Rowdy and I did a mountain bike ride in the Laguna Mountains last Saturday. For me, the best part was being able to negotiate the various rock gardens there confidently, without falling down once. It seems like every mtb ride ends up in me gaining a new scar, but maybe I've gotten past that.
Rowdy couldn't figure out why his bike was so much dustier than mine at the end of the ride...until I reminded him that he was eating my dust the whole time! Hahahahah!!! Gee, like that's going to happen ever again.
My victory was diminished by the realization a few days later that Rowd was brewing an illness that would result in our spending a total of 12 hours in the ER on Tuesday. Scary. He was doing just fine on Tuesday morning when he accompanied me on my morning bike ride to work. By 9am, he had a fever of 100.5, which progressed to 102.8 within about 2 hours. Fortunately, I was only working 1/2 day, so I could bring him down to the ER.
You know, it's very hard as a physician not to fall into the "satisfaction of search" mode. Sometimes, you have a patient that has a particular illness, or you have a preconceived notion about what you should find on their physical exam or imagin studies, and you're blinded to any other outcome. Such was our problem yesterday.
Because Rowdy has Crohn's, the general consensus was that the fever must have been Crohn's-related. A certain amount of lab work, a CT and a chest x-ray were obtained; seven hours later, there were five different opinions as to what was going on. A couple of people wanted to admit Rowd just for observation, but we were willing to convince them that he would be much more comfortable and better cared-for if he just stayed home.
It certainly was frustrating to have to be the wife and not the MD and not say, "You know, dudes, I noticed that you're not ordering blood cultures. Dontcha think that would be a good idea??" And I also ticked off some bossy nurse in the ER who didn't think that I should look at Rowdy's chest x-ray without asking "his doctor's permission" first. What tha??? Lady, I'm a radiologist at this hospital and the patient's my husband. I don't need anyone's permission!! Oh, and I could really rant about how the triage nurse asked if I was Rowdy's mom.
So, we went home for a total of four hours until Rowdy spiked a fever again at midnight. Part of the deal was that we'd go back to the ER again if that happened, and I'm glad we made that decision. Fortunately, we ended up with an ER doc who will get VIP treatment from me for a year because of his reasonable approach to Rowdy's symptoms. "You mean you had a fever of unknown origin and they didn't order blood cultures??" He gave Rowdy a dose of CefTRIaxONE (yeah, that's really the way it's spelled), some Motrin, and let him come home at 4am.
This morning, Rowdy was feeling tired and achy, but he'd been fever-free for four hours, so he'd definitely turned a corner. I called in sick to be able to get some sleep and make sure R was okay. We spent most of the day sleeping and trying to get back to some semblance of normal.
Here's a couple of pictures of us having fun on bikes...Geez, I look fat and stumpy in my picture. Great. I needed that.
5 comments:
Okay, I have to say right off that I'm glad it's not just me who is frequently driven around the bend by doctors. Ugh, I could tell stories about nurses and doctors totally ignoring what I'm telling them because--why? They just naturally think everyone else is an idiot? Sheesh--she wouldn't let you look at the x-rays? Did she think you were going to pocket them or something? And asking if you were Rowdy's mom? Does Rowdy look like a teenager suddenly?
This is certainly not the best way to inspire confidence in patients. I am sure you never treat people that way.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear that he is feeling better and that you're out on the road biking.
Walking is about my pace. (Stupid back problems.)
I can't believe anyone would ask you if you were R's mom. I had to laugh out loud. I'm glad to hear his fever's down and that he's getting better.
Good grief! How dare anyone question YOU?! Don't they know that you're more brilliant than the rest of them combined?? What ended up being the problem? Whatever is was, I'm glad he's doing better and that you both were able to rest. And congrats on the bike ride- I'm also one who has a lovely collection of scars to show I attempt adventures!
Two things:
1) Rowdy does kind of look like a teenager sometimes. It's the full head of red hair. But dang it! I do not look like his mom!!
2) We still don't know why he had that fever. His blood cultures are negative so far. He's feeling much better, fortunately. We're leaving for Europe in two weeks, so it would be so sad if he wasn't better by then.
I beg to differ! Don't say that kind of negative stuff about yourself! You look hot and I know I wouldn't mind trading bodies :)
OH MY GOSH re: the nurse! That DOES make me feel slightly better about the times I am treated like an idiot. I may not have an education in the health field but I was raised with a Doctor, a nurse, and P.A. in the fam. I'm not an overly dramatic girl. We were raised (I think because my dad dealt with so much death and severe sickness) to believe that if we didn't feel like we were dieing, we would be okay and thus didn't need a visit to the doctor's office.
So, when you do get up the courage to go, and you're treated like you're dumb, and you get those doctors with the preconceived notions that don't listen to the symptoms you are describing, you wonder WHO, if the docs don't, will truly figure out how to cure the ailment. Not just treat the symptoms and hope they'll be done with you.
I'm glad you stood up to her. Some people need to be put in their place! And you are the PERFECT one to do it :) Humble, and incredibly intelligent.
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