darkrabbit

So... I spent the day at Yale New Haven Hospital today. My sister had a tumor removed from her neck. She is well and in recovery... but... She said the left side ofher face didn't feel right. The tumor was next to the main nerve cluster in her neck. She thinks they may have hit it. The left side of her face is non-responsive, though she said it isn't numb... It's possible that she is still feeling the effects of whatever local anesthetic they used... but she should be numb as well if that were the case. So this mid twenties fresh out of med school looking resident comes in and starts testing responsiveness of the left side of my sister's face. My brother-in-law asks if she may still be feeling the effects of the local. The doc says probably (of course I can't help reading people and it seems like she's basing her answer off of what he said...) So I step in and start asking the doc questions. I HATE talking to doctors, at least non-specialists. For some reason docs seem to freeze up like a deer in the headlights when I start asking questions most patients wouldn't know to ask, especially since I use correct medical/ scientific terminology (or close to it anyway). So the doc gets evasive and defensive on me (not a good sign in my eyes) I ask her point blank if my sister may have nerve damage, causing the left side of her face to be non-responsive. The doc can't look me in the eye, starts backstepping, and says "I wasn't in the surgery, I don't know what happened in there." She quickly leaves. Well... that made me feel a whole lot better... Now I wonder why she was testing for nerve damage if she didn't know anything, and why she'd say it was probably the local if her face wasn't still numb... Why can't doctors give straight answers? I really don't have anything against docs. It's an admirable profession. There's alot of shit they need to know and the answers aren't always readily apparent... but damn... Give a freakin straight answer, or don't give any at all. Don't get evasive on someone or dance around a subject to hide ignorance. I don't expect someone to know everything, but don't pretend you do and then get defensive when you find out I'm not ignorant, and you can't hide behind medical terminology with me... Oi...

I kind of feel bad though... the doc was this cute little asian woman, no more than 25, and I think I scared her a bit... I wasn't trying to be intimidating...