Not Without a Fight - My MCL Journey: February 2008

God is funny. I rarely share stories about God working in my life because growing up I was frequently put off by people, some well-intentioned some hypocritical, who believed I didn't understand being a Believer. But this story is one of the latest I have about His work in my life, and given this most recent reminder that life here on Earth is really short even if you live to be 120 - I wanted to share it. I expect that there will be more stories like this that will find there way here.

So here's the funny story about God working through my stupidity and stubbornness. Some may recall what came to be named the Denver Christmas Blizzard of 2006 which started on December 20, 2006. After a long day of pushing around stranded vehicles and carrying a few people through deep snow I felt like I had pulled something in my groin. Given my historical reluctance to see a doctor I ignored it until talking to a couple of co-workers, one of which had just returned from a hernia operation and another whom had had several hernia operations, and got schooled on the danger of ignoring what could be a hernia.

So in January I went and saw a doctor, then a surgeon, then got a ultrasound. Turned out I had a muscle tear that would likely heal on its own but the process resulted in the discovery of what the ultrasound folks said was likely a swollen lymph node. Not something I'd ever noticed before and the surgeon who referred me basically said that if I felt that it has been there unchanged and unnoticed for who knew how long, then I could probably just keep an eye on it or he would be happy to remove it and have it biopsied. Well, given my aversion to having sharp instruments around me in someone else's hands and the option to watch and wait... I opted for the latter.

Fast forward to maybe July or August 2007. I notice a small bump on my throat. I'd recently had oral surgery so I rationalized that there might be some connection and... ignored it. God said fine... and made it grow. Over the next months I would find that I sometimes would choke on peanuts or popcorn that was getting stuck in my throat. I promised Kimberly that when we were in a better place financially that I would make an appointment with a doctor (which I still needed to find).

As a related sidebar, Kimberly and I had been threatening to attend church for most of 2007. We had looked at several churches, received recommendations from many people we knew, and had decided upon a church that had services on Saturday which accommodated our work schedules and was near to home. We decided upon that church but continued to drive by it and never actually went. I mention this because it IS a small world and God was trying to get to me.

I spent some time researching doctors. In January 2008 a tremendous opportunity opened up for me at work which required me to leave my family for a month of training. That time away from home gave me some free time that I don't normally have with Kim and I normally working opposite schedules in order to be home with our daughter. And I spent some of that time trying to work toward fulfilling my promise to Kimmie that I would find and go to a doctor when we were in a position to do so. One doctor kept coming up - Dr. Timothy Lewan.

I was reading the book "You: The Smart Patient" by Doctors Roizen and Oz - who some may have seen on any one of a number of series on the Discovery channel. That book has a lot of good information on picking doctors and managing your health care. It pointed to a web-based means to confidentially document your health records - http://www.ihealthrecord.org/. That, in turn, is a tool which some doctors are including in their practice and using. And guess who was one of those doctors? Dr. Timothy Lewan.

Just from the fact that I looked at Dr. Lewan's website for Northside Family Medical (http://www.northsidefammed.com/), Dr. Lewan himself called and left me a message while I was out-of-state in the above-mentioned training. That was unheard of to me. Every doctor I'd had before seemed to care only about how quickly we could get through appointments and get me out of the office. So, naturally I became suspicious - did this Dr. Lewan not have many patients? If so, why? His name was familiar... was this a doctor whom someone I knew had gone to and they didn't like?

Turns out, he is the doctor that a couple of family members go to and they love him. So when I returned to Colorado from my month of training I only had the "when we can afford it" excuse left. And I was estimating that to be possibly in the Fall of 2008. Well, God wasn't having any of that - and neither were my parents-in-law. So on February 15, 2008, I went to see Dr. Lewan for the first time and have nothing but impressed since.

But that isn't the end of the coincidence. Turns out the Dr. Lewan is heavily involved in the very church that Kimmie and I had decided upon.

So, I've come to the conclusion that God put forth a great deal of effort to overcome my stubbornness and stupidity. He tried giving me a minor injury - which I countered with a rationalization. He then tried giving me a bump on the neck which any rational person would say isn't normal and should be checked out - which I ignored. Then he made the bump bigger to the point that it affected my voice and everyone I knew commented on it - and, yeah, I ignored that too. Then I came up with the excuse that I couldn't afford it and needed to look for a doctor. A single doctor was placed in front of me over and over and then, finally, the financial burden was lifted by two of the most giving people I know.

Well, I no longer could give any excuse for not going to see a doctor for a checkup. So the appointment was made and my initial consultation was today with Dr. Timothy Lewan of Northside Family Medicine.

My beautiful Kimberly went with me and you couldn't make up how this appointment went. More importantly, I don't think that the medical school intern that Dr. Lewan suggested get started with me was ready for the can of worms waiting for him. I don't have the verbatim... but it more or less went like this:

Hello, I'm a medical school intern and Dr. Lewan asked if you would mind I get started with you and he will be with us in a few minutes.

Okay, nice to meet you.

So what brings you in today?

Well, where should I start?

Anywhere you want, I'll make a few notes for Dr. Lewan.

Better get more paper.

The most pressing thing is probably this bump on the left side of my neck, right under the jaw.

Ok, how long have you had that?

About four to six months.

Ok, anything else?

Well, my scaphoid in my left wrist is broken.

How long have you had that?

About a year-and-a-half.

Ok, anything else?

Well, I also have a lump at the crease of my right leg.

How long have you had that?

About a year and a couple of months.

And so it went for about 15 minutes and Dr. Lewan joined us and made the reasonable statement that I probably wouldn't have come in to the doctors office unless something was falling off of me.

Dr. Lewan set me up with Dr. Van Kooten, an ear nose and throat specialist to look at my throat, x-ray at hospital which confirmed my broken wrist, and surgeon Dr. Georgescu to take a look at the lump on my leg.

I cannot overemphasize how happy I am with Northside Family Medical and Dr. Lewan. For anyone in the North Metro area that is looking for a good primary care doctor I want to recommend highly that you consider them. You can find the office information at http://www.northsidefammed.com/. Dr. Lewan has exceeded my expectations over and over with his thoroughness, his quickness in setting me up with specialists which have all been very good themselves, his follow up and straightforwardness, and his availability after hours. See the post - It's a Small World for more about Dr. Lewan.