Cancer. No need to explain that more than saying cancer. If you have had any dealings with the care of someone who has cancer, is being treated for cancer, is dealing with the effects of treatment, or whatever, you will understand when I say, Cancer sucks.
I've been on the journey of caring for people with cancer three times now. Each time I learn something new about the disease and how it's treated. Unfortunately, this time, I've learned more than that. I've learned that doctors have become so specialized now that they have no idea what another doctor is doing with their patient and are unwilling to comment on what is not their specialty.
The oncologist has an interest only in fighting cancer, of ridding the body of the disease. when the patient has a problem that is not about the cancer, they refer them out to another specialist. Recently a loved one was referred to a surgeon about an abscess and when we got to the office, not only did we have to wait an hour to be seen (which I found out later was because the Doctor was taking his time with each patient, not looking at the clock) we had to wait longer because he and his staff had no clue why we were there. This kind doctor had to call the radiologist, read through all the recent scans and notes and the call the oncologist to get the scoop. That's pretty scary when you are dealing with Cancer. Shouldn't these places at least communicate the problems with each other before a patient gets there?
Then there is a hospital visit because of some other issue. It could be a fall, a wart, or whatever, but the hospital hears you have cancer and when you say you have pain the first thing they offer you is morphine. But it's my toe that is hurting! All I need is liquid, I'm dehydrated! I don't need morphine. None of that stops the hospital from trying to stick you with a needle of it.
The hospital's job is to stabilize whatever brought you there. They work around the clock to give you best possible solution to the problem. The quickest band aid available. Unfortunately, many solutions that work quickly involve more drugs. So you come to the hospital constipated, they find you have cancer, they shoot you up with morphine, then ask you more questions you can't answer. Your blood pressure goes up because you're scared and then they give you more drugs and then...then your body starts having reactions to the drugs and they start treating you for those reactions, like heart palpitations or higher blood pressure or elevated pulse or whatever.
You go into the hospital with only one medication on your daily regime and leave with eight or nine meds that deal with one issue a piece. Then your general practitioner hears about this second hand, meaning from you because they haven't looked at your hospital records, and sees the meds and because of your age and risks, doesn't want to take the meds away, even though, before the hospital visit, you weren't taking any and the visit to the hospital had nothing to do with high blood pressure which inevitably was caused by the stress which brought you to the hospital in the first place.
Perhaps I'm oversimplifying here, but I wish patient records were available between practices. I wish doctors would communicate and discuss the best possible care. Instead you get one doctor treating your left arm, another treating your right leg, another your toe and oh wait, now we have to bring in the psychiatrist because you, the patient, have no idea what's going on with your body anymore.
The right leg doctor can't tell you that your left leg needs something because he's not treating the left leg, only the right leg. Even if he sees that your left leg is obviously filled with pus or bleeding, he can't tell you what to do about it. it's not the right leg. Of course, if he were the hospital doctor, he could stop all the bleeding, give you morphine for the pain, and drugs for whatever, monitor you for other things and send you home when you are stable, but nothing is fixed, just bandaided.
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