Monday, July 25, 2005

Assortment of thoughts related to doctors

* Our family doctor is leaving family practice. This is the doctor we were so excited to find because she worked five minutes away, didn't push for testing and drugs, was OK with a careful approach to vaccinations, did obstetrics too, and even had in-laws with DOB's genetic condition. But her insurance premiums have gotten too high, so she is going to go treat hemmorrhoids. A noble calling I'm sure, but not one we have much use for. I am limited in who I can blame for this situation, having loyalties in both the legal and insurance fields, but I'd put the blame on the lawyers. Doctors and insurance companies at least still face some free market constraints, though not enough, whereas lawsuits do not.

The one potentially hopeful news is that she might be joining her husband in family practice in a couple of years, where starting over will get her back to the beginning on insurance ratings. But he has a different name (which I can't remember) and practices in a town thirty minutes away, so I don't know how I'll find out when and if she does.

* Naptimes and doctor's appointments do not mix well. D1 is very good and very regular about taking her naps. But what the books cannot show you is that while in the book you can turn the page from the 9-month nap schedule to the 12-month schedule to the 18-month schedule, in real life the change is made incrementally. D1 is gradually moving from morning and afternoon nap to early afternoon nap. Which means that sometime in the next couple of months, 1:00 will become a very bad time for doctor's appointments, even though now it is the ideal time. Unfortunately doctors don't like to wait until that morning to find out how the naptime schedule is progressing and when you can most easily come in.

* I accidentally scheduled my next doctor's appointment on the day His Majesty is out visiting. Now I have to reschedule. Bother. Yes, of course I should have consulted my calendar first. The trouble is, I have yet to see an organizational scheme that would work for someone who can't follow a grocery list.

Besides, all these prenatal appointments annoy me. I go in and spend half an hour laughing at the advice in parenting magazines. Doctor comes in. "Are you having problems X, Y, and Z?" "Nope." "Everything looks fine." "Thanks." Baby's heart is still beating (as I was sure it was, being as it's hard to kick without a heartbeat), I am getting bigger (as I had noticed). All is well. I already knew that. And now I have to go do this every two weeks.

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