there aren't enough apples in the world

Why is it so hard to find a good physician?

Let's take a quick survey, shall we?

High school: A crazy woman with an extremely uncomfortable physical presence who never told you what she was doing until she did it (first mammogram = blechy, scary, freaky, etc.).

College: A grumpy volunteer physician who hated his volunteer hours at the college clinic and overprescribed Vicodin for me in the days when I knew nothing about narcotics, thus sparking an unnecessary and terrifying detox period that I had to do on my own. (The stuff is addictive after three DAYS. He prescribed it to me for four WEEKS.)

South Bend Year 1: A series of free clinics (nod to no insurance), most of them actually not all that scary, but run by basically powerless doctors who could barely prescribe antibiotics.

South Bend Year 2: A doctor at a cheap clinic who told me I was bipolar after talking with me for two minutes and sent Mormon missionaries to my door.

South Bend Year 3: A doctor who did everything (chiropractic adjustments on my neck, prescriptions for mild pain relievers that made me sleepy at work) except prescribe a migraine medication...for my migraine.

This last gent isn't all that bad, but he isn't all that great either, and thanks to double-booking bumped me out of my appointment today (his secretary was exceptionally snotty in informing me. Okay, yes, I was late, I got what I deserved, but I didn't deserve that tone of voice. And I object to double-booking on principle). Which I made because the migraine is back. Grr.

So, being the hot-headed, proactive me that I am, I zoomed back to the office in a transmission-roaring rage and found a new family doctor. I see this next specimen on Monday. God only knows if that will be any better, but it's worth a shot.

Finding a good doctor is almost worse than finding a church. (Almost.) You never know what kind of person you'll run into -- a quack, a creep, an asshole, a fool, a blowhard, a megalomaniac, an incompetent -- the list goes on -- but you keep trying in the effort to find SOMEone who can actually help you, and whose staff utilize professionalism.

Of course, as I was informed by the accounts manager at one of the hospitals I'm paying bills for, medicine isn't an exact science. There's a lot of trial and error involved, and I get that. But surely a migraine medication for the worst headache of someone's life isn't too big a diagnostic leap? Particularly after the doctor has informed the patient that ongoing migraine disorder is a common development among women in their twenties?

Anyway. Now I have to check with my insurance to see if they cover the newbie. (They don't cover much of the current guy either.) I hope I wasn't rash. (Har.) I'm tired of being unthrilled with my physicians. The best one I've ever seen, and with whom I'm still a patient, is 3.5 hours away, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; but seeing him and missing an entire day of work just isn't practical unless it's an emergency.

Le sigh.