Doctors. Can’t live with them, can’t, well. You get the idea. Since having A, my whole perspective of the health-care industry (especially doctors) has changed. I used to be one of those “the doctor is always right, any doctor will do,” laissez faire types. You know, the person who always went to a nearby medi-clinic, and barely ever the same one twice. The person who never even thought to book important appointments ahead of time. The person who waltzed in to the clinic expecting an appointment RIGHTNOW only to be surprised at the receptionist’s eye-roll and droll “it will be 2 hours before the doctor can see you.” And the person who took it as a personal insult when the 2 hours turned into 3. Yes, that was me.
However, as soon as I became pregnant with A, I knew this feather-in-the-wind attitude towards my healthcare had to change. And it did. I got online to BC’s “Find a Physician” website and searched for a family practitioner that was accepting patients. My criteria was that I wanted someone fairly young (as I thought they would be open to new ideas and research, and that they would still have that ‘passion’ for medical care that comes with those starting out in their careers), and someone fairly close by (within walking distance or a quick bus ride).
I thought I found the perfect fit. She graduated from UBC in 2003 (so I guessed on the younger side), and her office was a 10 minute bus ride away. I made an appointment with her to do an intake. My first impression: kind of cool, nice, but a bit brisk. She told me that she could be my family doctor, but she did not see maternity patients. Ok, fine. She referred me to a maternity clinic at the BC Women’s Hospital, and sent me on my way.
After my first set of blood-work was ordered, my family doctor’s office called me to make an appointment because my doctor wanted to discuss my blood-work. I did, even though I knew the blood-work would be examined by the maternity doctor as well. However, when I saw the doctor, she looked at me with a blank face, and asked me what I was there for. I kind of gave her the side-eye, and said, “well you called me in, so I don’t know.” It ended up being just an iron deficiency, and she said that it didn’t matter since I was taking prenatal vitamins anyway. WTF???
Now, I’m no expert. But it seems to me that if a clinic calls YOU in to make an appointment, your doctor should probably know enough to look at your charts or whatever it is they do ahead of time. I’m sure on my charts it would have said something along the lines of “Called Jenny re: blood-work” and “pregnant” and “referred to maternity clinic”–SOMETHING. Really, there should be good enough reason to force someone to crate their growing pregnant ass and belly–on the bus even–to the clinic for an appointment. An appointment that was scheduled for 5 but actually started at 5:30. I was pretty pissed to say the least.
So, you might think that I, like any reasonable, at least somewhat intelligent person would do, might take my newborn son elsewhere for healthcare. Somewhere practical maybe. Somewhere that didn’t make silly, unnecessary appointments. Nope. Not me. Since I had never been that great at finding healthcare services for myself, I thought that this was normal. So, I asked the clinic if my doctor would take on my son, but apparently she was going away or something and they told me that they had a new young male doctor who was taking patients. Great! Sign me up!
Now, I don’t need to get into the details of A’s lack of weight gain, as I already dug into that topic here. However I will reiterate (sorry) and add on a few points:
– He took my word for it that A was constipated rather than doing his doctor tricks to discover the cause of A’s discomfort (hello weight scale and questions about consistency of the poop, are you there? knock knock)
– When I went on Dom Peridone to increase my breast-milk supply, I asked him how many a day and he kind of looked confused, then said “let me google that for you.” I then warily asked him for how long I should be on the pills once my milk came in, and he kind of shrugged his shoulders and said, “I guess a week.” Needless to say I asked the pharmacist, and she told me that I would have to be on the pills for as long as I continued to breast-feed A. Hah!
– When I asked him what type of sunscreen I should use with A, he said “That’s a good question, let me google that.”
Now, I have NO PROBLEMS with someone not knowing the answer to something. In fact, I do think it is great when someone can admit that they don’t know, as this tends to mean they are honest and won’t just feed you BS. But still. The word ‘google’ as a verb in the doctor’s office? Come on. Also, I pretty much think that he has not had a lot of babies as patients.
