Getting an annual physical at the doctors

[ultrarunner]

We are not a "Teaching" hospital although we do have an agreement through the podiatry group for their vetted podiatry students to observe with patient consent.

Also, some of the eye surgeons invite other eye Docs to be observers for the latest procedures... with patient consent.

With GI even the room windows are covered for patient privacy...

 

[tractortroof]

I wonder why the VA would not cover the colonoscopy for me (50 year old no history) but would cover the CT colonoscopy. Is it cheaper or were they learning something? They have a recent history (2013 I think) of transmitting HIV and Hepatitis via colonoscopy.

To me it just seems like the transmission rate could be a lot higher than is known as the disease can be asymptomatic for decades.

 

[Alan W.]

When I was in grade school I got strep and my Dr realized it was causing kidney problems. After a few days in the local hospital I was moved to the University Hospital. It being a teaching hospital meant that twice a day a group of people would come in to examine me To this day I dont know why but they would examine my genitals but twice daily they would all examine them.
For a country boy in the sixth grade this was really weird.
The best part was the twice daily urine test. A nurse would take me to the bathroom and hold my ***** in one hand while she cleaned the tip with the other before getting a urine sample.
Never wanted to leave the place.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was in grade school I got strep and my Dr realized it was causing kidney problems. After a few days in the local hospital I was moved to the University Hospital. It being a teaching hospital meant that twice a day a group of people would come in to examine me To this day I dont know why but they would examine my genitals but twice daily they would all examine them.
For a country boy in the sixth grade this was really weird.
The best part was the twice daily urine test. A nurse would take me to the bathroom and hold my ***** in one hand while she cleaned the tip with the other before getting a urine sample.
Never wanted to leave the place.

On that note, our regular family Dr. would go off to Africa to do missionary work every other year. So every other year we'd get a foreign exchange Dr. in his place.

So I'm maybe 12 years old, I go in for a physical for grade school, and there's a very large woman (think Julia Child size) and she says in an English accent....

"Drop your drawers!"

Yikes!

 

[riptides]

I was hospitalized at a young age at an overseas Army base.

I went in speaking fluent German, I came out speaking fluid (not fluent) English.

It was a traumatic experience. Not kidding.

 

[EddieWalker]

My sister in law was 30, fit, athletic and tall at 5’10”

She was expecting second child and kept saying something is not right and always dismissed… as pregnancy related.

Healthy baby born but she so sick and nothing like the first child where it was model pregnancy.

Doctors said to be expected and each pregnancy is different.

My brother got her a appointment outside network and Doc did colonoscopy and said if I could do surgery today I would… she was schedule for emergency surgery 7 am next morning.

Colin cancer resulted in a lot of intestine removed… going under the thought was colostomy bag for life.

12 years cancer free and no bag… it saved her life and more important the second independent opinion did.

She did not have any of the risk factors… no family history, young, athletic marathon runner, etc.

This is very similar to what happened with my wife. No family history of cancer. Her parents and relatives all died from heart disease, which is why she focused on heart medicine as a nurse.

She kept having cramps and gut issues that led to dehydration. We went in several times for IV's and more testing without finding anything out. After several months of this, her doctor scheduled her for a colonoscopy just to eliminate it from what they need to be looking at.

They found a large tumor and decided that it had to come out right then and there. Emergency surgery that led to her first night in the hospital. She came home the next day, and they biopsied the tumor to find out what type of cancer it was. Treatment started that week. They where super aggressive with the treatment of radiation and chemo. Two months later, she was cancer free, she has spent a total of 30 nights in the hospital and the last two weeks of radiation treatment she had to be transported in an ambulance from her room on the 5th floor, to the treatment center, next door to the hospital.

5 years later, she is still recovering from the treatment. White blood cells are still low, but increasing every year. She will never be 100%, or even close to what she was before treatment physically, but she is able to do what she wants, and enjoy life. Probably the biggest change has been in what she cannot eat anymore. Her gut is very sensitive, and processed foods are pure poison for her. On the bright side, our garden has gotten bigger and better every year!!!

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Point being, when we get older, even if you're fit at an older age, make sure you get a physical once a year.

Good advise, but here's the thing. I'm in the middle of a move across half the state, and I'm having a heck of a time finding a principal care physician that is accepting new patients. I only have a few criteria: They are male, less than 55 year old, and they be educated in the US. Extra points if they are well rated by sites like HealthGrade. Places like United Health Care and Medicare have search tools, but the results aren't current and the filters aren't very good. I'm 18 months past my last physical, and have expired prescriptions that need renewed. Any ideas on how to find a new PCP that's any good?

 

[EddieWalker]

My doctor is a women. She is also my wife's doctor. My wife has a PhD in nursing with almost 30 years experience working in hospitals. The old saying about the nurse knowing who the bad doctors are is something that I believe 100%. She believes that our doctor is the best one in the hospital, and so far, I don't have anything to say otherwise.

