Why I Hate People (Reason #784)
Warning: yet another incoming rant.
As you are aware, I have a bum hip. Specifically some really bad arthritis that is giving me a shit ton of pain. Also, you are aware that my surgeon, who I shall refer to as Dr. Douche from now on, refused to do a hip replacement because I am "too fat." So instead, I had the cortisone injection in my hip, which did much more harm than good it seems, and I am attempting to do physical therapy.
Last week, I finally got in touch with Dr. Douche about the worsening of the pain in my hip. It was already a week after the shot so the flare should have gone away but it had not. I was still suffering from pain that was worse than pre-injection. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do. In a very "I-don't-really-have-time-for-this" voice, he told me flares "happen sometimes" as the injection may aggravate the inflammation already there. My question was that "why did you not tell me this was a risk?" to which he did not respond. So, I asked him "what can I do to help this?" His response: ice it and take anti-inflammatories. Duh. Even WebMD could tell me that. As you can guess, I was frustrated at this point. I told him that a) I have been icing it for days now and b) as he should already know I cannot take anti-inflammatories (contraindicates with another med I take). He then waivered on giving me a prescription for Tramadol, like it was such a horrible thing for him to even contemplate. I said he did not need to as I already have some and it does not help much either. I guess I was really annoying him at this point because he just responded—in quite a nasty tone mind you—"well you can go for another shot in a few weeks..."
I hung up on him at that point. Now you know why he has a new nickname.
The interesting part is that I had a little nagging voice in my head since I saw Dr. Douche the last time. It was telling me he did not want to do the surgery because he has a thing against fat people. You see, he has always been after me about my weight. It never is a friendly reminder kind of thing. It is more like he was almost disgusted by it if anything. For example, he knows I had a failed bariatric surgery that actually made me very sick. Yet, he is always suggesting it to me and makes it out that my weight is all my fault.
Why do skinny people assume we are fat by choice?
I get the weight issue. I really do, but it is not my choice. In my 20s I was incredibly active and, while not skinny, I was a healthy weight. Then I got sick. My health issues plus my medications all have contributed to the weight I am now. They also make it extremely difficult to lose weight. If you knew about some of the medical conditions and the drugs I am taking for them, you would be surprised by how active I am. Hell, even with the fibromyalgia alone, I am proud of getting myself out of bed and going to work most days. I have a choice: be fat and functional or be incredibly miserable, in a shit ton of pain, and be skinny. Hmmm. Let me think on that...
My other doctors? We have this nice agreement: they say "you know about your weight, right?" and I respond "yes I do." That's it. They leave it at that. Why? They know me and that I am aware of all of the risk factors. They also know I go for regular blood work due to my health conditions and work to keep myself in decent shape. They also respect me and do not nag me about it. Hell, if I wanted nagging, I would just call my mother. She has nagging down to an art form. My doctors also know about the hell I went through with my bariatric surgery so they would never suggest that I go through it again. However, Dr. Douche refuses to get this.
As for the little nagging voice, I ignored it. I did not think it was logical. Seriously, why would a doctor be that way? But it still bothered me.
Then, my physical therapists told me—on separate occasions with neither of them talking to each other about this—that they were very surprised that Dr. Douche would not do the surgery due to my weight. They both said "how are you supposed to lose weight if you are in too much pain to exercise?" Even the director of the facility recommended that I should see another doctor and get a second opinion on this.
The little voice is getting louder now. I started thinking "why would Dr. Douche not do the surgery?" I mean, the first surgeon was willing to do it with no issues. Now two physical therapists said weight should not be an issue. Only Dr. Douche was giving the negative on this. Why?
I needed an answer. So, I did what I do best: research.
Oh wow. Why did I not do this first? I found some very interesting things. Researchers do agree that there is an increased risk of complication for those who are morbidly obese. However—this is a big one—the risks are not considered significant enough risks to prevent the surgery from occurring if the benefits outweigh them. Namely, if the pain is too bad, the risks are minimal enough that the surgery should be done. So what about Dr. Douche's claims? They are over 10 years old! I found that as the surgery is much less complicated today, the risks are not nearly what they were ten years ago. One study of obese and morbidly obese did not have any increase in complications or infections between those patients and non-obese ones.
That little voice is now going "I told you so."
So what am I going to do? I am going to give PT a couple of weeks to see if I get any benefit out of it. I doubt it but at least I can say I tried. I will not go back to the first surgeon as he's in the same group with Dr. Douche. To be honest, I do not want to deal with them ever again. I am going to put in a call to a surgeon at the Top Notch Surgery Hospital in the Big City to get a consultation. Not only does this guy take my insurance, which is key, but he has written numerous articles on doing joint replacements in obese patients. I think he would be willing to do it.
For right now, it is a wait and see. Hopefully PT will help. Otherwise, it is going to be a very long summer.
