Just sharing another funny joke!

[Athena]

My Neph called me over the phone to give my latest results. After that was all done, it went as follows:

Me: "Well that just leaves the eternal question unanswered"

Neph: What's that?

Me: How will I ever get my serum creatinine levels down to normal again?

Neph: What do you mean?

Me: How will I ever get my kidneys back to normal!

After a stunned silence,

Neph: Look I'm sorry but I have to go right now, I have patients waiting.

[Charlie B53]

Put him on the spot and he didn't have an answer for that one, but you knew that already.  He panic'd and found a reason to get off the phone.  Your next office visit may be interesting.

I hope most of my Dr's know my sick sense of humor and we often find something to chuckle about.

[Jean]

Talk about a bad bedside manner!!!

[Athena]

Talk about a bad bedside manner!!!

That was one of the better examples of 'bedside manners", Jean. I've had far worse. Mentioning anything about a cure/reversal has actually lead to my being dismissed by a Neph in the past. Thankfully this guy tolerates my sense of humour reasonably well. He's actually a very caring & hardworking Nephrologist.

[Charlie B53]

I have to admit that I got a chuckle out of you putting him on the spot like that.  You KNEW beforehand he would be very hard pressed to answer that.   Which makes me chuckle even more to hear how he 'froze'.  In disbelief that you would even ask.

I like your style.  It would have been slightly better to be able to have seen his face, the look of shock possibly?

Hopefully at your next clinic vist with him you will let him down lightly, he may be afraid of what he has to tell you otherwise. And you both will be able to have a chuckle together.  That always relieves a lot of tension.

Take Care,

Charlie B53

[Athena]

Thanks Charlie, it's even funnier in real life than what you can possibly imagine. We've even had an argument over this in the past, where I thought afterwards that I was going to be sacked as a patient! I told him I'm not happy with the treatment because "I'm not going anywhere except down" & he launched an emotional passionate defence of his care of me. It's been a bit of an interesting ride. Thinking I was going to be sacked I then tried to find another Neph but the second guy ended up sacking me. This neph is my original neph and he has never given up on me. This one's for keeps.

If I actually could transcribe what was said at some of our meetings, nobody would believe me. Truth can be stranger than fiction sometimes! But it's been funny. These exchanges do help me to cope with the ongoing trauma of being a kidney patient, I gotta say.

[Charlie B53]

He's Golden.  Hang on to him.  They can be hard to find.

I found a Primary like that years ago.  Took me months to get the Wife to switch to him, she finally did.  Perhaps saved her life.  Old Dr was a quack.  Told her she had asthma and prescribed accordingly.  Nothing helped.  Over the years she just got worse, hard to breath, slightest thing made her winded.  The very first meeting with the new Dr he was listening to her chest, nothing abnormal.  Started moving his stethoscope upwards listening, got into her neck.  S at Big Barnes in St Louis, the most major place around.  That guy listened, then sent a scope in through her nose, over and down the throat, through the vocals and below found a 'donut' shaped mass restricting her airway.  Inside diameter about a large soda straw.  Caused by GERD.  The acid spilling over, burning and scarring the airway.  Almost immediate surgery to remove approx one inch of airway.  Stitched her chin to her chest to keep from pulling on the shorted airway.  In the recovery room she could breath perfectly already.   Wow.  That was almost 20 years ago already, still good.

Oh, this was supposed to be about that Primary.  He retired last Christmas.   She's looking for another.  Ain't happy with what she has found so far.    I'm fortunate, I've got the VA.  They have been very good to me.

[KatieV]

A good doctor you trust is worth their weight in gold!

[Michael Murphy]

Years ago I picked a new primary doctor.  First time I went to his office he had a large statue of Ralph Cramdon in his Bus Driver suit.  Now this was a large Medical Group and all the,doctors were  good but he had a sense of humor.  One day in 2008 he told me that I needed a stress test,  I just had one the year before so I thought it would be a waste of time.  He was upset because he could see I wasn't going to go.  He told me how much he wanted me to go and since I really liked this doctor and it seemed to mean so much to him I went.  I kinetic for a nuclear stree test he logout it scheduled that week.  Two days after the test I was in the hospital having six stents placed in my heart. Saved my life, proving a good doctor whom you like is worth his or her weight in gold.  Funny thing was that he was a nephrologist who became a  PC doctor.  He was also the one who warned me about needing dialysis down the road.  It was his advise to start when I began to have symptoms not before. 

[Charlie B53]

We 'Guy' fail to recognize many of the smallest signs of oncoming trouble which often turns out to be the most serious.   You were VERY fortunate to have run into one that was so well versed.  Most would have agreed with out and only at your autopsy have figured it out.

For me, that was seeing my Wife complain of afternoon chest pain.  Her being diabetic and all the reading I have done simply because I am half to three-quarter nerd, called her Dr and told one her.  She had her quad the day after she finally saw the Dr.  That's when I started asking mine why her, why wasn't it me?  I failed every subsequent test and had my 'Widow-maker' diverted 3 months after hers.   Of course her healing was sooner than mine, she had a head start.

Some Dr's are VERY worth hanging on to!