My New Doctor
I haven’t seen a primary care doctor in a little while and I needed to get into see one but I had zero intention of going back to Dr. N, who scolded me for having “too high” of an a1c in less than six months after being diagnosed with diabetes. (I was happy with the 8.1 at the point in time because I was over 11 when I was diagnosed) She was abrupt with me. I didn’t feel like she listened to the whole story. And she acted like she’d never seen any insulin pump before. Plus the 40 minute drive was not desirable.
Brad likes his doctor and that means a lot because Brad doesn’t like doctors. So I got an appointment with Dr. S.
It took a bit to get over the whole having a male doctor thing, but I did. I think I still prefer my female endocrinologist and female gynecologist. One thing I noticed at my appointment was that Dr. S was thorough. He went over my chart with me, went through my lab results from March and asked about my diabetes in specific terms. One of his questions was, “Have you had it since childhood?” When my answer was no, I’ve had it for two years and my “diaversary” was a couple of weeks ago he wanted to know more. He also didn’t bat an eye at the use of the word diaversary.
We talked about the real reason for my visit (which isn’t relevant to this post) and how his first reaction for treatment would adversely affect my blood sugar levels. He’s being cautious to confirm before giving me a treatment that could wreck my careful balance. At this point, I feel like he’s acknowledging my hard work in self-management, when other doctors would probably just prescribe the number-wrecking treatment and go from there.
He also explained why I needed to get a pneumonia vaccination more than just, “hey, you should get this.” And I got it done… ouch by the way. Those burn a bit like Lantus and my arm is still kind of sore.
At the end of my appointment when going through my paperwork, he asked, “Who is Dr. N?” I explained that she was the first doctor I saw when I moved to the area and she wasn’t a good fit for me and I would like to switch.
I’m now formally a patient of Dr. S.
Go you! Good primary docs are ridiculously hard to find. I hate mine and dread the day I’ll have to find another. Glad to hear your new one is a winner!
Wow! Sounds like you found a really good one (with the help of a screener.. I mean your husband). My experiences with PCPs has been less than stellar, which is probably why I tend not to use them.