Do They Still Practice Medicine?

Technology is supposed to make things better. Technology is supposed to make things easier. Technology is supposed to speed things up. Technology is supposed to make our lives better. Maybe in some ways. But I have found a couple of broken teeth in the cog of technology. Here's one.

All of my growing up years were spent going to one medical doctor. Dr. Lee McKellar. School vaccinations, mumps, chicken pox, the flu, whatever. If I was ailing, he had a cure for the ailment. He dug a broken stick out of my leg. Treated me when I stepped on a nail. It didn't matter.

Dr. McKellar could be brutally honest. I got massive nosebleeds as a kid. We lived on the east side of town, and to get to the hospital, or to his office, you had to cross the railroad tracks. And on this particular occasion, after calling the good Doc and setting up a meet, we headed out, just in time to "catch a train". Every so often I would check, and yes, still bleeding. In fact, it must have stopped bleeding as we pulled into his parking lot. But in we went, he busted out that cool light thing he used for looking inside of your nose, ears and mouth, and told dad, "We need to cauterize that." So he got me all prepped, and stopped long enough to say, "Randy, you know what I'm going to say...", and I replied with,"this won't hurt a bit." He replied with, "No, this is gonna burn, hang on...!" Brutal and truthful. But you never left feeling cheated. If you went in with one issue or 6, he took the time to diagnose and treat you just the same. And he could explain things so you could understand them. Even a kid. Or maybe I was just extra bright. Probably not...

It's funny, today I live 2,000 miles from my raising, and I still see Dr. McKellar. He's not a young fellar, teetering on the age where he's contemplating retirement, but I like him. I'm comfortable with him. But things are different. Somewhere along the way, the way of practicing medicine changed.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a tumble in the driveway, which resulted in my visit to the Sky Lakes Emergency Room. It’s not quite clear to me how I got the wounds I got, but it is quite clear to me how much they hurt. Facial abrasions. Elbow abrasions. A purple thumb and palm. And massive knee injuries to my right knee, the left knee not so much.

Now I’ve watched a lot of television in my life, and it seems that when someone goes into the ER, they start by cleaning the wounds. After all, isn’t that what mom did? It’s been two weeks, and the ER still hasn’t cleaned my wounds. They did separate me from a large amount of cash by taking x-rays and a CT scan of my knee, which would require me to stop taking one of my diabetes medications and also require more lab work regarding my kidney function. Seems like if they are going to “run a test” that might cause major organ damage, we could find a better way. So they keep me in the ER most of the night, not sure why, give me a couple of pain pills, and then pretty much ignore me. Meanwhile, a couple of “curtains” down, they are filming The Exorcist. Turns out it was an older gentleman, not Linda Blair, but he was a loud, foul-mouthed man who should have been sedated. Heavily. Richard Pryor would not have repeated what this man was saying.

So I’ll cut to the chase. They finally release me, give me my marching orders, and then...they leave. Keep in my that I have serious damage to my right knee. But...no wheelchair exit. No help in walking. Just “follow up with your doctor tomorrow, and don’t forget to get that lab work done.”

Which leaves me with these questions.

1. Why send me to my doctor when it’s obvious I need to see a wound specialist? (Referral required)

2. Why were my wounds not cleaned, and why weren’t ALL of my wounds examined?

3. Why doesn’t the hospital have a pharmacy open 24/7 so that meds can be taken home by the patient. My Rx was for a narcotic, so it has to be taken in for filling, can’t be called in. Went home Sunday morning, finally got my Rx on Monday evening.

4. Why not culture the wound in the ER? Too soon to see infection?

I have a wound on the the left side of my knee which appears to actually be worse than the wound on the right side of my knee. The left side wound is from removing the bandage applied at the hospital ER. No, I didn’t just rip it. Soaked in warm/hot water for 10 minutes.

Which leads me to other questions. I already had a diabetes appointment with my doc for the end of the month. Which would include lab work. I called in to get the lab order updated, and I’m told that I can’t have both lab requests done at the same time. As much as that upset me, I was more upset when I found out that our insurance doesn’t work with any local labs. It’s a 2 hour drive for that. We worked through that issue, but why was there ever a question?

Finally saw my doc. He typed up tons of notes, and referred me to the wound specialist. Which is what the hospital should have done. Now I’m out a doctor’s visit that never should have happened. He didn’t even do a lab culture.

So one full week after injury, I see the wound specialist. First thing she does? Yep, lab culture for infection. The scabs are so thick and firmly attached, she does a light cleaning, applies Puracyn and then a massive amount of topical antibiotic, wraps me up and sends me home. My leg was so swollen, I thought it would burst, but the wrap she applied soon started reducing the swelling. 

In the end, I guess my main question is this. Why aren’t doctors practicing medicine and treating patients. I saw the wound doctor again yesterday. FINALLY, the lab cultures are in. I have two infections. But, she can’t write the Rx, it has to be done by my physician. So I’ll get those tomorrow, UNLESS I have to go in for a visit for him to write them. One thing I found irritating. As she cut away dead skin from my knee, she asked, “Did they not clean your wounds?” Rhetorical, as she already knew.

All I know is this. I’m two weeks plus into this injury, and we are just now fully treating it. I believe that had I seen Dr. Lee McKellar when this happened, I’d be two weeks into recovery, not two weeks into being passed around and getting nowhere.

Some way the "good old days" couldn't have been that good. I say they couldn't have been that bad.