Thursday, June 6, 2013

Taking Care of Me

I think I have (finally) found a new primary care doctor!  Since I have spent much of the past 20 years having babies, most of my time has been spent in the OB-Gyn's office.  Occasionally, my need for a different type of doctor arises...and, really, I won't be having babies forever!

I have had two other "non baby" docs over the past 15 years.  I really liked the first doctor, but I couldn't stand her nurse practitioner.  Since you usually have to see the NP when you call in for a sick visit, I saw her more than the doctor.  The NP was condescending to me anytime I saw her over our choice to not use artificial birth control.  Her bedside manner was less than compassionate when I saw her for a problem I was having following Therese's death.

I decided a switch was in order!

The next doctor I signed up for I actually never saw.  I saw her nurse practitioner a couple of times.  (I tend to be pretty healthy....and I'm usually pregnant. lol)  The problem I had with this practice is that I couldn't get in when I was sick most of the time.  I could call on a Monday morning at 8:30  and they would say they had no openings for the week and I needed to go to the walk in clinic.

Huh?  Doesn't seem like good patient care to me.

Now that Kate is almost 18 months old...how did that happen!?!...and Jay switched jobs and we now have health insurance that needs to list a primary care physician, I have been on the hunt for a new doctor.  Friends gave suggestions but none of their doctors were taking new patients!  I decided to try a dr...had to be a woman...in one of the suggested practices that was accepting new patients.

I had to start somewhere!  I figured that if I didn't like her I could just start looking again.

Long story short, my new doctor is very nice.  She was patient, thorough, and didn't even ask about birth control!  That's a plus!

Her staff was also really nice and they all assured me that I could get in for a same day sick visit on the same day I call.  Perfect!

It's nice to know I have someone that will be able to take care of me when I need it.  Plus, I need to get better at the whole yearly physical thing now that I'm getting older! :/

Do you find it hard to take time out to take care of yourself, too?  It's definitely not an easy thing for me!