I Have the Best Doctor Ever!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my doctor, Dr. Deborah Solomon, who has taken care of me medically since 2003, despite all my unhealthy living and ups and downs.  She always takes the time to explain things, to show support, and genuinely cares.  Her staff is pretty amazing too.  I would recommend you all use her as well – but then it would be harder for me to get appointments if she gets really busy.

As some of you know, my latest health challenge is asceptic necrosis, probably caused by the steroids I took for years for asthma.  Luckily, they have non steroidal stuff now that I am on and I have lost fifty pounds.  I have another fifty to go.  Unluckily, the steroids caused bone death in my left hip and femur.  I was waiting on the results for my right hip and could not get them.  I wanted the best surgeon in town, but could not see him until late April.  So, I go to Dr. Solomon and voila, while I am there she gets my results from the other doctor, and my right hip is fine.  Then she calls and gets me an appointment with the surgeon I want – for 90 minutes after I leave her office.

She is also taking care of my pain with meds until I can get the hip fixed.  In an era where medical professionals are mostly rude and give you the bums rush, it is so refreshing to have a great doctor who will take their time to actually give you high quality care.  My doctor in 2002 through Aetna was horrible, so I won’t mention their name.  I was lucky from 1989 to 2001 to have Dr. Richard Alm with Cigna, who was also a good doctor.  They say when you move somewhere to get yourself a good doctor, a good auto mechanic, and a good lawyer.  I have one at least.

This is not my own hip, but mine looks similar in the MRI:

Note the nice round white bone on the left – that is normal, like my right femur.  The one on the right of the picture, all black and dead, that is kind of what my left one looks like.   It actually hurts more than you would think.  Kind of like a broken tooth, but all over your hip and back.  I should have the surgery some time in the late March to early May period.  Wish me luck.  No more metal detectors for me – all pat downs.  Too bad they don’t have super models at the TSA…