Thirty Days of Thanksgiving: Day 15

I'm grateful for doctors and medicine. I can't say enough about this doctor that Z and I have each visited once now; Dr. R is the kind of doctor and advocate everyone should have. Hopefully getting the prescription will work out and this 3-week cold will be better soon! I am seriously impressed with this man's skills.

Seriously... He listened to my breathing, looked at my throat, and looked in my ears, and was able to assess what was going on and give me a prescription for some antibiotics. No fluid or tissue samples, no lab tests - just looking at generic symptoms. Maybe it's just been a while since I went to the doctor because I was actually sick... But I think it's so awesome that that's possible. Irregular internal noise while breathing = bronchitis, but not pneumonia, red and angry tonsils in my throat with a kind of nasal drip that rules out allergies, fluid but no infection behind my eardrums, and a duration of illness that rules out viral infections. How cool is that, that after non-invasively examining only three parts he can figure out from the thousands of options how I'm sick and the best way to treat it? Admittedly, I'm also glad for the diagnosis partly because it means that I'm not just being a wuss with a drippy nose. But additionally, he was very friendly, plain, empathetic, understanding, open, flexible... He also promised to help us if any of the treatments were expensive or inconvenient. What a physician! THAT is what every doctor should be like. Seriously.