100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (56 page)

Perk #57

Handsome Doctors

B
y mid-February, my ole mastectomy

incision was not healing as well as

expected, necessitating yet another visit to

the hospital. I was feeling kind of flattered

when my two sisters practically broke out in

a fight over who was going to take me to this

appointment. How sweet of these real-life

Florence Nightingales to insist on holding

my hand through another uncomfortable

medical procedure. Yeah, right! The real

truth reared its ugly head when I caught

sister Lessy texting other sister Juana: “This

place is crawling with hunks.” And by

“hunk,” I am pretty sure she was referring to

the surgeon who was coming at me with a rather large needle to remove

fluid buildup from my chest.

While having to see so many doctors for my treatments was not a fun

part of having cancer, the fact that some are easy on the eyes did make it a

perk. With doctors nicknamed the likes of Dr. McDreamy, the Soap Opera

Doctor, and Buns of Steel, I sometimes felt like I was in a real-life episode

of
Grey’s Anatomy!

Just because you have

Health Tip #57

cancer doesn’t mean

you can’t LOOK.

When Good Doctors Go Bad

I
s it just me or are the number of great doctors dwindling? By “great,” I

mean one that has:

●
intelligence without arrogance

I 229 J

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

●
respect for what the patient wants

●
willingness to listen

●
a reluctance to pull out the prescription pad right away

●
a good bedside manner

●
updated magazines in the waiting room (this is probably asking for the

impossible)

It seems that lately I am seeing doctors whose arrogance and incompe-

tence factor is off the charts. I am seeing doctors who are much more inter-

ested in seeing as many patients as possible than in treating those patients

properly. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the restrictions and limitation

placed on them by government regulations. The stress of trying to meet

unrealistic requirements while dealing with insurance companies and mal-

practice leaves them little energy to do what they completed a lifetime of

training for: taking care of you. Now of course, there are exceptions to every

rule, and I’m sure there are those of you who have good doctors. (If so, keep

the name to yourself or he/she will soon become too busy to see you!)

How can you spot a bad doctor? Consider these points:

1.
Competence: Has the doctor ever been sued for malpractice or does

he/she have any outstanding legal issues?
For U.S. doctors, you can find

this out by going to the state medical board website and typing in the

doctor’s name. Google this: medical board [the state the doctor is

in].gov). This site will tell you about any lawsuits in the past or pending.

It will also tell you where they went to school, how long they’ve been

in practice, and any organizations that they belong to. Just because doc-

tors get sued for malpractice does not make them bad doctors, but full

disclosure sure feels right in this case.

2.
Common courtesy: When you call to make an appointment for your

first visit, you should eventually be directed to a live person, not a

machine.
You should be able to ask this person basics about the doctor,

like how long has this person been practicing, when did they join the

Perk #57: Handsome Doctors

231

group, and so on. If the person says, “I dunno,” and is rude and doesn’t

deal with you professionally, think twice. If you’re sick or need test results

in the future, this is who you’ll be dealing with. Quality doctors or doc-

tors’ groups hire quality office staff.

3.
Wait times: You can tell this is going to be bad if you walk in the wait-

ing room and it is packed.
That means he/she probably isn’t going to

see you when your appointment time is scheduled. I take this as a direct

form of disrespect for the patients and the value of their time. Certainly

there are times when there are emergencies, and you just have to wait.

But if you’re waiting for no reason other than that the doctor can’t man-

age time, that’s an issue.

4.
Politeness:
Does the doctor greet you with “Good morning, Ms. Smith,

nice to meet you,” or is it “Okay, so why are you here?” If they’re rushed,

they are not thinking about the best way to treat you, just the fastest way.

5.
Cleanliness: Does the doctor wash his/her hands when he/she enters

the room?
Is there even a sink to wash in the exam room? If you don’t

think this is important, think about what body part the doctor was

examining in the previous room before he/she shook your hand. At the

very least, they should use a waterless sanitizer on their hands in front

of you.

