I am NOT a Sweetie!

Lately there have been a few things on my mind. Now it's time to get them off my chest. A lot of these things have to do with doctor stuff.

1.  I am NOT a sweetie!  Last week I received a call from another physician to discuss a patient. At the conclusion of the call this male physician says, "OK. Thanks. Bye, sweetie." and hangs up. I sat there looking at the phone trying to decide if I heard what I THOUGHT I'd heard......yep....I did. Are you freaking kidding me? I did not spend 11 years in training and 12 years in private practice to be called sweetie!  Then.....I thought maybe it was one of those oops moments that happens at the end of phone calls. I mean, I've dealt with this older male physician many times and he's been nothing but respectful. Have you ever ended a phone call with someone and said, "Bye. Love you." before you realized it was out of your mouth? I have. I said it once to a random telemarketer who called and was rambling on. I was hanging up fast and my standard "Bye. Love you," came out. I laughed at the time wondering what the look on that woman's face must have been. I'm giving this doc the benefit of the doubt and assuming his, "Bye sweetie, " was a similar mistake. But, if it happens again, all bets are off.

2.  Family Medicine IS my specialty!  So we are at that wedding from hell a couple of weeks ago and I'm talking to the wife of my husband's good friend. She asks if I'm still in practice. I said yes and it was going well. She asks, "So do you specialize in anything?" I answered that yes, my specialty is Family Medicine. So later she asks again if I have a specilaty. Sigh. Yes. It is Family Medicine. "Oh so like general practitioner?" Sigh. No. Being a General Practitioner in the old days meant that you finished medical school, did one year of internship and opened a practice. Back in the day you could do this and be able to do office AND surgery AND deliver babies. Scary, right? Well, not so much back then. There was a serious shortage of docs and most of these docs went to rural and under served areas.

These days, there are no GPs any more. We all have residencies. I spent 3 years after medical school learning how to be a Family Medicine Specialist. That means I can manage everything from runny noses to diabetes, congestive heart failure to poison ivy. I see all ages from newborns to grandmas and grandpas. I do women's health AND men's health. It's my job to do preventative care for all my patients and direct all their care. When specialists are involved it's my job to monitor what each specialist is doing and make sure that they are talking to each other and not prescribing meds that won't work together. Remember your heart doctor could care less about your vagina and your urologist doesn't care about your heart. I have to look out for ALL your parts. Think of me as your CEO of your health. That my friends IS something that takes SPECIAL skills.

3.  Why do patients not take the medicine I recommend and then come in surprised when they are still sick? Sigh. And why do they just decide to adjust their medicines on their own? Sigh. I mean, I don't mind if a patient is uncomfortable taking a medicine or has questions. I'm not one of these paternalistic overbearing docs that says, "I'm the doctor. You must do what I say." I always ask if patients understand. I always ask if they are comfortable with the plan for managing their health problems. Why do they not just tell me instead of showing up for the follow up and say, "Well....I didn't think I really needed the medicine so I quit taking it." OR they have a side effect and instead of calling me so I can help them they just cut the med in half or take it every other day which, BTW, can sometimes make said side effects worse. Sigh.

4. Why do people have unrealistic expectations? So I saw this patient a while back who had been watching her diet (Yeah!) exercising (double yeah!) and lost weight (YES!).  She is morbidly obese and I was very pleased. Over the last 6 weeks she'd lost 10-11pounds. Good weight loss. But she was upset and thought something was wrong. She thought it should have been more.  I spent some time explaining that I was happy with that loss and that she was doing great. The last thing you want is her stopping her efforts because of unrealistic expectations. We went over her diet plan and exercise plan and I praised her for how well she was doing.  I've been there and I know how easy it is to get thrown off course.  I think it's very sad that sometimes we set ourselves up for failure without even realizing it.

5. What is my damn problem with getting up in the morning? I am having the worst time waking up lately. I'm just tired, tired, tired. Every day I go to bed I tell myself that tomorrow I'm getting up early to work out and every day I don't. WTH? I know school is coming and soon I won't have a choice. I've got to kick this habit of snoozing late. I know my thyroid issues and breathing issues are affecting it. Add to that my allergies. HEY! Maybe it's the Benedryl I've been taking? Dumb ass.......so stupid. no more of that crap.

6. Why do people think that because we've met and I'm a doctor they can ask me random health questions? There is one person in my life right now, really just someone I know through my kid's school who keeps calling and texting me questions.  I'm not their doctor. Sigh. I don't want to be rude, but I don't think it's right either.  I've tried not calling back, delayed responses. You'd think they'd get the hint. Next time maybe I'll give the standard, "You'd should probably talk to your doctor about it."

7. Football is back! And now the mad compacted free agency thing is making me crazy trying to keep up with all the signings and trades and such. AHHH! Don't get me wrong I'm excited and I loves my football. I'm so excited. But, it's wearing me out with my phone's ESPN alerts every 5 min. On the bright side, it's more fun than work. Only15 days until the first pre-season game for the Boys. Yippee! And McNabb to Vikes? What about that Michelle? Say bye bye to Hasselback, Alan. What do you think about him to Titans? Looking forward to what happens with Plaxico and what about Tiki? Will they get another chance? The drama, the excitement! It's awesome. And my Sooners first game is only 38 days away. Not that I'm counting, ha ha.

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So yesterday TKD class was really hard. We did free sparring for 1minute. That doesn't sound like very hard, but take it from me, one minute is a long time. When you are kicking and punching continuously and constantly moving, it is hard. We did that and practice sparring several times. We are just a little over a week out from the next test so we're gearing up for that. We have to spar on the test for 2-3 times 1 min each. In addition to all the other skills and breaking the boards. I realized yesterday that I am probably going to have to go back on steroids to make it through the test. I'm not happy about it, but I don't think I'll do as well if I don't. My breathing has just gotten worse. Dang it. So now I find myself wondering when I can get the surgery done.

Last night after I got home, the girls wanted to roller skate. So After dinner I took each one for a walk on skates we went down the block and back. I spent most of the time holding one or the other up trying to teach them how to balance. Needless to say my arms were a bit sore this morning. It was hot even at 8pm! And I was so sweaty. So I'm counting that as my second workout yesterday.

Food was good yesterday. I had a shake for breakfast, small yogurt for snack. At lunch I had tuna and some veggies. At dinner I had grilled chicken with peas and carrots and a small salad on the side. I had a sugar free jello for snack and a Popsicle for snack after our roller skating adventure. My calories were 1156. I drank a lot of water, at least 128 oz. 

Today I had planned to go to the gym at lunch, but on the way to work I got a warning light in my car about tire pressure, so now I'm off to make sure I don't have a slow leak. If I have time, I'll try to workout. If not, the day is still young and I'll do something tonight. No excuses, my friends.  I'm trying to stick to the routine I set in motion during Alan's June Boom. My goal is to workout everyday, somehow. Hope you all have a productive day. And thanks for the veggie suggestions yesterday. I plan on trying them out.