(Originally posted March 19, 2009)

I know I do a lot of complaining about medical personnel. It's not that I am not grateful to them for saving my husband's life, because I am. I feel that he has received very good care from people who are very knowledgeable in their field.

My complaint has more to do with the extreme lack of compassion some of these people (mostly the physicians) show. The cardiologist is a prime example. I told J.J. that I feel this guy has missed his calling. He REALLY should have been a proctologist instead, because he certainly must know a lot about a certain portion of anatomy, given his ability to imitate it. This was not a mature or charitable comment, but I think you get the drift. I'm frustrated.

Again J.J.'s blood pressure is spot on (118/82 today). His EKG strip looked great. His weight is much better. He's obviously been a compliant patient. But all this doctor (who was 90 minutes late for the appointment, by the way) could do was talk down to us about our choice to change J.J.'s medication (which, as you may recall, was supported by both the primary neurologist J.J. saw in rehab as well as his primary neurologist from the hospital, the one I call Dr. Acula). He spent 20 minutes telling us why J.J. really should be on the other drug and how we are "throwing our money away" with the current medication regimen he's on. Although he made sure at the end of the appointment to say that he wasn't changing J.J.'s medication back to the other drug (leading to a very puzzled look from me). He wouldn't acknowledge the 10 percent gain J.J. had in his ejection fraction (EF) in a week (the second test was done at rehab, so it somehow doesn't count in his opinion) and will not agree to double check J.J.'s EF again until August because the medication "needs time to work". He also informed us that he was pleasantly surprised to see J.J. functioning so well since he really thought he wouldn't have a very positive outcome when he was in the hospital.

Considering that this guy is in practice with the doctor who apparently missed that J.J. was in cardiac failure three weeks before the stroke, I am incredibly unimpressed with this cardiology group. I can put up with Dr. Acula (who suddenly doesn't seem so bad after all), but I think we may be shopping for a new cardiologist who is NOT part of this practice. Besides, I really want a second opinion on whether or not J.J.'s current medication is the best course of treatment, taking into account the side effects he had on the first med. I think quality of life has to figure into the equation at some point.

So basically today's visit was a complete waste of time. And I had to miss three hours of work to make it happen, including our monthly management meeting.

I have come to the conclusion that caregiving full-time while working full-time stinks. A lot. I'm buying a ticket for Saturday's lottery drawing. Keep your fingers crossed for me!