Posts by Jeffrey Edwards5

If it weren't for that little Amy character with her grating, fake-sweet, high-pitched voice drilling into your ears, this movie would actually be a lot better.😁

Anthony Wood54 said:I HATE it when people tell me, "You've never looked better than you do right now!!!"
Does looking perfect really matter?
I'VE NEVER BEEN SICKER THAN I AM NOW, I'VE NEVER FELT MORE MISERABLE OR ALONE, AND MY LIFE HAS NEVER BEEN THIS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!!!

Man, I get it... you have no idea how much I get it. Words don't even cover how much I feel you right now...

Wait, where did all those warnings go about not overcleaning your ears? You aren't even supposed to be digging around in there so much. The ear uses its own wax to protect the canals from... well, everything.

Seriously though, why is everyone obsessing over this one specific thing that’s causing such a massive headache?😬
What’s wrong with just using a standard stick and a damp towel?😁

Anthony Wood54 said:It was always the same thing... "Lose weight," "Look at yourself," "Did you gain weight?" or "Have you lost weight yet?"

It’s easy to say just ignore it... but if my mom talked to me like that, I’d pack my bags and head for Mars right this second.
if I actually could.
so I totally get where you're coming from...

And let's say she found out you ruined your health because of her comments. Do you really think she'd feel bad? Think she'd say, "I went too far, I was wrong, I messed up, I'm sorry"? Not a chance.
She'd probably just find even more reasons to yell at you...

northernfalcon30 said:So, let me get this straight. Your main criteria for picking a specialist are just being polite, nice, and having a good heart?

At that rate, you might as well go see Santa Claus for a checkup.😕

To quote a bit:

Oh, what an all-powerful conclusion!

I was just wondering what kind of fallout we're going to see from that article that hit the New York Post today.
Is it actually going to spark anything or change the status quo...

Personally, I doubt it.
Same old story, same old result.

nimbleskipper13 said:Carol Grant33, I think you’re drifting a bit off topic, but I’ll answer anyway.

My questions were about systemic issues, not specific people.
Unfortunately, whether it's a hospital doctor in a real emergency or some specialist being treated like a rockstar, you often get raw, unrefined personalities. And half the time, patients are the ones at fault... you mentioned how fantastic and brilliant he is, all on an Extra Extra Extra Large scale. Since patients treat him like he's God, the guy's convinced he actually is.
Sadly, they don't check your IQ or your manners when you apply to med school.

Actually, you reminded me of something... scheduling is a constant headache. For instance, if my shift ends at 2:00 PM, the assumption is that I'm turning the key in the lock right at 2:00 sharp. But if a patient walks in at 1:59 with a gash on their forehead and I turn them away, I’m suddenly the monster. People will start throwing Hippocrates and family legacies in my face.
Nobody cares if staying an extra hour to help someone means losing time with my family—especially since overtime isn't getting paid.

That brings us to a topic that’s been popping up way too much lately: the actual value of our work.
Everyone expects a specialist to be cheerful, listen intently, do their job perfectly, explain everything, and answer every single question. On top of that, you’re expected to be a Stoic when a patient is being rude, aggressive, or taking out their frustrations on you over something totally unrelated. You have to crank through maybe 70 exams or procedures a day, stay happy when a patient recovers, and feel the sting when things go south (and we really do feel it, even if nobody believes us)... all for $12 standard specialist rates.
What do you all think?

I don't think you can compare shift hours and locking up the office (is that how you spell it? 😁 ) to other types of jobs.
A clinic, a health center, or a hospital isn't a factory where you just punch a card the second your shift starts or ends.
I've accepted the pros and cons of my job, mostly because I know I'm usually the first one people take their frustrations out on. I get it.
And I don't expect everyone else to understand.

nimbleskipper13 said:Actually, your replies sparked a thought for me: what do you all think the actual role of a primary care physician should be?
According to the WHO, primary care should focus on prevention and health education. In some of the more developed Western countries, they supposedly handle about 70% of cases there...
Here at the FBI, the trend has shifted toward just churning out referrals and prescriptions. It seems like people are either taking the path of least resistance or just trying to cover their bases against any potential liability.

So, is informing the patient, talking, and providing education the responsibility of the GP who knows them best—or at least it *should* be—or does that fall to the specialist, who’s usually too swamped with patients to find the time?

One more thing: why the long wait times for specialists and procedures in our hospitals, and who's really to blame? Is it a broken system that tells patients they can have whatever they want immediately, while simultaneously capping how many doctors a hospital can hire or how many services they can provide (since Medicare won't pay for anything beyond a certain quota)? Or is it just doctors avoiding work and nurses who are too busy grabbing coffee?🙂

Regarding your first question...
It honestly drives me nuts when my GP just writes a referral for every little thing just to get me out the door. When I leave her office, I can't help but feel that even if she knows her stuff, she lacks the confidence to actually make a simple diagnosis herself. Instead, she just passes the buck. It feels like she isn't doing her job properly; she's just using referrals to pretend she's being thorough.
As for the second part, I assume most doctors operate this way, which probably explains why the wait times are so bad.

Betty Bennett10 said:It’s not easy on those nurses either. They’re on the front lines dealing with patients 😉 and often have to enforce decisions they didn't make and don't even agree with. They're the ones who have to deliver the news and take the heat when people get angry. For instance, over at the endocrinology department at Johns Hopkins Hospital, they won't see anyone who isn't already their patient, even though their lab is the only one in Chicago capable of running certain tests. That was the director's call. I was there for some tests last year and saw at least ten people get turned away because of that policy. Naturally, people start yelling at the nurses. And let’s be honest, not everyone is as polite as we are here 😁—you get aggressive types like the patient mentioned in nimbleskipper13's post. I think those nurses develop a defensive shell just to survive, which is why they can come off as rude. It's pretty common with front-desk staff at hospitals. And yeah, if they're being rude 😁, it's because hospital reception areas are usually the worst part of the whole experience.

