If today is Tuesday, this must be the cardiologist”™s office.
The head-spinning whirl of doctor”™s offices and medical jargon becomes second nature for anyone helping a relative who has marked 91 birthdays in meeting his medical needs. Â
This is a good news story. As Marcus “Mac” Kletter, my father-in-law, makes his medical rounds through offices past techs, nurses and doctors, they deal with this aging, dignified, gentle man with admirable sensitivity and undeniable effectiveness, and a whole lot of good humor. Sure, there have been glitches and mistakes and these days, a proactive attitude toward one”™s doctors is a must. But this ongoing trip through geriatric medicine shows the system works for a person with excellent coverage.
Of course, it helps to have a feisty senior citizen to enjoy the trip with.
Mac was born during the first world war, was a teenager during the Great Depression, a combat infantry veteran who won a Purple Heart in “world war twice,” as he calls it, then returned home like so many American GIs, went to work in printing and raised a family while trying to leave the war behind him. A love for peaceful vistas and companionship of hiking clubs was a balm as Mac and his first wife explored the Catskills and Adirondacks.
All that walking, and a vigorous genetic family heritage paid off in lucid longevity. Mac still has all his wits about him even as he is now transitioning to a walker from a cane.
Mac moved back to the Hudson Valley from Florida in April of ”™08. The Ulster County Office for the Aging told us about the remarkably well-run nonprofit Culinarians”™ Home, a senior residence in New Paltz, where he can afford to live on his monthly Social Security check and other modest means.
Initially the medical merry-go-round started with a grinding of gears. Having lived full-time for a decade in the Sunshine State, Mac had to locate doctors to care for, among other concerns, diabetes, kidney problems, prostate cancer (in remission), upkeep on the pacemaker that regulates his heart rate, a cardiologist for his heart itself, macular degeneration of the eyes, failing hearing and of course, the need for finding a dentist.
There were glitches in the bureaucracy. The Kingston office of the Department of Veterans Affairs said they had no record of Mac, though he was being regularly provided with medication and services from the VA in Florida. The first eye doctor Mac found either couldn”™t keep accurate records or was falsifying them to rip-off Medicaid, recording treatments for Mac”™s eyes that weren”™t actually happening. An initial visit to a nephrologist”™s office turned almost comically frustrating as the doctors spoke with such thick accents Mac couldn”™t understand them. Turned out he needed hearing aids.
And after a few enervating weeks, a splendid primary care physician recommended a top-notch eye doctor whose aggressive, cutting edge and expensive treatment saved Mac”™s eyesight. The VA set Mac up at their hearing clinic for fitting state-of-the-art hearing aids. Upgraded glasses soon followed, as did a new pacemaker to replace a model Mac had outlived.
And all this with few out-of-pocket expenses except for some medication costs. And almost without exception, cheery good humor prevails among nurses and office staff. Some doctors seem too busy to be fully engaged in social graces. Yet even the most bedside manner-challenged doctor always melts at some point as Mac uses the charm that only 90 years of practice can hone.
Watching from the sidelines one is struck by how good some doctors really are. A gruff cardiologist is observant in diligently doing whole-patient medicine, asking about medical issues a layman might see as not a heart surgeon”™s purview. And the eye doctor who saved Mac”™s sight is an artist at work, even as he stonily adjusts his instruments, dons his latex gloves, lines up his needle and injects Mac”™s eyes with an efficient dexterity marvelous to watch.
After a series of monthly injections, Mac”™s vision was obviously back. “Thank you for saving my vision, doc.” he said on a recent visit. The doctor smiled, albeit faintly, as he continued preparing another shot.
