Carry on Doctor

Man Fryday is going through a difficult time at the moment. I am in perpetual pain from what is thought to be a prolapsed disc (or two) in my back. In communicating this to you I am not soliciting sympathy—though such would be gratefully received. No, I want to talk about the New Zealand medical fraternity. So far, this back condition has required the aid and involvement of one doctor, two charge nurses, one orthopedic surgeon, his PA, two hospital registrars, three nurses, one MRI technician, her receptionist, and one hospital. With the exception of someone not mentioned on the foregoing list, the entire medical team has treated me with compassion, understanding and skill; the exception needs not concern us…now. The skill factor is important, and the man who manifests it most is my doctor. He is a friend, but I don’t think that is relevant to the point I wish to make, or I believe a motivating factor for him. Fact is, he is a bloody good doctor. And one of the ways he shows it is a willingness to change the game plan. If one set of medication—mainly pain relief—doesn’t work, he doesn’t persist. He switches. On one occasion and after receiving an urgent call from me, he even did it from his own sick-bed—phoning in a new prescription. Similarly, Tauranga Hospital and its Accident & Emergency staff: I admitted myself to A&E when the pain got too much to bear. Not a query, implicit or explicit, asked of me whether a bad back constituted an accident or an emergency. It didn’t matter. They just got on with the job professionally and expertly. My orthopedic surgeon I have met only twice (once informally) and asked him for only two things to this point. Both he accomplished within 24 hours and one he changed without complaint when I had to change my game-plan.

The point is, and I know you were patiently waiting for the patient to come to it, there is good and bad in every profession and fraternity. That is the nature of the human element. And there some professions that are adept at dehumanising their approach—local councils are often an example; the Green Party is another. But from my experience the medical fraternity well and truly lands on the good side. My medical team (sounds grandiose, doesn’t it?) are doing a brilliant job. I want to acknowledge that. One of them, the MRI technician, for some reason still obscure to me said I was fantastic. To her and to the rest of the team; right back at ya.