Monday, April 20, 2009

Stuck.

Cran-raisins. The work of the devil himself.

They are small, squishy, flesh-colored and tart-tasting. The perfect storm of things you don't want your kid putting up his or her nose. They are small enough for the child to get into the nasal cavity, but large enough that once you begin running out of space, which the upper part of the nostril is famous for, you can easily get one lodged. They are squishy, they bend and shape to the cavity as they are being pushed up, once they get stuck they have compressed and tightened to the point where they are filling, and blocking off, the whole nostril. Because of this squishy-ness they are difficult to grab with a tweezers. Made even more difficult is the fact that the damn things are the same color as the nose! What the hell! Not only is the screaming, kicking child getting apoplectic as you manhandle the delicate nasal area, you can't even see what you are doing in those brief lulls between whole body spasms.

No more fruit-veggie hybrid things that are the same color as human cavity linings. Period.

I learned one or two things from the whole episode;

1) Pediatrician over ER doc for removal, they have more experience with both children and non- traumatically lodged objects in children.

2) Hold the child facing away from you sitting on your lap, pin both arms down with your one arm, then use your other hand to hold their head. Its the safest position to restrain them in. It will also make you feel like the biggest piece of crap should you be the one doing it.

3) Remove everyone from the room who is not essential to solving the problem.

4) Keep telling yourself that hopefully this will be the worst thing to ever happen.

5) Ice cream for everyone afterwards, and lots of it.

Monday, April 13, 2009

solo tip

I just realized I'm on no one's team. I complain about the cult that is modern medicine and it's mockery of real science. At the same time I admonish (excessively, perhaps) other chiropractors when they break down and call me for advice. For some time now I have felt like there isn't anyone else doing what we do so well at the office.

I mean, I have always known that there isn't any other office actually working to give great health care as passionately as we are, an office where getting patients healthy is just the start of what we want to accomplish. Lately though, I have felt like anywhere I go, or speak at, or consult at, that I am the singular one of my species as a physician. It's not just that I feel like no one else is as driven (crazy), I feel like no one else is even trying, like I'm the only one who is even attempting to deliver heath care in our model. That means one of two things doesn't it?

1) The current healthcare model for my part of the world is wrong or;
2) I'm wrong

Well that's sobering.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

everywhere signs.




I saw this sign at the dermatologist's office. Wow.
I realize that with insurance reimbursements dropping that doctors need to see more people in order to make the same amount of money (they do anyway, we are still seeing only the people we want to see), but this is grade-A malpractice. How the hell do you (the patient) know what is important or not important each time you go to the doctor? Is that a mole or a carcinoma? Is Timmy's cough nothing to worry about or TB? Are you putting on a couple pounds or is that a giant sebaceous cyst about to burst on your dinner guests? You don't know! You aren't the doctor so why in the hell shouldn't you be asking these questions.
But the doctor doesn't have time to answer all my questions!
Then find one who does! Jeez, get some respect for yourself and your health. Find one who hasn't built his practice around a failed paradigm and can make time to speak with you rather than treat you like you are a waste of time.
But you see people quickly, how is this any different?
Not quickly, we see people the quickest. Chiropractic lends itself to consistent, rapid visits. This lets us stay up to date with your health concerns. How? Because we see you more often you don't have to ask us a bunch of questions, we answer them as we go. If something more important pops up, then we do our job as doctors, find the answer then follow-up with you at a scheduled time. It's a beautiful thing.
This is the problem with the wait-until-it breaks-then-try-to-fix-it or if-I'm-not-in-pain-then-I'm-healthy paradigms. Most of them cannot/do not operate at anything resembling efficiency, but in this economic environment they are being forced to. How do they feel about it? How is it affecting the business of health care? Who knows, they aren't the one paying the price (pun intended).
You are.