Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Elephant in the Room
(1)
It has definitely been an interesting week so far. I finally got around to the dreaded task of looking for a new PCP (primary care physician) last week, and met with him for the first time yesterday. Yeeesh! I had selected him because his brief Kaiser 'bio' described him as 'married with children.' Therefore there was a high probably he was not a homo. His name suggested a possible Jewish background; however, since it is difficult to avoid Jews in the medical profession I was more interested in his personal ethics and honesty than in his tribal history. (Believe it or not, I've actually met Jews who are honest and ethical, but they seem to be rare.) I had a 1:40 appointment for yesterday (August 13).
I arrived right on time and was seen soon after arriving. The wierdness began with his nurse, who talked constantly in a very loud voice. She made it a point to say that since my previous PCP was (Dr. Anna) and since this was a new doctor I needed to be measured heightwise with my shoes off. Huh?! The woman seemed to be suggesting something of a 'new beginning.' Very strange. I eventually told her that her loud voice was unnecessary given that I was not 'hard of hearing.' She replied that she was hard of hearing, hence the loud voice. She continued to shout (almost). She eventually left the room. Doctor Tony J Toloczko entered soon after. I barely had time to activate my voice recorder, but I got it all.
Listening to the conversation today I was horrified by how terrible my voice sounded. It was even worse than I had thought. Dr. (Tony's) voice, on the other hand, was quite normal and intelligible. Dr. Tony asked some pertinent drug questions to familiarize himself with my case, during which I made the decision to eliminate the good doctor from consideration, and I was ready to call it a 'take' and boogey on outa there. But he was curious: Why had I dumped Dr. Anna? It was none of his fucking business, of course, and I answered in a general, non-specific way. His questions continued, leading eventually to the 'stalking situation,' a subject I had not intended to bring up. Meanwhile, the elephant in the room went ignored, as usual.
It has definitely been an interesting week so far. I finally got around to the dreaded task of looking for a new PCP (primary care physician) last week, and met with him for the first time yesterday. Yeeesh! I had selected him because his brief Kaiser 'bio' described him as 'married with children.' Therefore there was a high probably he was not a homo. His name suggested a possible Jewish background; however, since it is difficult to avoid Jews in the medical profession I was more interested in his personal ethics and honesty than in his tribal history. (Believe it or not, I've actually met Jews who are honest and ethical, but they seem to be rare.) I had a 1:40 appointment for yesterday (August 13).
I arrived right on time and was seen soon after arriving. The wierdness began with his nurse, who talked constantly in a very loud voice. She made it a point to say that since my previous PCP was (Dr. Anna) and since this was a new doctor I needed to be measured heightwise with my shoes off. Huh?! The woman seemed to be suggesting something of a 'new beginning.' Very strange. I eventually told her that her loud voice was unnecessary given that I was not 'hard of hearing.' She replied that she was hard of hearing, hence the loud voice. She continued to shout (almost). She eventually left the room. Doctor Tony J Toloczko entered soon after. I barely had time to activate my voice recorder, but I got it all.
Listening to the conversation today I was horrified by how terrible my voice sounded. It was even worse than I had thought. Dr. (Tony's) voice, on the other hand, was quite normal and intelligible. Dr. Tony asked some pertinent drug questions to familiarize himself with my case, during which I made the decision to eliminate the good doctor from consideration, and I was ready to call it a 'take' and boogey on outa there. But he was curious: Why had I dumped Dr. Anna? It was none of his fucking business, of course, and I answered in a general, non-specific way. His questions continued, leading eventually to the 'stalking situation,' a subject I had not intended to bring up. Meanwhile, the elephant in the room went ignored, as usual.
