The New Doctor is a Dream

I saw the new PCP on Wednesday morning. The entire experience was the polar opposite of what was happening at my last doctor's office.

To start with the enviornment was much nicer. It was clean and modern. The woman at the desk and the nurses and assistants in the halls were pleasant, they communicated very well and they knew what they were doing. None of them had that defeated, I-hate-my-job-I-hate-my-life-and-I'm-annoyed-that-you-are-here attitude.

Then there was the doctor. She started off by shaking my hand, introducing herself, welcoming me to her practice and letting me know that she hopes I have a great experience. She went on to tell me about the practice, how the on-call system works, their policy on communicating test results and again weloming me. We then talked about my 3 main health issues and what I've done and am doing to manage my conditions.

She wasn't typing away the entire time I was talking. She simply sat there listening and responding. Every now and then she would want to record something and then she would let me know what she was doing and we would pause while that happened. She didn't want to miss out on what I was saying.

She told me that her mother had migraines and how she got to witness just how debilitating an attack can be. She made sure I knew that if I was having trouble managing an attack I could feel free to call the office and she could help me abort it.

I told her about how helpful the D.O. manipulations were for my fibromyalgia and how I was actually a little concerned that he would retire and my progress would backslide. She said that if I could find out from him exactly what he was doing she would call around and find someone to do those same things.

I left there feeling blown away. Not only was this experience far superior to my last doctor, it was better than I've seen it done anywhere. I've never felt such relief after an appoitnment. I truly feel like she will be a great partner no matter what comes up down the road. Even though I've had some good doctors in the past, I've never felt like I've had a partnership before. It may have taken me 4 1/2 years of living here to find her, but I'm so glad I did.