Oh, med students . . .

I saw my rheumatologist yesterday. Good visit. We checked-out my mini-flare, my joints, and a quick physical exam. To help my through the final stages of my Prednisone reduction I will be enlisting the help of an old friend - Naproxen. The appointment went well - except for that pesky med student. To be fair - he is a doctor of Internal Medicine going for extra training in Immunology. So not a super green 3rd year med student - but still seemed just as green and clinical.

Now don't get me wrong - I always agree to have med students watch procedures, perform procedures, take my blood, interview me, perform joint injections - the whole nine yards. This time, however, it was beyond awkward - he just didn't get RA. Here are a few excerpts from our conversation.

Med Student: Are you sure you're flaring? Because I can't find any inflammation...
Me: Um, yes - I am flaring and there is inflammation in the following joints...

Nice. I've had RA for 19 years, but - according to him - perchance I can't recognize a flare when I see one. Perchance he can't recognize a joint if he sees one.

MS: I see you are on Enbrel. Well, Enbrel is a biologic that -
Me: (smoothly cutting him off) I'm a fairly well education patient and I've been on Enbrel for 10 months. I know what it does.

Seriously? Did he honestly think that I would take a medication, any medication, that I didn't know what it did? For 10 months?

MS: I don't see why we don't raise your Prednisone back up to 2 mg
Me: I just explained that I've worked for the past 10 months to get off of it - I'd rather look at NSAIDs as an alternative. I don't want to be on Prednisone anymore.
MS: It's not that much Prednisone.
Me: For whom?

The Med Student seemed like a nice guy, he just treated me like a number and was quite clinical about the whole thing. A + B = Flare. Not matter what the patient actually says.

He hadn't reviewed my file (I know, because I asked in one exasperated moment) - not even the last letter to my GP updated on my current status. Sigh. I usually have a good amount of patience for this kind of thing, but I couldn't help feel that he was wasting my time. I knew a 5 minute conversation with Dr. T (my rheumatologist) would solve everything - and quickly. And in the end it did. Whew, that was as exhausting to write about as it was to experience it.