The best thing about being married to a nurse is the BS meter. I've never had her step in on anything medical for me or her, but she did have to step in with some of the things my parents where dealing with. Before she found the right doctor for my parents, they just went to the local hospital and found a doctor on their own based on their insurance. This guy never examined them, and when they had an issue, he was always wrong. Dad had swelling in his hand and his doctor said it was arthritis, and he prescribed some meds for it. The swelling got worse. That same doctor looked at him again and even brought in anther doctor to look at his hand. Nobody took blood. They decided to change the medicine to see if that helped. Dad's hand got even worse and his arm started swelling up. My wife stepped in and took him to the Emergency Room and sat with him when the Emergency Doctor came in. They drew blood and found out that he had been bitten by a spider. Treatment changed and dad made a full recovery.
When dealing with Vets for our dogs, we've had a lot of BS from them too. It's really been shocking how many use old equipment that isn't accurate, rely on first impressions without doing full examinations, and just randomly prescribe meds that don't work, and then just switch to another med, and then another med without any relationship to the previous meds. Just random guessing on treatment. Over the years, we've seen at least 20 Vets in our area. We feel comfortable with 4 of them, with one of them being exceptional.

I feel sorry for everyone that doesn't have somebody that knows what's going on in the medical world, and who to avoid. It's all about who you know if you want to get the best treatment.

 

[gsganzer]

My doctor is a women. She is also my wife's doctor. My wife has a PhD in nursing with almost 30 years experience working in hospitals. The old saying about the nurse knowing who the bad doctors are is something that I believe 100%. She believes that our doctor is the best one in the hospital, and so far, I don't have anything to say otherwise.

The best thing about being married to a nurse is the BS meter. I've never had her step in on anything medical for me or her, but she did have to step in with some of the things my parents where dealing with. Before she found the right doctor for my parents, they just went to the local hospital and found a doctor on their own based on their insurance. This guy never examined them, and when they had an issue, he was always wrong. Dad had swelling in his hand and his doctor said it was arthritis, and he prescribed some meds for it. The swelling got worse. That same doctor looked at him again and even brought in anther doctor to look at his hand. Nobody took blood. They decided to change the medicine to see if that helped. Dad's hand got even worse and his arm started swelling up. My wife stepped in and took him to the Emergency Room and sat with him when the Emergency Doctor came in. They drew blood and found out that he had been bitten by a spider. Treatment changed and dad made a full recovery.
When dealing with Vets for our dogs, we've had a lot of BS from them too. It's really been shocking how many use old equipment that isn't accurate, rely on first impressions without doing full examinations, and just randomly prescribe meds that don't work, and then just switch to another med, and then another med without any relationship to the previous meds. Just random guessing on treatment. Over the years, we've seen at least 20 Vets in our area. We feel comfortable with 4 of them, with one of them being exceptional.

I feel sorry for everyone that doesn't have somebody that knows what's going on in the medical world, and who to avoid. It's all about who you know if you want to get the best treatment.

Eddie,
You're spot on. But I feel it extends to almost everything these days, from home contractors to auto mechanics. The big issue with many of these folks is the drive to increase profits, a core metric that most companies use to measure performance. The constant push to upsell services, charge more for services etc. I even see it in my industry of process equipment commissioning and service. I might go and troubleshoot an issue and it turns out to really just require a $1000 fix. However, the company that sent we might ask me to try to help sell a $10K fix, because the customer that has the problem was expecting the problem to cost much more. I won't partake in that type of business tactics, and I know it's cost me some work over the years. I see so many folks that can be such hypocrites. They talk about how folks should be honest and have character. What most of them mean is the person servicing them should act that way, they don't need to abide by the same with their actions. The old adage is an honest man is the one that does the right thing, when nobody is watching.

 

[MossRoad]

My doctor is a women. She is also my wife's doctor. My wife has a PhD in nursing with almost 30 years experience working in hospitals. The old saying about the nurse knowing who the bad doctors are is something that I believe 100%. She believes that our doctor is the best one in the hospital, and so far, I don't have anything to say otherwise.

The best thing about being married to a nurse is the BS meter. I've never had her step in on anything medical for me or her, but she did have to step in with some of the things my parents where dealing with. Before she found the right doctor for my parents, they just went to the local hospital and found a doctor on their own based on their insurance. This guy never examined them, and when they had an issue, he was always wrong. Dad had swelling in his hand and his doctor said it was arthritis, and he prescribed some meds for it. The swelling got worse. That same doctor looked at him again and even brought in anther doctor to look at his hand. Nobody took blood. They decided to change the medicine to see if that helped. Dad's hand got even worse and his arm started swelling up. My wife stepped in and took him to the Emergency Room and sat with him when the Emergency Doctor came in. They drew blood and found out that he had been bitten by a spider. Treatment changed and dad made a full recovery.
When dealing with Vets for our dogs, we've had a lot of BS from them too. It's really been shocking how many use old equipment that isn't accurate, rely on first impressions without doing full examinations, and just randomly prescribe meds that don't work, and then just switch to another med, and then another med without any relationship to the previous meds. Just random guessing on treatment. Over the years, we've seen at least 20 Vets in our area. We feel comfortable with 4 of them, with one of them being exceptional.

I feel sorry for everyone that doesn't have somebody that knows what's going on in the medical world, and who to avoid. It's all about who you know if you want to get the best treatment.

You have to either be able to advocate for yourself, or have someone there to advocate for you. One of our kids has and a tough time doing that. Our other kid has no problem doing that. Same parents. Same upbringing. Different brains and emotions.