Shelby's Life and Whatnot

A New Doctor

Both of us went today to establish a relationship with our new family doctor, Dr. Budman. He was a had the bedside manner of Dr. Troell, the brilliant doctor who did my sleep apnea surgery and had great bedside manner, and the energy of Dr. Vagelos, a cardiologist at Stanford who was also brilliant but somewhat lacking in the empathy department. One night I was in the ER at Stanford and Dr. Vagelos was on call--he showed up in a track suit and was practically jogging in place checking his heart rate while he gave me an echocardiogram. Dr. Budman was the best of both worlds--just exuding competance.

I typed up a sheet with all of my diagnoses, medications, and surgeries on it to simplify things for my new doctors. When I sat down with the nurse she said, "any medications" and I handed her the list. She gasped and said, "I love you!" Dr. Budman also seemed very impressed with my knowledge of all of my various conditions and medications. I also found out they have some female doctors in the office who specialize in women's health and do gyn. exams and stuff. That will be super-convenient. Plus I got such a good feeling from this office. My last ob/gyn had the world's bitchiest staff, months to wait for an appointment, and limited access to the doctor herself. Their opinion was pretty much that since I wasn't pregnant and bringing a new baby into the world, I wasn't important. It sucked. So this should be much better.

I also got my blood drawn and the phlebotomist got it on the first stick with only a little digging around. I said, "good job!" which I don't think she hears very often. I then related my horrible night in the ER (in Gilroy) when I got stuck 16 times before they successfully started an IV. I told her that they let everyone in the building including the janitor have a go at me, and she thought that was funny.