Dr. ChXXXX and doctor care

I cannot even begin to name all the doctors that had a hand in Richard's care in the year 2008.  The ones in Trauma ICU were great.  There were trauma, orthopedic, neurologists, opthomologists, and who knows how many more?  Not me!  It really wasn't clear that any particular doctor was going to be long term, until Dr. ChXXXX.  It was Dr. ChXXXX that Richard would need to go back and see over and over again for his arm and ankle.  He is an orthopedic surgeon at UNM, a teaching hospital.  For this reason, we could never be sure how long Dr. ChXXXX would be in the room because residents would come in before he arrived and stayed after he left. Richard would be taken by ambulance to UNM to see Dr. ChXXXX most of that year and into the next.  After he came home, I would take days off work to drive the 100 miles to UNM so Richard could see Dr. ChXXXX.  Did we have a choice to use him?  I sure didn't think I did.  I thought we had to see him because that is where he was taken for his injuries. He knew the case, and it was a complicated one.

We were told that Dr. ChXXXX was one of the top three orthopedic surgeons in the country.  When he walked into the room, the residents and nurses showed such reverence that they only word I can think to describe it is genuflect.  They would genuflect when Dr. ChXXXX came in the room!

When Dr. ChXXXX would come into the room, Richard would have lots of questions for him.  Since Richard was an engineer, he thinks like an engineer. He wants to repair things the way an engineer would.  There are medical reasons why some of those things won't work, but that wasn't explained to him.  No one really sat down with Richard and explained ANYTHING about his care until Dr.
EXXXX finally did in about February 2009 because Richard pointed out that no one had really explained anything.  There were many times when Richard would ask a question, Dr. ChXXXX would just walk out of the room.  There were also times when he said that he was going to go in later and replace a bone or work with muscles, etc. and then they wouldn't do it, and there was no explanation as to why the change was made.  Plans were always changing, and we would be the last to know.

Once after we came home, Dr. ChXXXX wanted to see Richard.  He had an appointment scheduled for during the Christmas break, but they called to reschedule and wanted him to come in on the first day back to school after Christmas break.  I explained that I was a teacher and that was the first day back to school, etc.  Dr. ChXXXX wanted to see him that day.  Period.  So, I took a day off without pay (again) so that Dr. ChXXXX could see Richard. When we got there, we waited for more than four hours to get in to see him, which was pretty typical. Then we were taken back to the exam room, Dr. ChXXXX came in, said that he was dismissing him as a patient, there was nothing more he could do. We drove 100 miles one way, taking a day without pay, waiting for 4 hours, for him to be in the room less than 2 minutes and tell us that he didn't want to see us again. We found out later that the patients seen in that unit are either inmates brought from the local prison, people with no insurance, or very serious cases, like Richard's. Why do those that have the most issues get treated like that?  Wouldn't you think that that the most serious cases would receive the most compassion, the BEST care?

We went to one doctor in Santa Fe that we just walked out of the office and told them not to bill our insurance because we didn't receive services. It was a joke!

After these experiences, given the choice between the best doctor in the country that doesn't care (like Dr. ChXXX) or the fifth best who does care, I would take the latter hands down!

We have had a lot of bad experiences with doctors and other medical professionals. In fact, most of Richard's long term issues are not due to the accident itself, but due to poor medical care after the accident. (Doctors, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Nurses, etc) I have learned from this.  I have learned that if there are red flags, get a second opinion, ask questions, educate yourself, and walk out of the office if needed. (Not so easy to do when you can't walk, and don't even have transportation back to your facility on your own!) Don't trust that they have your best interest at heart unless they have proven over time. I am sad that I sound so cynical, but I have learned the hard way.

We have also have incredibly gifted and knowlegeable doctors that have gone above and beyond what was required to help us.  I want to acknowledge them.  Good medical professionals are way more rare than I ever imagined. We have a few of those now in Las Vegas. The doctor that did follow-up in Santa Fe for surgery done at Mayo Clinic and Richard's current pulmonologist, to name a few. They are ones that I know I can trust.  Those kind of doctors are rare.  Hold on to them.