Then in 1989 television doctors got a new look. Doogie Howser. This one ran from 1989 until 1993. At the time I thought that a doctor who looked like he was twelve was fairly preposterous. (I think in Doogie's case, he actually was twelve.) But these days a younger look seems to be the norm.
Let's talk about my doctors for a minute. I like my cardiologist. He has a lot of experience and I believe he's older than me. At least he looks older than me. I like my dermatologist. He was able to quickly diagnose a problem and prescribe a solution for a condition that a younger doctor had missed even though I'd visited three times with the same problem. I'm pretty sure my dermatologist is older than me. My OB-Gyn may not be older than me, but I've been seeing this same doctor for close to 25 years and his hair is turning gray now. Let's face it, I'd be upset if he started looking younger.
My friend's husband had cardiovascular surgery a couple of weeks ago. I waited with her and when the doctor came out to talk to her about the surgery I would have sworn he must have just graduated from high school in the spring. (By the way, this is a worldwide issue - one of Mark's doctors in Paris appeared to be about 16.) So I wasn't completely surprised when the rheumatologist I saw last week looked like he was barely 20.
So maybe it was a generation gap issue that caused me and this new doctor to get off to an awkward start. He asked me what brought me to see him that day. (A reasonable question - even though I assume my complaint was written on the chart somewhere.) I also mentioned that I'd had a test for lupus back in June and that I assumed it wasn't a problem since my doctor hadn't phoned me to tell me that it was.
Then he told me that I needn't have wasted my time with that test because lupus strikes young black women between the ages of 15 and 30 and I was neither black nor between the ages of 15 and 30. I told him my mother had suffered from lupus.
Then he told me that she would have had it since her thirties and that since I was in my sixties, I needn't worry.
"My mother may have had it in her thirties but she wasn't diagnosed until she was in her sixties."
He gave me a quizzical look and then "implied" that her doctor probably didn't know what he was talking about because he may have been a GP instead of a rheumatologist. Indeed! Her doctor was a rheumatologist on staff at University Hospital in Cleveland - Case Western Reserve University. Well that shut his mouth and we moved on to why I was actually there, which was to see about my knee, not argue the particulars of my mother's case. He conceded that there are sometimes exceptions. I smiled and nodded but he needs to realize that there are ALWAYS exceptions. ALWAYS.
I could see from the x-ray (something that the doctor I saw back in March didn't share with me) that I'm missing a bit of cartilage. To make it stop hurting I got a cortisone shot, an exercise plan, lidocaine ointment, instructions to buy a knee brace for golf, and a prescription for tramadol.
I should be good to go!
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