Are Surgeons Cold?

I just had shoulder surgery a month ago and boy the oxycodone is not working that well.

Now what I'm asking for those who have experience with orthopedic doctors/surgeons did you find them a bit on the cold side? Many of the orthopedic doctors I've dealt with they're bedside manner isn't bad but they do seem a bit cold and detached. They more look at you as a damaged building or a broken car than a patient. Unfortunately I have had a lot of experience with orthopedic doctors due to various broken bones. I am not Evel Knievel but sometimes two wheeled vehicles and I don't get along very well together. As I mentioned earlier a month ago I had shoulder surgery and at first they thought it might be a rotator cuff repair but it wasn't that severe they did have to debride some torn muscle tissue and deal with some bone spurs. I have had rotator cuff surgery and that s*** hurts. When you hear about an athlete getting a rotator cuff repair and you think no big deal that's crap. While my right shoulder wasn't as bad as the rotator cuff repair I had on my left it still hurts pretty good. But when I saw the surgeon he looked at me as just a something broken that needs to be fixed. And the thing is he sure as hell knew where to push to cause pain. It's getting better slowly but surely but has anyone else had the same experience in particular with surgeons

Except for the first one mine haven't been too bad. They don't see you as much as your PCP, so they don't develop the relationships. Usually one to two visits, the surgery (where you aren't usually too conversational), and a couple of followups.

They're there to fix something and then they go on their way, kind of like the plumber.

I've seen two orthropods - the first was great (ankle replacement). Good sense of humor, thorough and very outgoing. His PA was kinda cold tho. I told him I didn't use any of the oxycodon he prescribe - he said I could probably sell it at the high school (jokingly). The second was a jerk. Had severe pain in the ball just under my big toe. He said it was gout but never ordered blood work to check for uric acid. Then he tried to sell me on another ankle surgery to increase range of motion. Won't go back to him. I think a lot of Drs. (esp surgeons) are cautious about relationships because the outcomes don't alway meet the patients expectations.

The last surgeon I interacted with was quite the cut up. During my consultation he seemed confident and steady with a good sense of humor. His "I got this, yeah I can fix this" attitude was really comforting. He joked about robotic assisted surgery. I was nervous on the morning of my surgery. He came into to talk with me again about what to expect. We ended up watching a rerun of "Married With Children". Al's constant berating of Marcy and a sedative before surgery helped relieve my stress level.

@mws said

Now what I'm asking for those who have experience with orthopedic doctors/surgeons did you find them a bit on the cold side? Many of the orthopedic doctors I've dealt with they're bedside manner isn't bad but they do seem a bit cold and detached. They more look at you as a damaged building or a broken car than a patient.

As an OR nurse, I have had extremely frequent experience with orthopedic surgeons.

They are no more on the cold side than any other type of physician, and I am NOT saying physicians are cold. Some are and some aren't. Some are a bit detached and others are warm and friendly. I will agree with you that any doctor who talks to you while looking in another direction, with the exception of looking at x-rays and pointing things out on the screen while they explain something to you is not the best for developing a good rapport and bedside manner. I like them to look me in the eye when we are talking.

I disagree that they look at you as a damaged building or broken car, although they do tend to look at the body as a machine. They do know you are a person, some just aren't good at demonstrating that. Some very talented surgeons are master mechanics and sculptors (that's a compliment) who are introverted and just want to practice their art.

With regard to pushing where they know will cause pain, they want to know exactly where the pain is coming from and because they know the anatomy better than you do, their palpation of an area will give them better information than saying, "tell me where it hurts" and you point, "over here". I agree that palpation pressure should start off gentle and increase in pressure where needed rather than jamming a finger into some fascial space or joint capsule.

You can thank our wonderful government for your physician not giving you what you consider to be enough pain medication. The war on drugs should never have been allowed to affect how doctors prescribe pain medication for their patients who need it. Oxycodone is a heavy hitter. If that wasn't wasn't working so well, adding 600-800mg ibuprofen to it every six hours generally makes a tremendous improvement because the tylenol in the percocet and ibuprofen potentiate each other.

Rotator cuff surgery recovery and therapy is painful. Different people have different responses to pain meds.