Before any patient can go to the operating room, they need medical clearance from their primary physician. I look at this as a good thing.
Occasionally, a routine chest x-ray reveals lung cancer. Or, blood work shows abnormal values that point toward leukemia.
The bottom line for me is that I never argue when a primary care physician or specialist, such as a cardiologist, says the patient is too sick to have surgery. I always tell the patient that their primary care doc or their heart doctor knows them much better than I do.
Many times the patient gets frustrated. They don’t always realize that an eyelid procedure — as much as they may want it — carries risks.
It’s my job as a doctor to care for a patient’s “whole self”– not just their eyelids.
Several months ago I encountered just such a patient. She was a feisty elderly lady with extremely droopy eyelids. Her eyelids drooped so far into her vision that she had difficulty reading or watching TV.
Unfortunately, she also had terrible protoplasm, as we say in the medical world. She had bad lung disease and an irregular heart rate. Her primary care doctor and her specialists all said “no way” to her eyelid surgery.
I, naturally, agreed.
As her lids continued to droop and go south, as all our parts do after a certain age, she became more annoyed. She would call our office, asking us to go against her doctors.
I said, “No way.”
I ordered some special double-sided tape made to improve the appearance of eyelids in movie stars. I called her in to the office and my technician and I made several attempts to get her eyelids in a better position with that dang tape.
Still, no go.
The months went by and her lids drooped lower. I assume she pestered her primary care doctor and specialists, too. Out of the blue, I got notes from her primary care doctor and specialty doctors, saying she could proceed with the surgery.
This whole sequence of events gave me pause.
It’s not every day that a doctor will say that a patient is too sick for elective but medically necessary surgery, then reverse themselves and say the patient can now have the surgery.
After much hemming and hawing, I agreed to see the patient in the office. My staff scheduled her surgery and, indeed, her doctors all signed off on it.
On the day of surgery, I had a heart-to-heart talk with her beforehand.
I told her that we would proceed. However, if she moved or had any medical changes, I would stop her surgery immediately. I was probably more serious with this patient than I had ever been. Her feisty mask dropped away and she nodded.
Sometimes, when I am in a challenging part of a surgery, I will hum to myself. My staff has told me this many times. Often, I am not aware of it.
During this case, I hummed out loud. In fact, the patient asked me if I was humming her a lullaby!
When the case was over and all had gone well (except for all those new gray hairs on my head), she just looked at me in the recovery room.
“I told you I could do it!” she said with her feisty game face back on.
The truth is, in this case, we all got lucky. Her surgery went well without any additional medical drama.
Could it have gone the other way? I’m afraid so.
Was it worth it? Well, that’s a very good question. I admit her quality of life, when it comes to reading and watching TV, will be improved because she will truly not have to strain to see.
However, you can rest assured that I will think long and hard before taking on another case like that.
If you have patients who “push back” on how you want to proceed, don’t be afraid to give it right back to them.
Not in a mean, angry or condescending way, of course. But give it to them straight.
Then set yourself straight on how you want to proceed and stay the course.
Starla Fitch is an ophthalmologist who blogs at Love Medicine Again.