As you are aware, I have a bum hip. Specifically some really bad arthritis that is giving me a shit ton of pain. Also, you are aware that my surgeon, who I shall refer to as Dr. Douche from now on, refused to do a hip replacement because I am "too fat." So instead, I had the cortisone injection in my hip, which did much more harm than good it seems, and I am attempting to do physical therapy.
Last week, I finally got in touch with Dr. Douche about the worsening of the pain in my hip. It was already a week after the shot so the flare should have gone away but it had not. I was still suffering from pain that was worse than pre-injection. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do. In a very "I-don't-really-have-time-for-this" voice, he told me flares "happen sometimes" as the injection may aggravate the inflammation already there. My question was that "why did you not tell me this was a risk?" to which he did not respond. So, I asked him "what can I do to help this?" His response: ice it and take anti-inflammatories. Duh. Even WebMD could tell me that. As you can guess, I was frustrated at this point. I told him that a) I have been icing it for days now and b) as he should already know I cannot take anti-inflammatories (contraindicates with another med I take). He then waivered on giving me a prescription for Tramadol, like it was such a horrible thing for him to even contemplate. I said he did not need to as I already have some and it does not help much either. I guess I was really annoying him at this point because he just responded—in quite a nasty tone mind you—"well you can go for another shot in a few weeks..."
I hung up on him at that point. Now you know why he has a new nickname.
The interesting part is that I had a little nagging voice in my head since I saw Dr. Douche the last time. It was telling me he did not want to do the surgery because he has a thing against fat people. You see, he has always been after me about my weight. It never is a friendly reminder kind of thing. It is more like he was almost disgusted by it if anything. For example, he knows I had a failed bariatric surgery that actually made me very sick. Yet, he is always suggesting it to me and makes it out that my weight is all my fault.
Why do skinny people assume we are fat by choice?
I get the weight issue. I really do, but it is not my choice. In my 20s I was incredibly active and, while not skinny, I was a healthy weight. Then I got sick. My health issues plus my medications all have contributed to the weight I am now. They also make it extremely difficult to lose weight. If you knew about some of the medical conditions and the drugs I am taking for them, you would be surprised by how active I am. Hell, even with the fibromyalgia alone, I am proud of getting myself out of bed and going to work most days. I have a choice: be fat and functional or be incredibly miserable, in a shit ton of pain, and be skinny. Hmmm. Let me think on that...
My other doctors? We have this nice agreement: they say "you know about your weight, right?" and I respond "yes I do." That's it. They leave it at that. Why? They know me and that I am aware of all of the risk factors. They also know I go for regular blood work due to my health conditions and work to keep myself in decent shape. They also respect me and do not nag me about it. Hell, if I wanted nagging, I would just call my mother. She has nagging down to an art form. My doctors also know about the hell I went through with my bariatric surgery so they would never suggest that I go through it again. However, Dr. Douche refuses to get this.
As for the little nagging voice, I ignored it. I did not think it was logical. Seriously, why would a doctor be that way? But it still bothered me.
Then, my physical therapists told me—on separate occasions with neither of them talking to each other about this—that they were very surprised that Dr. Douche would not do the surgery due to my weight. They both said "how are you supposed to lose weight if you are in too much pain to exercise?" Even the director of the facility recommended that I should see another doctor and get a second opinion on this.
The little voice is getting louder now. I started thinking "why would Dr. Douche not do the surgery?" I mean, the first surgeon was willing to do it with no issues. Now two physical therapists said weight should not be an issue. Only Dr. Douche was giving the negative on this. Why?
I needed an answer. So, I did what I do best: research.
Oh wow. Why did I not do this first? I found some very interesting things. Researchers do agree that there is an increased risk of complication for those who are morbidly obese. However—this is a big one—the risks are not considered significant enough risks to prevent the surgery from occurring if the benefits outweigh them. Namely, if the pain is too bad, the risks are minimal enough that the surgery should be done. So what about Dr. Douche's claims? They are over 10 years old! I found that as the surgery is much less complicated today, the risks are not nearly what they were ten years ago. One study of obese and morbidly obese did not have any increase in complications or infections between those patients and non-obese ones.
That little voice is now going "I told you so."
So what am I going to do? I am going to give PT a couple of weeks to see if I get any benefit out of it. I doubt it but at least I can say I tried. I will not go back to the first surgeon as he's in the same group with Dr. Douche. To be honest, I do not want to deal with them ever again. I am going to put in a call to a surgeon at the Top Notch Surgery Hospital in the Big City to get a consultation. Not only does this guy take my insurance, which is key, but he has written numerous articles on doing joint replacements in obese patients. I think he would be willing to do it.
For right now, it is a wait and see. Hopefully PT will help. Otherwise, it is going to be a very long summer.
I seriously hope you find the right doctor and find some relief. I recently ran into a doctor who refused to consider helping me until I lost some weight despite my telling him that the condition I have makes that near impossible. he refused to hear it, so I refused to deal with him any more and left.
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