Saturday, August 15, 2009

Finally agreed

To get the stupid knee surgery. I don't want to have it done. Truth is, I'm chicken. Yes, I am aware of the irony. I don't like the idea of the loss of control. Docs are control-freaks.

But the steroid shot worked for all of a week before I started hobbling again. I'm at the point where I can barely stand for anything. If I limp, my knee feels better but my hip starts hurting. If I walk without a limp, the pain is so intense I'd volunteer for an AKA. Laparoscopies are killing me with all of the foot controls for the instruments.

Ortho was just laughing at me. In the "I TOLD you this is where you would end up" sort of way. It's not easy, trying to schedule stuff when you are a doctor. I had looked at my OR schedule a few days ago and knew that I had surgeries booked out until October...so I scheduled for late October. Now the secretaries have the fun task of rescheduling that week of office. I hate doing that to them. I'm only taking a week...ortho thinks I'm insane. But coverage is an issue. I hate to dump on others.

3 comments:

Grumpy, M.D. said...

I hate being sick, too, or having to take time-off other than vacation.

Being primarily office based helps, as I don't need to depend on others for coverage, but it still ain't easy.

ER's Mom said...

You were taking calls on vacation, if I remember correctly!

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Yeah, I do. Years ago I made the mistake of trusting another doc to do it, and the mess he lefft made me realize that I never wanted to do it again, and that he was dangerous.

So now when traveling I check my email 2-3 times/day, or call the office, or both. It takes me about 1 hour per day. And I think it's worth it not to have any horrible surprises ("He put you on Methadone for epilepsy! WTF!") when I get home.

If one of my patients lands in the hospital I call the neuro-hosptialist and go over the case with him, and he knows how to reach me, too.

But you are in a surgical specialty, which is obviously different, and so makes call coverage harder. What I do likely wouldn't work in your field.