modern medicine

I woke up this fine Easter morning with my right shoulder aching to high heaven. I told my husband that I suspect the doctors and the drug companies and the laboratories and the HMOs of conducting nothing but a grand experiment on us -and we are stupid enough to pay them vast piles of money for the privilege!

It has been 3 weeks now of this awful searing pain. My basic motor function is completely compromised -cleaning the house, putzing around the garden, -even writing this blog causes me pain! The first doctor I visited gave me some drugs (muscle relaxants and steroids! -yum!) and referred me to physical therapy. And I am subsequently given to understand that this doctor is now my "primary care physician" -the 21st century equivalent of the "family doctor" -I have spent all of 15 minutes with this dude! Anyhow, the guy had no idea what was wrong with me.

The physical therapist is a great lady, super fun, friendly, -we're even from the same hometown etc. -but I am going every week and when I am there she watches me stretch and pull on stuff and do a few basic exercises and I am thinking "I am paying $30+ for every 15 minutes of this cheery conversation and to do a few stretches."

But the punchline is how it shook down when I went in last Friday for my annual exam. I asked to see a female. Something about having a strange man poking around down there makes me feel rather uncomfortable. Anyhow, so this woman does my exam and at the conclusion, I inform her that I am in serious pain and tell her the entire backstory -how I was on steroids, the steroid prescription ran out, the PT isn't helping, etc. She refuses to give me anything for the pain because I "need to see my primary care physician" in order to get what I need. So, I tell her "Alright -so I will need to take another 1/2 day off work, fork over another $20 co-pay, spend another 2 hrs in your waiting area in order to get 3 minutes facetime with my supposed 'family doctor' so I can get one measly prescription for Vicodin? -why don't you just go down the hall and ask him?" It didn't go exactly like that...truth is, I started bawling. I sobbed and begged for something to take the pain away and she refused. She sat there stony-faced and refused. I was crying when she walked out of the room.

So -I have been gritting my teeth all weekend long and praying for Monday to come quickly so I do not have to sit through another day at the office hurting like this.

I hate modern medicine.