Frightening? Yes, I know. Don't search "bad doctor" on Google, by the way. you'll get some shaddddyyy results.
I made an appointment Monday with the medical center on campus. I started breaking out again - nothing as bad as Freshman year or last year - but I'm paying for school health insurance so I might as well use it, right?
The system is kind of weird. Students need to see not-a-doctor at the student health center on campus first, who either try to treat them, or refer them to doctors at Stanford or nearby hospitals. I guess it saves the school a little money if they don't need to send every student to a doctor, who only needs the treatment of a NP or PA. Anyway, here's what happened:
I was initially pretty impressed by the efficiency of the system - I made an appointment online the night before on a Sunday, got a Monday morning appointment, went in 20 minutes early, and had no wait time. Woot.
The nurse sat me in the room, asked me what I was there for, and then told me that the "doctor" would be with me shortly. He came in, and asked me the same questions. It's been a while since I've gone to a doctor, so I don't remember if this is standard or not. Still, I was a little annoyed because the nurse had already entered the info on the computer.
He checked out my face, which was admittedly awkward, and basically told me that I had a few options: use a lot of topical stuff (He said the more the better, usually. "Uh huh..." I thought), go on antibiotics for 3 months (uh...), or take a referral to see a dermatologist. The antibiotics option sounded shifty, so I asked the not-a-doctor if there were any risks to being on antibiotics for that long of a period of time. In a nutshell, this is how he responded:
"With any treatment there are risks. You could be more susceptible to bacterial infections like pneumonia, and there's a chance the bacteria could become resistant to the antibiotics. I think of it like this." Then he went into a story about how people fight against deforestation, but the rainforests will still be destroyed as long as people need to expand and use tree-products.
"Hmm...Think you can refer me to a dermatologist?" I said.
I hope I didn't offend him, but that was a little too much. Plus, I didn't follow the logic with the rainforest anecdote. The appointment with the dermatologist is this monday. Hope it goes well.
The retreat was good this weekend. I'll share later.
"With any treatment there are risks. You could be more susceptible to bacterial infections like pneumonia, and there's a chance the bacteria could become resistant to the antibiotics. I think of it like this." Then he went into a story about how people fight against deforestation, but the rainforests will still be destroyed as long as people need to expand and use tree-products.
"Hmm...Think you can refer me to a dermatologist?" I said.
I hope I didn't offend him, but that was a little too much. Plus, I didn't follow the logic with the rainforest anecdote. The appointment with the dermatologist is this monday. Hope it goes well.
The retreat was good this weekend. I'll share later.
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