my telemedicine visit

MY TELEMEDICINE VISIT

when i was typing up the title of todays blog my spell checker didnt recognize the word telemedicine
it will not be long though before it will be in the spell check vocabulary

i never thought i would like to do a telemedicine visit
i like the idea of going to the clinic and seeing the front staff and seeing the nurses and talking face to face one to one to my primary care doctor whom i will call dr m
my mother in law says he reminds her of me

after coming out of the throes of my covid 19 experiences i was off all my medications
some i couldnt tolerate when i got the gi stuff eg my aricept (donepezil) which is notorious for causing stomach upset
let me tell you get the covid 19 gis and you wont be able to take it at all
that was my case
then i guess i lost so much weight and probably was on the dry side a lot ie dehydrated that my blood pressure was low most of the time
so i had to stop my blood pressure meds for awhile
eventually i was able to get back on them as i gained some weight and became more active and was able to eat more food
even though i had to lower the dose some

so not long after i was feeling better i felt i needed help getting back on all my meds and need more evaluation for my exertional shortness of breath and hoarseness and sore throat and lack of appetite

at that time they were discouraging in the clinic visits and recommending telemedicine visits
so
i thought what the heck ill try that

i had done several zoom like meetings and felt comfortable doing it

so
i thought what would i want a patient to have ready and do before we do a visit

take a blood pressure and pulse and weight
i even got out my stethoscope and listened to my heart and lungs
i gave them my findings
list all your medicines you are taking
mine at one point was easy
i wasnt taking any
but
at the point of my visit i had restarted  some of them

i had also sent via the electronic my chart a list of things i was having issues with so the nurse and doctor could read them before they did the visit

i made a list to check off of things i needed addressed
keep the list short and to the point
really what you should be doing anyway when you do an in office visit

in other words be prepared for the visit so you will get your questions answered

we worked our way down through the list and he addressed all my concerns
he ordered diagnostic testing
adjusted my medications
he ordered labs
then
after all of these were done and a period of blood pressure readings were to be done then a follow up visit was to be done

i did the followup in a month again as a telemedicine visit and i was more comfortable doing one this time

i do wonder how this will change how we do health care in the future

i do like seeing dr m in the office though
there is no substitute for those face to face interactions

my plan is for my next follow up visit to be in the office
i have done three visits in office to the specialists there and feel comfortable doing so
i would say its like going to trader joes to shop as far as safety is concerned
at trader joes i am in and out in 10 minutes
i did feel uncomfortable in the waiting room even though they had folks spaced out at least 6 feet apart and all had masks on
i also made the first of the afternoon appointments so it wasnt a full waiting room

i wear my n95 mask
i carry a pocket size hand sanitizer which i freely use

of course when i did the telemedicine visit i didnt have to do any of that

have any of you done telemedicine visits yet

the organicgreen doctor