BUT BUT BUT!! I have good news. My poor health-care habits die here. I have an appointment to see a doctor who came HIGHLY recommended to me by a friend. In fact when I told my friend about the “iron appointment incident” she laughed and said that her doctor’s office also called her about an iron deficiency, but that instead of forcing her to make an appointment, they just told her the specific type of supplement she was to take. Hello practicality, how you doin’?
Flirting with Practicality
So I called, and the receptionist said they were only accepting maternity patients (nope, not me, not pregnant) and I said something along the lines of “myfriendsaidthedrwasamazingandshe’smovingcanwetakeherspot” so the receptionist took both A’s and my information (also my friends information in case I was scamming) and said that she would talk to the doctor. And they called the next day. AND both A and I are patients with this new doctor. August 21st baby! So excited!! (But sad that my friend had to move).
Anyway, here ends my rant on healthcare. And my own disorganization. And the word “google” as a verb. Although I will probably revisit this topic again (healthcare, not google) to discuss my pregnancy and complications. No eye-rolls please.
What have been your experiences with healthcare thus far? Do you like your doctor? Do you have a doctor? Does your doctor use the word “google” in his office with you? Tell me please.
Also, a bit of cuteness to brighten your day. And mine.
Apple cheeks
gogippergo 
ps your new doctor’s secretary is awesome! if it’s still the same one. She knows what’s going on 🙂
Jenny! What a horrible experience! I love a doctor that admits that they don’t know but google as a verb should not be allowed! That is like saying “Wikipedia says….’
Sam’s pedi did have to look up a drug interaction online during a visit early on but didn’t admit to using any specific search engine. I assumed, of course, that he went to a peer-reviewed source from some world recognized doctor for his information! Haha! I know it’s unlikely but, it helped me take his advice a little more seriously!
Keep up the great writing! Loving it!
Roslyn
Yes, I totally agree he should have said ‘let me look that up.’ it’s so important to have confidence in your healthcare providers. One thing I didn’t mention was that the first doctor always told me to ask a pharmacist about any drug-related questions. Ugh!
Oh man Jenny, I agree with you when you say your views of the medical profession have changed since becoming pregnant and having a baby. I have a story for you. This is the worst one out of several that I have accumulated during this pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum journey.
When I was 11 weeks pregnant I went to my doctor because I thought I was having a miscarriage. So she ordered blood work that day and again two days later to see if my HCG levels were declining and if they were then yes I was having a miscarriage. She told me to phone her two hours after I went for the blood work on day two and she would give me the results. I did, and unfortunately she told me my levels had declined and I was having a miscarriage. I was devastated. She scheduled me for a ultrasound and a D&C three days later. I went on for my appointment and told the ultrasound tech, “please don’t let me see the fetus.” Much to my surprise and the ultrasound techs surprise I was still pregnant. There was a heart beat!! I didn’t now how to react … I spent the last couple days grieving and crying all.the.time. I asked the tech, “how can this be, my HCG levels were decline?”
She asked me again how far along I was and I told her 11 weeks, she said, “I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure testing HCG level after 8 weeks is a invalid way to test for miscarriage as at this time the placenta holds the hormones not your blood (one reason why typically you feel better in second trimester).” I was shocked. How could a ultrasound tech know this and not my doctor. After researching it it turns out the tech was right. I was mad, why did I have to go through all this pain because my doctor didn’t know what the hell she was talking about?!
Oh my gosh Megan!! How horrifying. Your story gave me chills. I can’t believe you had to go through such unnecessary heartache. I would have been pissed. Did you continue with the same doctor?
Jenny, it was scary to read your horrible doctor experience. I can’t believe you were looking for new graduates. I was always scared of newbies. Education these days is so easy. We are taught everything easy way. That is why the doctor said “google” instead of remembering things. Back in the days, people had good memories. Technology is making us worse. In the future,don’t be afraid to go to an experienced doctor. This is just my thought. You have a great time with your baby Jenny. Hopefully nothing horrible happens in the future.
I agree that I should have thought twice about looking for a new graduate, but my reasons were that I just thought they would be open to new research and more familiar with modern ways of doing things. I think now I most definitely want someone with a lot of experience. I learned that the harder way.