Professional Courtesy

This is the story of my ear pain. I woke up one week ago today with a slight pain in the region of my right ear or upper jaw. The pain gradually worsened with each new day, especially upon opening my mouth wide or clenching my teeth together. Upon returning to Houston, I scrounged up some leftover ciprofloxacin from my "goodie bag" of random medicines that I was once taking but have since stopped. The cipro did nothing for the pain. I added Advil to my regimen, as the pain continued to worsen. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, I called up my internist to schedule an appointment (to receive the appropriate antibiotic). I've never been to this internist before, and as a new patient, no appointments were available until August 8. I knew that I couldn't wait that long, so I informed the receptionist that the pain was getting pretty bad and that since I'm a medical student in the area, I can easily stop by the office and would be happy to sit in the waiting room until the doctor had a free moment to look in my ear. Without skipping a beat, the receptionist replied, "You're a medical student? Why don't you come in at 2:00 PM tomorrow." Wow, my first perk as a medical insider!

When I awoke this morning, it hurt to eat oatmeal. I popped an Advil and went off to school. Fortunately, the Advil worked quite well and the pain eased up. I arrived for my 2:00 appointment and completed the obligatory new patient paperwork. I was promptly called back to a patient room, where I was weighed and had my blood pressure and pulse taken. The nurse told me the doctor would be right in. "Yeah right," I thought. "I'm just an add-on to their schedule. The doc's not gonna reach me for a looong time." To my surprise, the doc appeared within 2 minutes. I was shocked. I was expecting an ultra quick consultation, consisting of the doc taking a peak in my ear, writing a prescription, and sending me on my way. Instead, I was treated to an entire new patient exam. After discussing my personal, family, and social health histories, as well as the Baylor insurance plan and dental plan, I was told to change into a gown. I was then treated to a heart and lung exam, testicular exam, tetanus shot, and orders for bloodwork to evaluate my cholesterol, blood counts, and electrolytes. The whole visit took at least 30 minutes of the doctor's time. I was amazed at the special treatment that I was receiving.

The kicker came on my way out, when the receptionist informed me that the doctor was not charging me for today's visit. Wow -- I had just received my very first professional courtesy! I left feeling like a king, but also guilty that I had somehow cheated the system.

Conclusion: I'm now using earwax removal drops so that I can return to the doctor on Friday for a better ear exam, though the doctor thinks my pain is the result of teeth grinding at night.

Sorry if this entry is medical overload -- I didn't really do anything else today, so this was the best I could do.