Thursday, November 7, 2013

My New Burn Doctor

It's been awhile since I've written, I know.  I've been in a lot of pain and under a lot of stress lately.  So I've been spending a lot of my time dealing with those things and going to doctor appointment after doctor appointment.  My shoulder is unfortunately hurting again the way it did before I had surgery.  My orthopedic doctor said that this can be normal as scar tissue has blood supply and nerves wrapped up in it and as a result, pain can occur.  As my right shoulder is chock full of scar tissue, like the rest of my body, my extensive pain makes more sense.  But that's not exactly what I wanted to write about today.

What I really want to write to you about is the doctor appointment in Portland I had with my new burn doctor.  Yes, I said "new."  A bit ago, when I called to make an appointment with G, I found out that he was no longer at Legacy Emanuel, which is where I have my surgeries.  And in fact, they didn't know where he had gone to.  They didn't know why he left and they didn't know if he was practicing anywhere.  This news really upset me.  I had been working with him for five and a half years and went through 28 surgeries with him.  I trusted him.  He knew my body, the way it worked and how it responded to things.  We had a close relationship and that's very important in an extensive and involved doctor/patient relationship such as ours.  So to lose that and have to start again with another doctor is very upsetting and hard on your hope.

In G's place is a new doctor, Dr. Kim, with the same specialties as G had so plastic surgery and burn reconstruction.  I always seem to have a hard time liking my doctors, warming up to them and developing a relationship with them.  And this particular doctor/patient relationship is so very important to me cause it's the reconstruction of my body from the accident.  So, I had been worried since I made the appointment with Dr. Kim that I wasn't going to like him or he wasn't going to be kind and warm like G was or he wasn't gonna be willing to help me like G always was and so many other things.  But I got one nice surprise while I was waiting in the waiting room.  I was discussing G's sudden leave with one of the front desk girls when she told me G's old PA (Physician's Assistant), Steve, was back.  Oh, relief.  I was so happy to hear that.  I really adored Steve.  And I loved the G, Steve, and SB team we had going through the years before Steve left, and then G left.  We were fun together.  But, it was so great to hear that Steve was back cause at least he knew most of my case.  Knew how my body scarred and healed and reacted during surgery.  And also, he was a familiar face from before things went all hazy on me with G's leaving.

Unfortunately, Dr. Kim didn't make the great first impression by being an hour late.  I understood though.  I know these doctors can get caught up in surgeries and emergencies.  Finally I was called back.  And soon enough, Steve and Dr. Kim entered.  As soon as Steve opened the door he put me at ease by falling back into our old rhythm with, "Oh, here's trouble!"  With which I replied, "And here's bigger trouble!"  Dr. Kim introduced himself and I got a good feeling right away.  He started out by saying that Steve caught him up a little bit with my case.  He asked me some questions to get to know me and my burn better.  He wanted to see the free flap area on my leg that G did.  He kind of touched me all over and "explored" my body, more or less, to see where I was grafted and where there was skin yet to harvest.  There was some, "Take off your pants so I can see....." and "Can you show me your buttocks where they took that full thickness graft," and taking off my shirt so he could see my torso and back.  None of this phased me though as I was looked at like an item in a museum for 4 months while I was in the hospital by doctors, nurses, interns and physical therapists.  And then he wanted to know what I was in for that day.  I was there to see him about my neck.  My neck has been operated on 9 or 10 times alone and it always seems to get worse again and contract.  My chin and jawline are disappearing again because the scar tissue and contractures are so thick.  I turn my head and it pulls the whole side of my face.  It's pulling my lip down and out again to where it's hard to eat and talk.  And it's extremely uncomfortable.

After he had examined me and we talked about my neck and he took pictures, he asked me when I wanted surgery done.  I'd never been asked this before.  I was always just told, "we'll get it scheduled and call you."  So I it didn't take me more than a second to reply, "As soon as possible."  And he said, "OK, we'll make it happen."  And the appointment was over.  I was happy with the new doctor all in all, I think.  He was warm and kind and seemed proactive.  I think he needs to look over my case more with Steve though.  But I'm hoping he'll go over my history more before the surgery to get to know my body a little better and I hope he STAYS proactive most of all.  I hope he understands that I have a lot of things to work on and that will continue needing work on throughout my entire life.  G understood that.  I hope Dr. Kim will, too.

But I was pleased coming out of my appointment.  I felt it was a bit rushed but only because he was late.  I think he did a great job with seeing me with the time he had so that's OK.  I was even more impressed when on our drive home, I received a phone call from his MA who was all ready to schedule my surgery only 5 hours after I'd seen him.  I was VERY happy with that.  Usually I'd wait for a month and often have to call back to remind them we were doing surgery before it finally got scheduled and then it was another month away.  But I was called to schedule surgery immediately and they got me IN for surgery right away.  Surgery is next week already.  He is going to do a full thickness graft on my neck.  This isn't a new procedure for my neck.  It's been done two or three times before.  But that's what he wants to try this time around.  I don't trust him yet.  Like I said before, it takes me awhile to develop that trusting doctor/patient relationship so he's gonna have to prove himself to me, more or less.  I need to see that he can handle my body during surgery, handle my pain during recovery and stay proactive with my reconstruction.  But, right now, I'm pleased with him so far.

1 comment:

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