When doctor becomes patient
One of the best things about being a doctor is that you usually don't have to go to the doctor yourself. Physician, heal thyself, right? I rarely get sick, and I have fortunately not had any significant physical injuries either. I have never missed a scheduled shift since getting my medical license 15 years ago.
Unfortunately, my lack of preventive maintenance finally caught up to me today.
I hadn't been to the dentist in over 20 years. In fact, my mother made my last dental appointment for me. In college I had better things to do, in medical school I was too busy and poor, in residency I never found the time, and by then I had gotten out of the habit of seeing a dentist, so why bother? Since then, I have lost a couple of fillings and cracked a couple of teeth, but nothing a little ibuprofen wouldn't take care of.
But lately the pain required round-the-clock ibuprofen, and I could no longer chew on one side without excruciating pain, so I figured it was time to pay the piper. So today, after four night shifts in a row, 3 hours sleep, and two hours of dental procedures, I'm now in even worse pain than before. The procedures itself were relatively painless. Nitrous has a wonderful effect on one's outlook. I'm a bit foggy about the discharge instructions, but I recall the dentist telling me there was a chance he would have to refer me to an endodontist if I had horrible pain afterwards. Something about an exposed nerve pulp. He wrote me some vicoprofen just in case. Soon, I would be very, very glad he did.
I started to feel the pain during my 45 minute drive home. The skin over my cheek was still totally numb, but my tooth and jaw were aching. I noticed that I was becoming unusually irritated with the idiot drivers who impeded my progress to the pharmacy. I gave my prescription to the pharmacy tech (while feeling a little self-conscious about filling a narcotic). The pain was getting so bad, it began to make me nauseated, so I asked for a prescription pad so I could write myself some Zofran too. "Are you going to wait for the prescription?" she asked. I wanted to yell at her and say "Can't you see me wincing and squeezing my temples? That means yes!" But it might have made my face hurt more, so I just nodded meekly and walked away to pace the aisles.
Zofran is amazing. I have zero nausea now. I've administered it to many patients, but I'd never needed to try it myself. I give it my highest recommendation.
Vicoprofen, not so amazing. There is still no way I can sleep with this much pain, even though I have only had a total of six hours sleep the past two days. But it's tolerable. Barely. If I didn't have that prescription, I would probably have to go to the ER myself, another "drug-seeker with a toothache."
I've already spent $2000 today, I think I'll try to hold out a bit longer.
Unfortunately, my lack of preventive maintenance finally caught up to me today.
I hadn't been to the dentist in over 20 years. In fact, my mother made my last dental appointment for me. In college I had better things to do, in medical school I was too busy and poor, in residency I never found the time, and by then I had gotten out of the habit of seeing a dentist, so why bother? Since then, I have lost a couple of fillings and cracked a couple of teeth, but nothing a little ibuprofen wouldn't take care of.
But lately the pain required round-the-clock ibuprofen, and I could no longer chew on one side without excruciating pain, so I figured it was time to pay the piper. So today, after four night shifts in a row, 3 hours sleep, and two hours of dental procedures, I'm now in even worse pain than before. The procedures itself were relatively painless. Nitrous has a wonderful effect on one's outlook. I'm a bit foggy about the discharge instructions, but I recall the dentist telling me there was a chance he would have to refer me to an endodontist if I had horrible pain afterwards. Something about an exposed nerve pulp. He wrote me some vicoprofen just in case. Soon, I would be very, very glad he did.
I started to feel the pain during my 45 minute drive home. The skin over my cheek was still totally numb, but my tooth and jaw were aching. I noticed that I was becoming unusually irritated with the idiot drivers who impeded my progress to the pharmacy. I gave my prescription to the pharmacy tech (while feeling a little self-conscious about filling a narcotic). The pain was getting so bad, it began to make me nauseated, so I asked for a prescription pad so I could write myself some Zofran too. "Are you going to wait for the prescription?" she asked. I wanted to yell at her and say "Can't you see me wincing and squeezing my temples? That means yes!" But it might have made my face hurt more, so I just nodded meekly and walked away to pace the aisles.
Zofran is amazing. I have zero nausea now. I've administered it to many patients, but I'd never needed to try it myself. I give it my highest recommendation.
Vicoprofen, not so amazing. There is still no way I can sleep with this much pain, even though I have only had a total of six hours sleep the past two days. But it's tolerable. Barely. If I didn't have that prescription, I would probably have to go to the ER myself, another "drug-seeker with a toothache."
I've already spent $2000 today, I think I'll try to hold out a bit longer.
posted by scalpel at 1:58 PM
13 Comments:
Bless your heart. Been there, done that, bought the dentist a boat.
