Bad Doctors
My neck starts hurting a week ago Saturday. It is hurting worse on Sunday, still aches on Monday, and on Tuesday I run a fever. I go see the campus doctor Wednesday and he says he thinks its a virus and that I should stay away from people. He also explains that the neck ache may be a symptom of spinal meningitis(I spelled that right without the spell checker). The campus doctor doesn't stop there; he goes on to tell me that spinal meningitis can kill you in a day. He then explains that he doesn't have the equipment to know for sure whether its the fatal meningitis or not and says not to worry about it, just to stay away from people because I might be contagious.
Against his recommendations I worry about it. I go to another doctor that same day. The nurse that takes my blood pressure asks me what symptoms I have. I tell her my back and neck has been aching for the last few days, that I ran a fever the night before, and since the fever my nose has been a little runny. She writes it all down. Dr. CurlyHair comes in a few minutes later and says, "So Robert . . ." I hate being called 'Robert', "I hear you've had a sore throat and a runny nose. How long has this been going on." Sore throat? I didn't say anything about a sore throat.
I tell him its been going on a few days, but that I didn't have any sore throat just an achy neck, a high fever, and more recently a runny nose. He suggested that I get a lot of rest, and that I take some pain killer for my sore throat. What?! Then he asked me if I needed a note for school. I was irate. I explained to him that I didn't have a sore throat again, and that I thought that I may need to be tested for something more serious like spinal meningitis. He said that it was probably just a virus and no I didn't need to be tested for spinal meningitis. Spinal meningitis is a virus, stupid.
So I decided to wait it out. If I ran another fever I was going to go to the ER where they might take me a little more seriously. I didn't run another fever and my neck is feeling better so the campus doctor was probably right. It still bothers me that they didn't check though. I think doctors should be willing to go the extra mile just to disprove the worse. That's my story.
Against his recommendations I worry about it. I go to another doctor that same day. The nurse that takes my blood pressure asks me what symptoms I have. I tell her my back and neck has been aching for the last few days, that I ran a fever the night before, and since the fever my nose has been a little runny. She writes it all down. Dr. CurlyHair comes in a few minutes later and says, "So Robert . . ." I hate being called 'Robert', "I hear you've had a sore throat and a runny nose. How long has this been going on." Sore throat? I didn't say anything about a sore throat.
I tell him its been going on a few days, but that I didn't have any sore throat just an achy neck, a high fever, and more recently a runny nose. He suggested that I get a lot of rest, and that I take some pain killer for my sore throat. What?! Then he asked me if I needed a note for school. I was irate. I explained to him that I didn't have a sore throat again, and that I thought that I may need to be tested for something more serious like spinal meningitis. He said that it was probably just a virus and no I didn't need to be tested for spinal meningitis. Spinal meningitis is a virus, stupid.
So I decided to wait it out. If I ran another fever I was going to go to the ER where they might take me a little more seriously. I didn't run another fever and my neck is feeling better so the campus doctor was probably right. It still bothers me that they didn't check though. I think doctors should be willing to go the extra mile just to disprove the worse. That's my story.
posted by Bob at 9:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home