June 09, 2026
The Practice of Medicine
Timothy Birdnow
So I went to the orthopedicist today. They kept me waiting for an hour and a half after my appointment time, sitting in one of those little uncushioned chairs the entire time, with my back feeling like it was breaking the whole time. The appointment was at the hospital, a particularly ridiculous hospital that requires vast stretched of walking - walking for a man who can barely stand with a cane right now. I had to teeter my way from the parking garage, which is more like a demolition derby than a garage - and had to peg leg my way through the enormous place to get to Orthopedics in the first place.
After making me wait all that time a young guy, probably no more than 23, came in to give me a quick exam He was a trainee - the hospital is a teaching school - and he did not inspire any confidence in me.
Sadly the doctor himself was only at most five or six years older and inspired no more confidence. He gave me a quick, perfunctuary once over and then declared me unfixable. He told me "well, these sorts of things usually work themselves out in six weeks or so" as if that was even remotely practicing medicine. I could have told him THAT! He also confirmed he wasn't going to give me any more pain killers "we can't do that" and suggested I take Tylenol, to which I sought to suggest he turn around, drop his drawers, and find me the biggest bottle of said product so I may practice my soccer kicks, but I was in too much pain to fight with the guy. He also said he couldn't keep me on steroids - which have been working - and the muscle relaxers would have to go too. He said he'd call in some sort of pain killer but I rather suspect it will be a variant on Tylenol. Doctors seem to have some sort of romantic attachment to that stuff.
So I am on the precipice of all the pain coming back and no way out of it. I so despise the medical community.
I've got two pain pills left and will have to save them for times when I cannot stand it. God grant they be but two. I doubt I can take weeks more of this.
I assure you if HE were in the pain I'm in he would have whatever he needed, but I'm just some old fart who showed up one day and so he treated me as if I were precisely that - another faceless rabble.
I tried to explain to the guy that I am alone and can't bend over to pick up stuff that falls on the floor. My apartment has stuff everywhere now just sitting on the floor, waiting for fall, I suppose. And fixing food is a real bear. EATING food is equally difficult as I have to lie there, tipped well back, to eat. No soup or chili or anything that slides for me! And since I haven't been strong enough to shop at the grocery store I'm relegated to just what I can fix that I can buy at Walgreens. Not a very good diet.
I have an appointment with this guy in six weeks. If I am still laid up then he'll look to give me an MRI and then probably spinal injections - something he could do right now but won't. Part of it is insurance but he says he agrees with their thinking on this - proving he has absolutely no heart for his patients.
So who knows how this will play out. I may or may not get better, and I'll waste a bunch of time taking Tylenol and doing Physical Therapy and being in pain the entire time. Oh joy!
This is the third doctor I've seen about this now and nobody wants to do anything with it.
At any rate I got to the car and realized I'd forgotten to get my parking ticket validated. I had to shuffle all the way back to the hospital with my ticket to get it validated (otherwise it costs an arm and a leg) and they said the gate was open, thus meaning I went on a fool's errand.
I had to go to my house to get my mail and had to go to one of the pharmacies I use to get some meds that were due, so it was a very busy day. I'm feeling o.k. now, but I usually do in the afternoon. It's the evening and night and morning that I really fear.
So I probably won't be blogging much for at least another week. If it gets better earlier I will but as far as I know it won't get better at all.
I sooooo loathe the medical profession in this country.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
04:30 PM
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1
Oh, dear. It sounds to me as if you managed to take the off-ramp to Canada instead. Apparently the farther south one goes, the worse the health care gets. I had a friend (now deceased) who lived in Arkansas and from whom I would occasionally get reports that sounded as if he was an extra from "Gone With the Wind." It sounds as if you aren't that much better. I guarantee that if you were here with us in the Twin Cities you'd get better care!
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 10, 2026 12:31 AM (LIDjo)
2
Seems a bit ironic. Not exactly "patient centered" medicine. You want pain meds and can't get them, I keep getting offered pain meds and keep declining them. No reflection on either you or me, I'm commenting on the system.
Posted by: Bill H at June 10, 2026 08:08 AM (FRG6e)
3
Dana I'm on Obamacare and that's what you get for your money.
Actually I've had absolutely wonderful doctors on occasion and in fact my retina specialist is second to none (and she's a babe to boot!) But you also tend to get guys like this cat on occasion. I know that if I had had Anklosing Spondylitis I would have gotten treated much better. But as far as they could tell was run-of-the-mill back pain. BTW they thought I AD AS years ago and I went to a rheumatologist who pronounced my inflammation levels weren't high enough but I clearly suffer from high inflammation none the less and that's why I've long had orthopedic issues. But they didn't know that and just assumed I'm a whiner. I wish that were the case...
Too bad you didn't have a big stockpile of those meds Bill; I'd have loved to taken 'em off your hands! I'm on pins and needles about my pain meds running out. I simply cannot take this when the pain really hits. I've got a high tolerance for pain too, but this is beyond that.
Actually I've had absolutely wonderful doctors on occasion and in fact my retina specialist is second to none (and she's a babe to boot!) But you also tend to get guys like this cat on occasion. I know that if I had had Anklosing Spondylitis I would have gotten treated much better. But as far as they could tell was run-of-the-mill back pain. BTW they thought I AD AS years ago and I went to a rheumatologist who pronounced my inflammation levels weren't high enough but I clearly suffer from high inflammation none the less and that's why I've long had orthopedic issues. But they didn't know that and just assumed I'm a whiner. I wish that were the case...
Too bad you didn't have a big stockpile of those meds Bill; I'd have loved to taken 'em off your hands! I'm on pins and needles about my pain meds running out. I simply cannot take this when the pain really hits. I've got a high tolerance for pain too, but this is beyond that.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 10, 2026 09:18 AM (oflqW)
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