Blogger Beta? Ha!

Blogger is sucking more than usual lately (in an effort, perhaps, to lure all of us to Blogger Beta? I’m not biting. Yet.) So I’m writing this in Word just to get my thoughts out, most of which are random but beg to be blogged.

First of all:


My new discovery.

What more could I ever ask for?

(I do remember hearing these came out for a limited time last Halloween, with a Star Wars theme [Go to the Dark Side], but I was never able to find them then. They are apparently here for good now, and are no longer tied to Star Wars, although the only images I could find had Darth on them. Star Wars or no, I love 'em.)

Also: A Song Which I Can’t Believe I’m Publicly Admitting I Was Not Only Listening To On The Radio, But To Which I Also Sang Every Word Of The Chorus Without Missing A Beat, Even Though Said Chorus Was Sung Almost As Fast As The Probably Auctioneer Would Have Said Them.

(And I'm further horrified that every place I went to get the lyrics of this song, it is called Sold: The Grundy County Auction *Indident*.)

But my main topic today is: My new internist. I mentioned a few weeks back how peeved I was at my old one. Monday I had my first appointment with my new one, a woman I picked from the internet primarily because, I have to confess, she was a woman. I have had both female and male doctors in various specialties (or not) over the years, but the women always seem to listen to me more, on average. Still, I am well aware this is partly a stereotype, and I knew not a thing else about her, so I went in to the appointment cautiously.

The first thing I noticed is that I did not have to sign in. A receptionist asked for my name, and even though I was a new patient, I was not handed a ream of forms to fill out; just a single easy-to-check-off questionnaire (yes or no if you have problems with any of the following), to which I mostly checked “no”. All of my other pertinent information was entered IMMEDIATELY, before I sat down, into the receptionist’s computer, a process that took less than two minutes. I noticed also that her computer was not of the desktop variety, but was a laptop/tablet kind. I also soon noticed that the entire staff each had one of these that they carried around.

I waited maybe 10 minutes, and was called back. I was weighed and measured, and again, this information was entered immediately into the nurses computer tablet. Once in the exam room, she took the rest of the new patient information (family history stuff mostly) and put it in her little hard drive. Amazing. I commented on the computers, and all she could say was that she loved them. I can only imagine. They seemed to save both of us time. Except for the one sheet I filled out when I first arrived, and the receipt I took home with me, I’m not sure I saw another piece of paper handled while I was there.

When Dr. D came in and asked what she could do for me, I explained I would be moving to the area soon and would be needing a local internist, and also shared that I was afraid my health had recently been mismanaged. She had also been putting information into her own tablet that she carried in with her, but as soon as I said “mismanaged”, she put her stylus down to listen carefully. (Bonus points for listening skills.) I told her what my former internist’s philosophy about pregnant women was, that it was necessary to automatically increase their thyroid medication dosage, and what the outcome had been in my case, along with my previous history of hypothyroid disease while pregnant. As soon as she was sure I was done explaining, she told me in no uncertain terms that she would never “automatically” do anything to me until and if test results warranted it.

I wanted to hug her.

She also asked who my OB was, and we did a very careful little dance around this topic once I explained I do homebirths with midwives. She actually seemed cool about it, even though her husband is an OB, and even though I did not want to give her the name of my midwife because of the recent political climate for midwives (See my January 12 post, or Google "Jennifer Williams Indiana midwife"; it's too far back to link to directly). The main thing, though, was that she was cool with it, only making sure I understood I couldn’t consider her a backup. I almost laughed. I later though I should have also explained to her that I would also have a separate family physician. In any case, it seems like Dr. D was the right choice.

Oh yeah, and they have a lab right there in the practice. This means I don’t have to drive all the way over to the hospital, get my blood drawn and tested there, and then wait two to four days while the results are sent back to the doctor’s office, where they may or may not be phoned in to me, depending on the nurse’s whim (this was another problem at my old internist).