3am and Making Appointments Online

Pretty much the title.

Like, on the one hand, I'm trying hard to remember everything is awful because of Covid. That I was pretty much pain free up to this point. That my leg lifts and squats had been working their magic.

Yes, my nerves are angry and all the osteoarthritis in their path is glowering like Sauron's evil eye, but it's temporary.

On the other hand, it's spreading to more joints now.

And on the other other hand, the pain woke me at 3am and I hit a headspace of 'can osteoarthritis kill you???'

I mean, I remember pathophysiology class and it's not supposed to outright kill you but this FEELS like maybe science missed something here.

I figure by the time I'm wondering enough to start googling, a lookie-loo might be useful.

Oh fun fact...by some medical criteria, I'm already due for a hip replacement. I had no idea. (I'm really hoping that's just a weird internet blip and not really true.)

(Everyone likes to mock Dr. Google but no one talks about how our bodies drive us to it.)

So I find a doctor who can see me pretty quickly and I can schedule online which works because it's 3am, and then, since I'm up, I start googling the doc.

Just cuz.

And then it starts getting weird.

I find their Instagram which is fine even if it's all selfies in 2021 (which, by 2021 I think we all knew it's supposed to be more than selfies, but okay).

I can't figure out their medical training information. The databases are filled with bogus responses. 

Like...

University: Attended a university

Someone is clearly tinkering with the data inputs.

And apparently this doc is straddling practices located 2-3 hours apart across multiple states which seems hella weird. They've kind of been all over the place. Old locations now closed...that kind of thing.

And they have a very unique name (although surprisingly there are a few of 'em out there).

And then I find a person with their name getting an MBA and I'm like okay, what are the odds of the same name from the same country in the same geographic area as someone who is ping ponging back and forth between two cities in different states with this university in the middle?

Like, it's weird. I did eventually find their medical education information but it's still a strange digital footprint. One I don't typically see with doctors (look, you go to the doctor a lot, you get curious). I would guess coming to the US was hard for them--they're not from a country you see a lot in US medicine--and maybe that warped some of the inputs. 

And either they're really bored or hate themselves or love driving all the places all the time or one of their very unique name twins is somehow also in the same area. I don't know about you, but if I was a doctor commuting between two cities in different states, the last thing I'd do is enroll in college.

 

But anyway it's 3am and I'm up and my Google-woo is on fire same as my nerves and joints.

And no, technically osteoarthritis can't kill you outright--or so they say--but I'm pretty sure the sleep deprivation from the pain could.

PS: And then I went and learned all about their country. Because I'm up. Now I'm looking for ethnographies...

PPS: Covid does trigger arthritis it turns out. At least some science indicates that. Here I thought I was having some really unusual unheard of thing lol. It's weird. They're still saying there's no association with sleep apnea and covid, but the patients are giving a strong signal that actually there is, yet they figured out this arthritis thing, which isn't nearly as prevalent among patients who go online to complain.

PPPS: I guess I'll call the long covid clinic next as looping in with care providers who understand covid can do this is probably ideal. We'll see what this rheum says first though. Maybe they'll be awesome. After all, they attended a university.