have tried their very best to schedule me when there is no one else on the schedule. And the nurse always gets the doors for us now. They also hand the clip boards with any needed paperwork right over to whoever is with me at the appt. And they all know I don't like to be touched... at all... for any reason... though I will tolerate it but keep it as concise as you can to determine what you need to know then back off...

And yet another reason why I wasn't that fond of the young pup they set me up with... he was very touchy feely... well okay maybe not a whole lot more than most doctors with patients that don't mind it... but for me... he needed to stop touching so much, especially in the same place, over and over again. And oddly enough it's not a fear of germs for that one, it does cause physical pain if I'm touched too much by someone I'm not familiar with or perhaps someone who isn't familiar with me might be the way to state that...

There's certain ways that are okay, and ways that just aren't... almost like stroking a cat's fur in the wrong direction... some places you can do it and they purr... some places you do it and you come back with a bloodied arm. Once you get to know me, you know which nerve groups to avoid and you can touch me all day long... if you don't know which ones... I am in for a world of pain and only because I've developed patience and understanding over the years, you won't be in a world of pain right along side me.

But I imagine that's there's something in my medical record to that affect as other than the young pup, every other doctor in the group has taken a pretty hands-off approach with me. Even the neuro when I switched over to her was apologetic that she had to physically exam me, and was very direct in exactly where she would touch and how before so much as laying a finger on me. We got through it, a few things were not that great but necessary, but I had time to prepare myself and was given time afterwards to let the nerves settle back down. The young pup on the other hand was more grabby without preamble.

thank goodness for my aunt!

last night I was really really sick with what I thought was food poisoning. turns out it's probably a virus.

I was throwing up repeatedly today, which I hate doing, because of spasticity. I was really really sick. I asked my dad if we had anything to calm down the throwing up. He said he didn't, but he'd call my aunt. She's a freaking lifesaver! She had some zofran! Whole bottle full. Brought it over for me, and I used it to calm down my stomach.

I did call my regular doctor today, and got myself a Rx of zofran for myself. Good thing I have my aunt's bottle. The delivery guy never showed up! He was supposed to bring the zofran, and my baclofen! (which I'm almost out of). Kind of annoyed about that.

Tonight, I started feeling pretty bad, but not vomity. More MS-ish. I feel like I can barely lift my leg. Couldn't figure out what was going on until I checked my temperature. I'm running a temp over 100.

My dad keeps coming downstairs with tylenol in little envelopes. Hoping that this is just a mini flare, and not something full blown that's going to ruin my summer/year/life.

really cannot wait until this virus goes away. Hoping I didn't give it to my parents. They both have heart conditions. I don't want them getting stressed by all the icky that I went through last night and this morning.

just so glad that my aunt is so awesome to bring me the zofran.

I haven't tried Zofran, but I have found that Dramamine works in a pinch for the icky pukies. I forget what anti-nausea med they gave me with my sinus surgery, but I was still feeling a bit puky after I finished the rx and before I could really afford to vomit so I picked up the Dramamine. It worked decently enough to keep everything down and to settle the stomach a bit so I didn't feel quite so blah.

Oh my dear Erin,

I am so sorry to hear of your recent "bug" and hope you get that nasty thing out of your system QUICK !!!

I can't stand to be even slightly nauseated. Just put me in a pine box, throw dirt over me, and let me R.I.P. Well, I am not happy about any illness or pain, but to me, nausea and vomiting are the WORST.

I am so glad, (and envious as I said previously) you had your Aunt come to your rescue.

Wishing you a speedy recovery from the bug and sure hope you are NOT going into a bad flare.

I, too, hope your bug was not contagious enough to spread to your folks.

Feel better soon.