The business model broke our medical system, which is now drowning in policies, procedures, and paperwork. Computers did nothing to streamline processes. Any nurse will tell you that. Medical specialization has reduced the patient to a slab of meat ready to be divided into parts.
From my experience as a patient in this system, I concluded my body is a jumble of shards, fragments of flesh and blood to be treated separately rather than as part of a whole being.
Why do I say this? Let me share.
I needed an ankle brace for the foot drop I developed from MS. The Amazon brace wore out in a few weeks, a few weeks of six days a week on the treadmill or stair stepper. Yes, I am active. The maker of the brace didn’t take into consideration that at times, thanks to my MS, my hands are numb and can’t lace the brace. Didn’t consider if I take the cushion out of my gym shoe to allow the brace into the shoe, the brace is so hard it leaves pressure marks on my foot. MS is a total body experience.
Then there is my heart, plagued by Sick Sinus Syndrome and occasional tachyarrhythmias, “fixed” by the placement of a pacemaker. Fine. Cool. I’ve learned to live with it. The problem is, who do I call for those days when I feel a bit breathless or a feel like someone has their hands around my chest and is squeezing it. Do I call the Electrophysiologist and have my pacemaker interrogated? Do I call my regular cardiologist to see if this is a woman’s version of chest pain? They’ve finally decided women feel chest pain a little bit differently than elephant-sitting-on-the-chest like the men. Or, should I call my MS doctor to see if this is just the proverbial “MS hug?”
When I have indigestion do I call my GI doctor or my cardiologist?
Muscle pain? Joint aches? Do I call an orthopedic specialist, a rheumatologist, a gerontologist?
When I have the blahs do I call a psychiatrist, my PCP, or my palm reader?
I am a total human being. My systems are joined. When will big business see that it’s profitable and better business to treat me as such. Get the super glue. Put me back together. I want one doctor to know all of ME.
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