Good Doctors

I now have a general surgeon to add to my list of doctors. I needed that kind of doc last week to remove my gallbladder. That also marked the end of my New Year's resolution for 2009. I thought I would keep it simple this year. No vow to loose 25 pounds, just a goal to go through a whole year without surgery. My 90 year old mother has kept this one for each one of her 90 years. Surly I could last one stinking year without a surgery, but no not me. Even though I failed at my resolution I did find a very good doctor. There is a sense in which laymen like me don't always do a very good job at judging the quality of a doctor. but while I might be limited in my ability to offer a peer review, I can, I believe, offer a meaningful observation or two.

This whole gallbladder thing started about three weeks ago with a trip to the emergency room convinced I was having a heart attack. My cardiologist, Dr. Stacy Smith, was concerned enough to do a heart cath. The cath actually looked great which made her suspect some gut issue. Off to the GI doctor. He confirms her suspicions and sends me to Dr. Carter McDaniel. He was able to schedule the surgery quickly. It went off without a hitch, and then he did something the day after the surgery which I thought was pretty cool. He called me, not his nurse, but him. He just wanted to see how I was doing and to see if I had any questions. The call was over in less than two minutes, but I wonder how often that is done? Maybe more often than I think, but I doubt it. Like I said, I can't judge a M.D. as a peer, but I sure can tell when a doctor communicates that he or she cares, and that still matters, and it still makes up part of my definition of a good one.