WWTBAM Bored

I had an appointment this morning with an orthopedic doctor to look at my shoulder that has been bothering me for several years (maybe 6) but has become almost unbearable, preventing me from getting a good night sleep, and causing me to lose upper body muscle mass as I can't exercise it at all. I can only lift things, and then only up to mid-waist, without a lot of pain.

Anyway, enough about me.

The doctor is Dr. Pepper. No, really. My orthopedic in Houston that did my hips over a decade ago was Dr. Nixon, Richard Nixon. Seems I have a penchant for orthopedic doctors with name recognition for things other than orthopedics.

My appointment was at 8:30.

8:15 I showed up to the desk to check in. Handed the lady my insurance card, drivers license, and the 15 pages of new patient paperwork I had completed ahead of time. I sat down, briefly, and she called me back up to complete a 12 question questionaire on an Ipad. I handed it back to her and she told me not to sit back down as they were taking back to the exam room (number 4 as it happened to be).

8:25. I'm in the exam room, just sat down, the door knocked and in walks Dr. Pepper.

8:27 (Not even my appointment time yet) He asks some questions, then says let's go get some x-rays. He takes me over two doors to the x-ray room, takes two x-rays, calls me over to look at them, online. He discussess his findings. Says he will schedule an MRI as there may be a rotor cuff tear, but that can't be seen on the x-ray. The x-ray showed some arthritis and a bone spur. The we go back to the exam room. He does a few minor strength tests (not much to test as there is none on my left arm due to the pain). Gives me a cortisone shot. Afterwards he walks me to the front desk to check-out and I'm on my way.

8:42 I'm back in my car.

I'm pretty sure there has been some Chic-fil-a training somewhere along the line with him and his staff.

Could have been worse, for sure!

I had a period of terrible should pain, unable to lift my arm, etc. Unrelatedly, I replaced my Memory foam mattress with a non-memory foam, and almost immediately the painful shoulder cleared up and hasn't recurred (been probably 6 years).

tlynn78 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:52 pm

Could have been worse, for sure!

I had a period of terrible should pain, unable to lift my arm, etc. Unrelatedly, I replaced my Memory foam mattress with a non-memory foam, and almost immediately the painful shoulder cleared up and hasn't recurred (been probably 6 years).

I have noticed the firmer the mattress, the better I sleep. Mrs BiT likes hers soft. We may need to get one of those Sleep Number beds where each person can select their own firmness.

I'm sure Jeff empathizes. Horrid shoulder pain for years. Did injection once, can't get him to repeat.

I just checked my medical plan and Yea!, I guess.

I've hit my max out of pocket with all the heart testing stuff I did earlier so any shoulder stuff will be "free" through 12/31. A small silver lining to an expensive cloud.

Heart stuff done was a full heart sonogram. That was pretty cool to watch. A nuclear stress test. Those indicated some potential blockage. So the next thing was a heart cath. That found a small obstruction, not much blockage, but enough that my cardiologist put me on a daily low dose aspirin and a statin. Dang, made it 67 years without having any matinenance meds. My cholesterol is fine, the statin is just to help prevent any additional build up.

My cardiologist? Dr. Ibe....pronounced "E-bay". Yes, the hits just keep coming.

I had a dentist in college, Dr. Payne.

We both did cardiologist aa few months back, to make sure J was okay for surgery which wasn't needed. Mine was to check out of breath and dizziness. Both had nuclear stress tests. All good, just normsl shit. And so it goes.

Speaking of name dropping…

My new neighbor, whom I had never met, was out looking for his dog a few days ago. I told him I'd keep an eye out for the pooch (named Batman) and we introduced ourselves. He smiled when he told me his name.

I live a few doors down from

Spoiler

Alexander Hamilton

It's amazing the different approaches different medical offices take to time management. I recently had to go to the dermatologist 3 times, for diagnosis and removal of some basal cell carcinomas. My childhood combination of lots of time outdoors and blond/blue/pale is coming back to bite me. All three appointments were as BiT described here. Which just makes sense to me -- why would you make people sit and wait for an hour and a half, as my cardiologist and my FIL-s ophthalmologist routinely do? It doesn't make sense for money or patient satisfaction.

Several Reddit threads about coincidental doctor names. Among my favorites: Dr. Hyman -- OB/GYN. Dr. Richard Chopp -- urologist in Austin. Dr. Moody -- psychologist.