OK, time for some good doctor stories

Now that we've heard all these horrifying stories of traumatic medical stuff people have been through, I thought it was time for some good stories.  And people often think I just don't trust doctors at all because I'm always saying they don't know everything and I sometimes (or often) disagree with them about vitamins and stuff like that, but I actually have some really wonderful doctors and have had some excellent experiences with doctors.  I've had some really bad experiences, but some really good ones, too.

I really like the three doctors I see currently, my PCP, my psychiatrist and my back specialist.  My PCP works with me just the way I want a doctor to work with me.  She listens to me, treats me like she thinks I know what I'm talking about, talks to me about my options for treatment and gives me her recommendations and then asks me what I want to do.  I couldn't ask for a better PCP and I hope she is around for a very long time.

My psychiatrist is wonderful, as well.  I've been seeing him for almost eight years.  I first saw him when I was admitted to the local psych unit, but he was only going to be my doctor while I was in the hospital because my only insurance was Medicaid at the time and he did not accept Medicaid in his practice.  The hospital social worker talked him into accepting my Medicaid and seeing me when I was discharged, which I am still amazed about.  I feel like he listens to me, at least most of the time, and he tells me about my different options and asks me what I want to do.  I also think he is very honest with me.  When I told him how horrible I thought the local psych unit was (which is where he has admitting privileges) he agreed me with and told me what hospital he would go to himself if he needed inpatient psychiatric treatment (which is about an hour away from me).  That really impressed me.

So what are some of your good stories?

 I, too, love my PCP.  He listens to my issues, answers questions honestly, takes whatever time is needed to address the issue you came in for, and he always includes me in the decision-making process.

I also have a general surgeon that I just love.  He had removed a very large ("rump roast" sized, in his words to my mom, LOL) lipoma from one of my hips about 3 weeks before I was raped and I was having to go in about every 4 days to have fluid drained from the empty cavity.  I had to go in to have it drained only 36 hours after I was attacked and I had not been able to make an appt with my GYN to get checked out (I did not go to the ER after the attack) because her receptionist would not schedule an appt without me telling her what for and I couldn't  say the words.  When he saw my various injuries and I told him about not being able to get in to see the GYN (who was just a couple of floors above him in the same building), he asked his nurse to stay with me, and he went out and made a phone call to her office.  He must have talked to the doctor herself because he came back in and told me that as soon as I was done in his office I should go upstairs, give the receptionist nothing but my name, and tell her that Dr X was expecting me.  He also told me that I was to be taken back to an exam room immediately rather than having to sit in the waiting room, and that he wanted me to call his nurse once I had been examined to let her know that things went as outlined. I was so grateful for his kindness at a time when I was simply unable to advocate for myself.

Lora

Lora, was the perp caught?

There were actually two of them.  No, they were not caught.

Lora

OMG when i read your post about your attack it brought me back to 12 years old when I had been raped and how I couldn't tell anyone. I felt so dirty and took bath after bath.  Finally, I just repressed the memory and didn't remember again until I was in my 30's. I was thinking as reading your story that it is amazing how we somehow internalize these attacks and cannot mention them or speak of them nor address them toward the perps. 

 

I have tried to find the perp in my attack to no avail and of course no one ever found out about what he did to me.  Although that was my first rape it wasn;t my last.

 

I was date rape twice in high school and once in college before this attack had a name and I had been molested as a younger child by male sons of baby sitters or male baby sitters.  Geez, how do we survive this. In fact when I recalled all this in my 30's I had thought "doesn't every woman get raped and molested?"I finally saved myself and stopped being a victim when I poked a man in the eye after he tried to rape me when I lived in Hawaii. He tried to rape me as I was holding my baby son in my arms. Imagine that. I poked him karate style in the eye and he released me affording me the opportunity to flee. Since that time I have not had a rapists hands on me.  I was told that perps recognize people who have been molested and go after them. I am not sure that psychiatrist had accurate information but I sure experienced this myself.  Even a doctor had at one time in my youth manhandled me while breathing hard as he fondled my breasts....yuk

 I am so sorry to hear of all the things you have been through.  Yes, unfortunately, many women do not report abuse or assaults (for a variety of reasons).  I drove myself home (about a 20-minute drive down I-75... at 2am) after my attack.  I dont remember driving home at all.  I remember getting into my car and thinking over and over "I need to get home"... and then the next thing I remember was listening to the garage door closing once I got home.  The thought of calling the police or going to the ER did not even occur to me until I was home, sitting on the floor in the shower shaking and crying.  I could not bring myself to even call anyone to come be with me until about 6 hours later, and even then I could not say the words... I called the man I had been in a long-term relationship with and all I could do was cry and tell him that something happened.  I was in such shock that I didn't remember the majority of the attack for several days, so I literally could not have told police what happened even if I had gone to the ER.

It is, indeed, true that there is often a connection between being molested as a child as being assaulted as an adult. There are lots of potential explanations for it,but it is often attributed to the manner in which women carry themselves and women who were molested as children often have a certain vulnerability about them that comes through.  I can often sense during the first session with a client that she has a history of childhood sexual abuse.

Lora

reading what happened to you and how you reacted makes me sad and tearful.  I feel for you and hope you have healed enough to not have trauma damage.

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Your PCP sounds really wonderful.

I also love my PCP. She's like yours, Kelly - listens to me, gives me options and recommendations, and then asks me what I want to do. I refuse to work with a doctor who treats me otherwise. I'm the one who lives in this body, after all.