April 8th - April 14th / 2024 - Surprise! My Family GP is Retiring with No Replacement
In this week I'll discuss:
- Retiring Doctor
- Fredericton Prostate Group Meeting
- Audio Link can be found here: Click to Listen
Family Doctor Retiring - Woodstock, NB, Canada
Late in the week I got a call from the office of Doctor Fran Alborg. The conversation went like this:
Dr. Office: Is this Rick?Rick: Yes.Dr. Office: Dr. Fran Alborg is retiring, effective immediately. You will get a letter in the mail.Rick: Who is taking over for her?Dr. Office: No one.Rick: I need a doctor it is critical.Dr. Office: You will get a letter in the mail.Rick: Excuse me, A retirement letter is not going to help. I need a referral.Dr. Office: I can't help you with that.Rick: I have Advance Level 4 Cancer that has metastasized into my bones and lymph nodes. I need a doctor!Dr. Office: I can setup an appointment for you to discuss with the doctor for next Tuesday.Rick: Okay, What time should I come In?Dr. Office: No, Dr. Alborg will call you, she will not be in the office.Rick: Okay (annoyed!)
As I sit here writing this, I am utterly baffled and infuriated by the province and medical society's complete failure to manage the retirement of a doctor without arranging for a replacement. It's unacceptable and simply shouldn't happen.
With no family GP I am thinking were does this leave me?! I live in a province where we don't have enough doctors and there are more than 70,000 people currently looking for a GP. The provincial government has had trouble attracting doctors to New Brunswick for more than 10 years now. So, the likely hood of finding a new family doctor is extremely low without a referral. It's almost a privilege to have a dedicated doctor in New Brunswick.
You could be thinking, Well you have specialist, what's your problem Rick? There are a few issues:
- I am a type 1 diabetic. I need a prescription for insulin (forever!). Prescriptions in New Brunswick are only valid for 365 days (one year). Then they need to be renewed. Without insulin injections, my body won't be able to absorb the sugar from the food I eat and I will die. :(
- One of the purposes of a Family Doctor or GP is to help coordinate all the information from the many sources of treatment and to help me understand the information in an organized fashion. There can be an excessive volume of information to navigate when managing a critical medical condition like mine. The vast amount of information is overwhelming and contributes to a heightened stress level, prompting a desire to disengage or avoid addressing the details altogether. To put it in other words: "Not knowing is easier, but deadly"
- It is the GP that provides general care, helps diagnose health conditions and provides referrals to specialist as needed. You need a referral to a specialist in order to see them. A GP prescribes the longer term pain medications whether it's for pain or common medical condition.
One might think that a province (not a city) with just over 828,000 people it wouldn't be an issue of not having enough doctors. That's not the case in New Brunswick.
It should not be a surprise to the medical society nor our government that she and others like her are retiring. The province needs to step up and make attracting new doctors to New Brunswick "real" a priority. More to come on this subject next week!
If you happen to know of a doctor in the Woodstock - Florenceville Area please let me know.
A word about Doctor Fran Alborg:
Dr. Fran Alborg has worked hard and served the community well in her years as a family doctor. She could have retired many years ago, but kept on providing the medical advice and care that was needed here in Woodstock. I am happy for her and wish her the very best in her retirement.
Fredericton Prostate Group Meeting:
Zoom conference calls are okay and play a valuable role in connecting people. This has been the method for Prostate Group meetings across the country. But meeting others in person is much better. I was invited to join a Prostate Group meeting in Fredericton which was being held during the day instead of in the evening. A round trip to Fredericton is at least a two hour endeavor in travel time alone which isn't a good for me living in Woodstock as I would be getting home around 10PM at night. Too late for a geezer like me with Advance Level 4 Cancer driving a truck on a dark highway.
The Fredericton Group is a member of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Canada. The group provides support and friendship for those of us that are living and coping with Prostate Cancer.
To me a venue where I can both listen and share my experiences and knowledge is a significant part for dealing with Prostate Cancer. I gain valuable insights from others on various topics like treatment expectations, available resources, latest news and advancements, as well as receiving empathy, understanding, and constructive feedback on emotional health matters concerning me and my family.
This group has been running for twenty eight years! One of the founders of the group was at the meeting and still going strong. As with others groups they were very inviting!! Thanks Guys!
In the past (prior to Covid) the group was very active with regular attendance of 40+ people. With that many in attendance the group attracted guest speakers from the medical community. Now after the Covid pandemic, the attendance has dropped off and they are hoping to bring it back to norms in the near future to once again attract special guest speakers.
What did I learn?
MERCK has a great news letter that you can subscribe too: https://mailchi.mp/c98f8914f351/prostatepedia-sign-up
Male Care is another great source of information found here: https://malecare.org/
Sleep States:
In the previous blog post I talked about my sleep patterns. This past week I averaged 4hr and 14 minutes which is an extra 12 minutes!!! Monday and Wednesday were the worst with no stages of sleep (restless and awake). Wednesday I was really lethargic, getting short amounts of sleep all day and into the night. Obviously according to my Fitbit, I wasn't in any stages of sleep. No wonder I didn't have any energy for a couple of days. I felt like a zombie and probably started to look like one too! ;)
Well that's it for this post. More to come next week and thank you for reading!