Good you are Not Retired?

I am sure you have had a doctor retire or move his or her practice in your lifetime where you have to search for a new specialist. You have. Oh, you have not. Well, let me tell you about my doctor of 38 years closing his practice and my experience with his successor.

I had a neuro problem back 38 years ago, no really 41 years ago, and I have seen the same neuro specialist all these years. He knew me inside and out and what I needed really without my telling him. Now I am losing that relationship of all these years and starting out new with a new one that does not know me from Adam's housecat.

I am a planner and a plotter and before my doctor closed his doors, I went by the office of my new one and got a new patient packet, an appointment, and all the good stuff you really need to do before you see him. I had him covered like the morning dew when I saw him last week for the first time.

He is in his middle 40's I would guess, and loved my records and information I put on the new patient form, right down to the pills I take, name, doseage, everything. A paragraph or summary of all tests I have had over maybe the last 6 or 8 years and the results. WoW...was his comment! If you know me, how could I do anything less!

He told me right off that if what the other doctor did was working for me that he "was not going to reinvent the wheel!" He told me he took a conservative approach to recommended therapies and treatment and gave me a short talk on the benefits I got from now working part-time having tried retirement for 2 years and that was not for me.

He said,,,"It is good a man has something to make him get up each morning, some tasks or work to do, something that demands his attention and time. It is the best physical therapy you can get and if you work for someone, it does not cost anything, but pays you each week or month, however they pay you."

He looked at my tests, took my blood pressure (112/68), listen to my heart and lungs, did the neuro stuff about following his fingers, peripherial vision, etc. He then checked circulation in my neck, and all extremities. "Good" he said. "Now how often do I need to see you, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months?"...He's asking me. I told him to keep me on a relatively short leash as my migraines have a way of interrupting my feeling of well being from time to time and he needed to know about it...."OK, lets go with 4 months and call me IF YOU NEED TO COME IN! WE WILL SEE YOU THAT DAY".

I like him! Oh, he took a lot more time than I can write about but I was impressed. Something about conservative approach to me and my needs and being there for me really was what I needed in this, my first visit to a new neurologist. Thanks Doc, looking forward to seeing you again....in 4 months....Jeff