Can I Get a Second Opinion?

On Memorial Day, I lacerated my knuckles gardening with my dad. He was plowing the rows with the tractor. After each row, he paused and lifted up the plow. I'd reach in with a hoe and bang off the dirt, so that we wouldn't have to rake it out of the lawn later. In my haste, I missed and banged my knuckles into what must have been a rather sharp part of the plow, slicing them open. I bled and bled and bled. I never did go to the emergency room. It seemed like a minor skin injury, substantial but not too deep. The last thing I wanted was to spend Memorial Day in the emergency room with all the other idiots who have done any number of stupid things on a holiday known for that sort of thing.

As it started to heal, my ring finger just wasn't straightening. I had lost the ability to fully extend it at the last knuckle. Fortunately, I am still fully capable of typing and even guitar playing, so while annoying and disturbing for people to look at, its not nearly as big of a deal as it seems.

I assumed I must have cut a tendon. So after a couple of weeks and still no sign of functionality coming back, I went to see the family doctor (well, mine was busy so I had a replacement).

Family Doctor: You probably cut a tendon. Just wear a split on your finger. About half of my patients heal up just keeping it straight for two weeks. You can take it off periodically to stretch out your finger and for cleaning. Going to the emergency room would not have really addressed this, so you did not miss out.

He fumbled trying to concoct some kind of split with a broken tongue depressor. That didn't work, so he tried just using tape with this awkward-fitting finger splint. I later figured out a good method using the split and putting the tape up and over the finger, not around. The splints he gave deteriorated over the 2 weeks, with the padding pulling off and the metal frame coming apart. So I did all that but after 2 weeks no substantial improvement. So he referred me to a hand surgeon. While waiting for them to set up an appointment, I overheard a conversation in which the family doctor said he had successfully cured a patient's condition with a simple B-12 shot--after specialists had given up.

Nurse at Hand Surgeon's Office: Oh yeah, you cut a tendon. You'll definitely need surgery. I see this all the time. The doc stitches them up and they're back to normal.

She left and I waited for the hand surgeon.

Hand Surgeon: You cut a tendon. I would never do surgery for that. You must keep it straight for 6 weeks, without taking the split off to bend it at all. Any bending of that knuckle is going to break the scar tissue that you are trying to form. This is old school medicine, been in the books for years. Had you gone to the emergency room, you might have had this fixed by now.

He fitted me for a plastic split that was made precisely for this exact condition, and it was sized for my finger. It fits nice and as comfortable as possible. It works great, kind of like a lever--pressure on the back side actually puts pressure on the front to straighten it out. Ingenious.

So what did we learn? We learn that 3 medical professionals can give you the same diagnosis but vastly different notions of how to treat it. Even though this is "old school medicine" and the surgeon made it sound like common-knowledge, there were still a variety of answers I heard--each given with confidence. Yet, a broken tendon on the last knuckle of your ring finger has got to be one of the simpler things to treat.

Each had an idea of what was going on, and some inkling of how to treat it. It is worth noting that my assumption was right on, as well. Each of us was sort of partly-right. Your doctors are not gods. There are many ways to treat the zillions of conditions out there, and your doctor is guessing more often that you care to know. Makes you wonder what they do when they look at you in the office then step outside for a few minutes before returning. Are they shooting darts? Consulting the magic 8-ball? Why don't they tell you that they might not have the best idea? One doctor may be researching the best method while another may be eating a sandwich. Medical care is nowhere near as standardized as people like to believe. Just because you "went to the doctor" doesn't mean you got the same care as someone else who went to a different doctor.

We idolize doctors, and place them firmly on pedestals. We need them to be our priests and gods. We need them to be way above us. We want somebody, somewhere to have the answers. Americans will actually resist if you try to suggest that maybe--just maybe--their doctor isn't right and that they should seek a second opinion. I believe this need for someone to idolize is at the root of why holistic medice is often scoffed at in place of western medicine. I've seen people in my family go to their grave on the bad advice of their doctor rather than seek a second opinion. As people have lost faith in the certain answers of religion, we found another place to cling to appease our fears. In America, there is no one we hold higher than medical doctors.

We crave assurance, but medicine is not an exact science. Half the time, your doctor is probably thinking, "hmmm . . . let's try this . . . " That does not make them bad--that's actually their job. Their job is not to have the best answer all the time--their job is to do the best they can. In my case, should my family doctor have known what was obvious to the hand surgeon? Shouldn't the hand surgeon's own nurse have seen enough cases to know that the doctor doesn't operate with my condition? Maybe there is some quackery going on, but maybe its just an inside view of what a normal day is like in medicine.

So before you disregard the quackery of your Methodist minister, or laugh off your Catholic Priest, or scoff at the teachers of Judaism, Buddhism, Islam or any other religion, consider this: The amount of variance in their answers to spiritual concerns may not be any more divergent that the spectrum of answers I got concerning my hand condition. Each is on the right track, but not all opinions are equal. You have generalists and specialists, each with good days, bad days, moments of insight and moments of good luck. Sometimes your simple country pastor can speak a truth that you can't find among the hallowed halls of experts, and visa versa. Do you see the parallels?

Our society is quick to reach the conclusion that so-called religious experts have nothing to offer us. And for what its worth religious leaders need to know they are not gods, either. But have we lost our desperate faith in religious leaders only to replace it with something else? And is that something else really as reliable as we are led to believe?