6.
Attention: When you are telling the doctor your symptoms, are they

engaged in what you are saying?
Or are they looking at their phone or

reading your chart? Your past medical information should be reviewed

before
they go into the room so they can focus on the current problem.

7.
Defensiveness: When you mention an article that you read on the

Internet, do they roll their eyes and get defensive?
Do they generalize

by saying “you can’t believe the stuff you read on the web!” They should

be able to give their opinion on what you read without thinking you’re

a pain in the rump for trying to be informed about your own health.

They should also be open, not instantly dismissive to alternative forms

of treatment, or at the very least they should know what those alternative

treatments are.

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

8.
Clear communication: If tests are needed, are they explained in

detail,
giving the reason why the test is being performed, if there are any

side effects, and when you should get the results? Or do they say, “I’m

ordering some tests. See the receptionist on the way out for instructions.”

9.
Follow up: Are you called with all your test results?
Whether they are

normal or not? Don’t accept the “if it’s normal we won’t call you” line.

How do you know they even sent your test to the lab? Your blood tube

could be sitting in the courier’s car because it was impounded for too

many parking tickets. There is no reason you should not be notified with

your results by a qualified health professional who has the brains and

knowledge to discuss the results with you. Here’s a recent conversation

I had with the office staff where my dad saw his doctor:

Not-old-enough-to-vote-girl staff (Noetvg staff):
“I have your dad’s blood

work from last week and it shows something not right. The doctor wants

him to take iron pills.”

Me:
“Ok, what did it show?”

Noetvg staff:
“Um . . . the hem . . . hembloo . . . heem
. . .

Me:
“Hemoglobin?”

Noetvg staff:
“Yeah! That’s it! That was low.
”

Me
(knowing full well what this means):
“What does that mean?”

Noetvg staff:
“Um . . . it has something to do with the blood.”

Me
(after having enough fun):
Can you have the doctor call me?

Noetvg staff:
Oh, no. You can’t speak with the doctor! I can have a nurse

call you.

Which brings me to #10:

10.
Accessible: Are you told you cannot speak directly with the doctor?

There is no reason that you can’t talk to the person you have hired to

manage your health. If you are directed to a nurse and still want to speak

Perk #57: Handsome Doctors

233

with the doctor, ask the nurse to have the doctor call you in a reasonable

amount of time. For nonemergencies, give it a day or two. If you can’t

get them on the phone in several days, ditch and switch.

11.
Too quick to prescribe: Does the doctor whip out the prescription

pad before you even get out all your symptoms?
The drug com-

panies rule the medical field these days. They fund the studies

that say their drugs are the best and then sell the doctors on this

idea. The drug companies have now turned directly to the patient

through TV and Internet ads (if you haven’t noticed), and

they make it sound like you need their drugs to be happy.

Sometimes drugs are necessary, of course, and they cer-

tainly have a place in treatment. But they are also the quick way to get

you out of the exam room, and get the next patient in.

12.
Accepting of your choices: Does the doctor respect your wishes?
That

is, if you choose not to take that drug that he/she wants to prescribe,

do they shove it in your face, use scare tactics, or refuse to see you again?

Having confidence in who is treating you and being able to have a rela-

tionship with them in order to understand, ask questions, and challenge them

can make all the difference in how well you do (or don’t do) in treatment

and recovery.

Of course with health care today, you may feel as if you

don’t have many choices. Get informed about your health-

A quality doctor that

care plan. There may be only a few doctors you can choose

you trust can make all

from, but even in a small group there is one doctor that’s

the difference in your

the best choice. And whether you have confidence in your

treatment outcome.

doctor or not, you should still be an active participant in

your treatment.

Trying to find yourself or your loved one a “great” doctor may take some

time and a bit of effort, but it may also make things easier down the line

when you need help making those tough health decisions.