I wonder if they sell that nitrous for home use? I could use a little tank of nitrous at my house.
Going to the dentist doesn't count in the doctor as patient scenario. Those guys aren't docs. In the military, the dentist (the only one I ever liked) referred to us as RDs, for Real Docs.
I think of them as subspecialists, like Orthopedists. It's pretty delicate work they do in a small awkward area. They take a history, do an exam, take and interpret radiographs, manage sedation and regional anesthesia, and correct important cosmetic and functional deformities.
He called me today to see how I was doing....I was impressed with that. My pain is gone, finally.
Ouch! I'm sorry you went through that! There's nothing like tooth pain ... :o(
I'm friends with my dentist, and I still don't see him until I'm ready to do something drastic - maybe once every 3 or 4 years.
Found you through your comment on Dr. Schwab's blog. Blogrolling you!
Zofran! A fabulous drug!! I grew *two* babies on Zofran. Zofran spared me from who-knows-how-many trips to the hospital. I am amazed by how many people actually think "morning" sickness happens in the morning, or believe that all women feel better after the first trimester.
I tell other miserable pregnant women to "Ask for it by name! Don't let them make you try Phenergan first, unless you actually *want* to sleep 24/7, and you have no responsibilities whatsoever that would make that an impractical solution. What, you have a job? Other children to care for? Forget the Phenergan. Get some Zofran."
:)
Phenergan is nasty stuff, but better than nothing. Compazine is somewhat better, but Zofran rules all.
It's worth the money.
"Going to the dentist doesn't count in the doctor as patient scenario. Those guys aren't docs. In the military, the dentist (the only one I ever liked) referred to us as RDs, for Real Docs."
So what does count? I cannot believe how ignorant this comment is. If sid schwab actually kept up with the changing face of health care, he would understand that most dental programs share equivalent study with medicine. Do you think I enjoyed learning the treatment algorithm for acute pancreatitis while doubling my study time learning how to design a partial denture?
Sid schwab, I would suggest that you review the definition of respect. Of course, we could continue to dwell within your rigid, out-dated construct...
And if you honestly want to play the definition game, maybe we should review the acutal definition of the word doctor.
Doctor means teacher in Latin - its primary designation is a person who has obtained a doctorate that, with the exception of higher and academic doctorates, is the highest rank of academic degree awardable.
Do you have a PhD? Do your colleagues? Should I believe that all practicing physicians have PhDs? I think I might start calling my professors RDs just to be safe.
It's been a while, but if I drag my brain, I'm pretty sure my long-ago comment was in jest. On the other hand, I have a dentist friend (yes, I do) who once wept into his (one or two too-many) beers over having chosen dentistry over medicine. Evidently there's more than one dentist with a nerve near enough the surface to hit without aiming. In seriousness: it's interesting and quite amazing to see where an entirely off-hand and (theoretically) humorous comment lands. I suppose it's a lesson of some sort.
"On the other hand, I have a dentist friend (yes, I do) who once wept into his (one or two too-many) beers over having chosen dentistry over medicine. Evidently there's more than one dentist with a nerve near enough the surface to hit without aiming."
I don't understand. Is this supposed to make me question my position?
And your comparison to a man who chose the wrong profession - it seems that once again you are placing one career over another. Or maybe this is another jest...
I understand. You think that medicine (or surgery) is amazing. That's great, but do realize that what you believe (or what you write off as humor) is naive and misleading.
There were 3 medical students in my medicine/dentistry class that continually mentioned how they wished they had applied to dentistry - another three that you can add to your list of people with lousy aim.
My dentist had really good aim, apparently. He nailed that little tiny nerve right on the button. From the number of hits I get from google searches on the topic of lingual nerve injury, he isn't the only one.
It's one thing to hit a nerve, but to cut off the wrong leg...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-04-17-wrong-surgery_x.htm
Dentists aren't the only ones who make mistakes :)
There were times when even I envied dentists: the ones I know make way more than I ever did and work way less. In that sense, it's a much better choice than surgery. On the other hand, it seems there's a certain defensiveness....
OK, and let me say one more thing, since I really don't like pissing contests and have never particularly enjoyed being nasty (well, sometimes...): my original comment, lo these many months ago and in the infancy of my bloghood, was, I thought, essentially a conversation with scalpel. It didn't occur to me (and in retrospect, it should have) that it might be read by someone who'd find it offensive; nor did causing offense enter my mind nor was it in any way the purpose of the comment. Had it occurred to me, I doubt I'd have said it exactly as I did. So, in view of all that's transpired (admittedly a speck in the eye of the world's problems), I regret it. In fact I wish I'd not commented at all. I'm sure if anonymous and I were to meet, we'd find we had much in common and likely would become fast friends.
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