Dr. Do Little, Some Relief Coming, and Some Art
Turbulence in otherwise sunny skies
I.
Sorry to sound like a broken record, CD, MP3 player, but I have to start this post discussing my back and how the medical system almost failed me.
Pain speaks volumes. And as my readers know, my pain volume has been turned up multi-decibels. The arthritis on my spine feels OK sometimes, but too many times, it feels as if shards of glass are in my back.
I really like my primary care physician, but he made a mistake in referring me to the spine specialist, whom I now call Dr. Do Little. The specialist dealt some heavy news about my spine, but he felt surgery was a last resort, that physical therapy would be the way to start. To my dismay, the appointment didn’t go well, as he did not examine me and didn’t share with me the X-ray and MRI images. He had a great bedside manner, but the rest of the appointment was meh.
After the appointment, time went by and I heard nothing about physical therapy. I called Dr. Do Little’s office to confirm the status of the physical therapy referral. The administrator told me they were working on it. Then, having heard nothing more for a week, I called my insurance company, and they told me that my primary care physician should write the referral, as Dr. Do Little wasn’t coming through for me. So I called my PCP, and spoke to his incompetent staff who said it wasn’t my general doctor’s job to write the referral.
Having enough of this bullshit, I then told them I wanted to speak to my doctor directly.
He called me back quickly, a definite plus for a doctor. But imagine my surprise when he said Dr. Do Little wanted to do surgery and felt I would definitely need surgery first and foremost. I told my PCP that this was news to me, as Dr. Do Little was really pushing physical therapy first to see if that would alleviate my symptoms. My general doctor seemed to side a bit with Dr. Do Little, flippantly saying “Well, you do have a lot going on with your back.” I told him to write a referral for physical therapy, and he complied within minutes.
I now, finally, after about a month of fighting with the medical profession, have an appointment with a physical therapist on Friday, October 13, which I’m looking forward to. I guess Dr. Do Little is going to have to put his scalpel away for now.
Actually, if I eventually must have surgery, his scalpel won’t touch me. He’s fired. I will follow up with a different specialist.
On a related note, this is time to plug my book Calling the Shots in Your Medical Care. It is a primer that helps patients not fall victim to doctors who don’t have patients’ best interest at heart. The book is available on Amazon. Here’s the link.
II.
OK, now is the more pleasant part of the blog, the part where I share and discuss my art. I reworked my building painting, as seen below. Between the tree and the building, I added another layer of sky to cover up any signs that there was another painting there first. This made me a little nervous, but it turned out well. I added tiles to the stripes on the building, deliberately making sure they were kind of imperfect, and I reworked the plaza concrete. And then I made a discovery: the painting is finished. I think I’ll call it On Solid Ground.
And here are my three inktober drawings. The explanation of each is in each photo caption.
Self-care comes in all different forms. By advocating for myself in the medical arena and devoting myself to my art, I practiced two kinds of self-care. And I am proud of myself.
I agree that Dr. Do Little should be fired. I’m glad you have the skills to advocate for yourself. So many people don’t. I hope you get some real help in PT and can avoid surgery. I love the details in the painting- the tiles. Still enjoying the ink art- bounce house and popcorn are my faves.
The medical field is becoming increasingly harder to navigate. Sorry you had to experience this.