Part 2-Thanking my first responders

Oh dear friends, 3 things that you really don't ever want your doctor to say to you before he does surgery on you....


"The damage is horrible-it's a total collapse."
"I'm not even sure that I can help you."
"You don't plan on having a normal wrist again, do you?"


Meet Dr. Scott Goin, an orthopaedic surgeon at Promise Regional Medical Center here in Hutchinson.  Dr. Goin was the doctor "on call" that morning of August 4th and it was him that got the word about a crazy woman who had wrecked her bike and was in big trouble.  I went back to his office today, to thank him for what he had done for me 3 months ago.

Dr. Goin and I are not strangers to one another.  He has done orthoscopic knee surgery twice now on both of my knees.  I'm sure he didn't wake up that August morning thinking that he'd be seeing me in only a few hours.  But we did meet up again and this time the trauma to my left arm and wrist was much more extensive than just cleaning out a little arthritis from behind a kneecap.  I was thankful that he was the doctor on call and by the time he saw me, I was already in a room upstairs, many miles into "morphine land".


When he took a look at the x-rays, Dr. Goin told me that he knew right away that the repair of the damage done was pretty much out of his league.  At very best, he was going to try to pin some of the bones together and then use an external fixator device to hold everything in place temporarily.  He told me it would take a while to do the surgery and it would be tricky and that he just hoped he could do this much for me.  


At that point in time, I don't think the full impact of what I had done to myself had even sunk in.  The morphine was definitely doing what it was supposed to and I barely remember myself saying to him, "Ok, just do what you can."  After he left, with what little senses I had left, I started to realize that he wasn't kidding.  All of a sudden, I began to accept the fact that the "most expensive" bike ride in the world had just taken place that morning in Hutchinson, KS.  And the cost of it had little to do with what my overall hospital bill would be, rather it had EVERYTHING to do with the possibility that I could lose the use of my arm.  And I really wasn't crazy about the prospects of my new nickname being "old-one arm."


But since Peggy Miller's name is not followed by the initials "MD" and Scott Goin's are, I had to have faith and trust in him and just sign my name on that surgery consent.  5 long hours, 2 pins, and 1 external fixator later, I was back in my room.  He told me later that he had never seen an arm get hurt in such a fashion, especially by someone just riding their bike.  A "freakish" accident if ever there was one.  The external fixator device is shown below...you don't very see very many of those used on an arm....

3 days later I was being referred by Dr. Goin to see Dr. Chan in Wichita.   Dr. Goin knew that my injuries were far beyond what he could repair in Hutchinson and he wanted to send me to the very best person he knew. You know I thanked him for his candor and honesty in dealing with my injuries.  Lots of my friends, who learned that he told me early on that he wasn't sure he could  do anything, were very surprised at his saying so.  I guess they may have thought he gave up too soon.  I, on the other hand, really appreciate the fact that he didn't "sugar coat" anything.  In this case, I was better off to know the truth right up front rather than hang on to hope that might not even be there in the first place.




When I returned to see him this morning for the first time in over 3 months, I shook his hand in thanks for what he did that day as he tried to save my arm.  He was happy to see the progress and glad to know that Dr. Chan was going ahead with the second surgery.   It sure felt good to see him and to tell how much I appreciated what he did for me.  Dr. Goin is a lot like Dr. Chan~both of them believe that the credit for getting better only starts with the doctor.  The patient is the one who has to carry the weight from then on. Getting better is the "ultimate goal."


Today on this Thanksgiving Eve, I give thanks for medical care and the doctors who provide it.  I'm so very grateful to have a job in which health insurance is one of the many benefits.  Too many folks these days have to do without insurance and for that I am very sorry.  I complain so very much about high health insurance premiums, about long waits in the doctor's office and emergency rooms, about medicine that is so expensive that you have to wonder how to pay for it sometimes.  Grumble as we human beings do, today this I know~without Drs. Goin and Chan, my "lot" in life would be so very much different than it was prior to August 4th.  They have earned "this bicycle rider's" utmost of respect forever.