Quote:
Originally Posted by Petruchio  Hammer,
Can you shop around for another Dr? |
I've thought about that, but I've got this one broken in. Aside from this test strip thing, we get along like old buddies. He's easy to talk to, and he doesn't bug me about things. By that I mean that, once he's discovered yet another ailment I've developed, we'll discuss it, and if I don't care about what it is or what it will do to me, then he gets the idea and doesn't mention it again.
When he found that I had diabetes, he gave me all this literature, a prescription for metformin, and he scheduled several more tests. I filled the prescription for the metformin, and when I found it bothered my stomach, I threw it away. I never read the literature, so I threw that away also. I also cancelled all the tests he scheduled. I wasn't interested in my condition, and I told him that the next time I saw him.
Whenever I'd go to his office to see him about an unrelated matter, he'd try to set me up to do some more diabetes related tests. I told him not to bother because I wouldn't go. He'd fill out the forms for me to take to the hospital anyway, so I'd throw them in his trash can on the way out.
When he saw that I really didn't care about my condition, he stopped bugging me. Most doctors think they're god and to not listen to them is a sin. My doctor isn't like that...that's another reason I like him. I guess that he found it hard to believe that I wasn't the least bit interested in my diabetes. I have it, so what? That's why it's hard for me to understand why a lot of people get so depressed when they are diagnosed with it. To me, diabetes is no big deal, so what's there to get depressed about?
Keep in mind that before I found him, I never had a family doctor. I'd just go to the hospital when I needed medical attention. My philosophy was always, "If I'm paying for it, he'll see me on my time. I'm not going to make an appointment and have to wait two weeks before seeing a family doctor....I might be dead by then."
Many years ago, I needed to get the nicotine patch. Back then you needed a prescription for it, and unless the doctor was your family doctor, they didn't want to prescribe it. I needed to get a family doctor, so I called the physician's referral service and was told there were no physicians in my area that were accepting new patients. They told me to call back in a year or so, and maybe by then there would be some new doctors.(I guess if I had diabetes back then, I'd have died before I had been diagnosed.)
Two years later, I called and they gave me several new doctors names, so I asked them which one was the youngest, and they told me him, so I went to him. I'm sure there are many more new doctors in this area, but I don't like change so I'll just stay with him. I figured that with my three strips a day allowance, I might test every other day, that way I'd still get to do 6 tests in one day.