Sorry, but that doesn't justify snapping at an 80-year-old man who's hard of hearing. He's struggling through a maze of hallways on crutches, trying to understand directions, looking like he's about to burst into tears from the pain and the confusion...

Since I’m venting anyway, I have to mention how much it breaks my heart sitting in this waiting room, listening to how they check people in and "chat" with them.
They couldn't care less if you're 15 or 80; they just yell at everyone. Instead of helping a patient in three minutes with clear instructions, they stretch those three minutes into fifteen minutes of unnecessary shouting and arguing.
Rather than just doing their jobs properly and showing a little humanity, they act like nobody came here to watch them. We're all miserable enough dealing with whatever sickness we have without the extra drama.
It honestly gave me chills. On top of being sick, we're expected to just sit there and take that kind of treatment...

I had a similar close call once—sorry for the off-topic rant—when I completely forgot I actually had an appointment 😁 and showed up a month and a half late.
The nurse checked me in and asked if I was scheduled.
I told her yeah, but I’d been out of Chicago and just finally made it back...
"Uh, I'm not sure if the doctor can see you. You'll have to talk to him," she said.
I should mention that the doctor is behind two doors, and in between them is a hallway filled with 40 patients who are all losing their minds waiting. Any attempt at "cutting the line" or even just trying to chat with the doctor gets met with yelling, screaming, or some seriously aggressive death stares.
So I asked, "Could you please ask him if he can give me my prescription? It's the one only he can authorize, and I HAVE to take it regularly. If I don't get it now, I'm going to be in much worse shape by the time my next actual appointment rolls around."
The nurse just goes, "I don't know... he's really busy right now." (As if he ever isn't.) She told me to try and catch him after he finishes with his scheduled patients.
Fine, I sat down and waited. I get it, scheduled patients come first. They're waiting, so I'll wait too. My own fault, really...
Half an hour passes,
another thirty minutes,
another thirty,
then lunch break hits.
Lunch ends,
and I'm starting to lose it. I sit there for another 15 minutes until I finally corner a grumpy-looking nurse to see if she'll let me talk to the doctor since she wouldn't. Just then, the doctor walks out, and the nurse starts squawking at him like a frantic hen in that echoey hallway. Everyone suddenly turns all sweet and chirpy when talking to him, all "Doctor! Doctorrr!" She tells him, "A patient was scheduled a month ago and didn't show, and now she's here unannounced. I don't know if you can see her; she should have called ahead, but she DIDN'T!"
Honestly, the guy probably would have just told me to come in just to make the shouting stop.
Just a side note: they actually do see non-scheduled patients sometimes.
And another thing: the doctor has zero clue who is scheduled and who isn't unless the nurse tells him.
If she had just been a little more approachable and human about it, she wouldn't have needed to say anything at all; she could have just squeezed me in wherever possible.
Or, she could have done all that without the whole dramatic performance.
So, there's a little insight into the courtesy and professionalism of medical staff.

If she’d just told him, "Without my body, you wouldn't even need that accreditation," he'd be suing her for defamation by now, wouldn't he?

stormynomad602 said:actresses use hemorrhoid cream right before they go on screen😁 but I wouldn't 😁 honestly...

Wait, what?
I have no idea what you're getting at. Are they putting it on their faces, or are we talking about Colonic irrigation now? What?!

electricdriver78 said:that’s completely different from what Kiki was doing.

It’s an enema, or as Kenneth Hernandez67 calls it, colonic irrigation.

So, what exactly was Kiki doing?
Is that why she’s so well-endowed? 😁?

I don't know... I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how things can just "get stuck" and "dry out" inside your gut.
It sounds a bit like sci-fi to me...

northernfalcon30 said:She loves watching those "trash" movies, yet on the last page she’s acting all surprised—like she’s never even heard of the concept before!

😁

I never said I enjoyed them.
And I definitely didn't call them "trash." That's just your take.

As for my surprise, excuse my ignorance, but I had no idea people did Colonic irrigation for anything other than basic health reasons.
The idea of doing a "body cleanse" through Colonic irrigation just for the sake of cleaning itself was something I only read about here for the first time.
That’s why I was surprised.

Noah Harris50 said:I watched this documentary on TV where they showed people with old food waste stuck in their intestines. Apparently, it also clears out any fungus buildup.

Sounds pretty healthy to me.

I saw a documentary once too—it was Jackass, where they were doing colonic irrigation and all sorts of stuff just came flying out of the tube.😁

Noah Harris50 said:I've actually been considering booking a bunch of colonics. It’s quite something. They last about two hours and run $217 per session.

Good grief, 😲 😱
I have never even heard of that in my life! How does it even work? Do they just pump water up there from the back or what?

Noah Harris50 said:If my phone wakes me up in the morning, whether I'm actually awake or not, believe me, I have zero clue who I was talking to or what we even discussed.

Man, that happens to me all the time. For instance, when my folks go on a trip, they’ll call me right at 7:00 AM just to check in. I politely pick up, they start rattling off chores—pick up this, leave the popcorn alone, grab some eggs, feed the dog—and I’m just like, "Yeah, sure, will do," before crawling right back under the covers. By the time I actually get up at 10:00, I know I had a phone call, but who called me and what they wanted? Total blank.
It’s not like I was tipsy or half-asleep while answering, either.