Gary......don't be sorry about the "rant" .....that's one of the best posts you ever did. I'm going to nominate it for the Nobel prize!

So then, it's not my imagination, my opinion, nor bad luck. That's just the way it is!

I was blessed with good health all my life, no operations, nothing serious. So now I'm getting a harsh lesson on what it's like out there in the real world, and not my imaginary altruistic world.

I don't say anything to anyone about my daily pain and my multiplying injuries, 'cause no one really cares anyway. But, looking back, I remember always thinking that should I ever get sick, you just........go to a doctor. At this point, I'll go to a veterinarian before I see another orthopedist.

I'll tell you a quick story. The last orthorpedist, I checked out his track record...he passed with flying colors. I telephoned and talked to the office manager about my past experiences with other doctors. She assured me he will "take the time to discuss my situation. She even called me back the next day and said she "spoke to him and he understands my needs." I set up the appt and went there with high hopes. Like you said, he wasn't in the office 30 seconds when he sent me to the next room for an x-ray. It didn't matter that I had a recent MRI and a 2 month old x-ray already in my hand. When it finally came to "discussion time," every time I went to ask a question he would cut me off with the same line: "I'm the doctor and you're the patient." Worst manners I've ever seen in anyone....you have to go to school and take a course in "ill-manners" to be that bad! Then he had the nerve to ask me "did he answer all my questions?" And he cut me off again when I tried to say "no!" The next day when I recovered from that horrific visit, I telephoned the office to complain about his unprofessional manner. The response from the doctor was......tell Mr. ABC he's not welcome back in this office and to collect his records and find another doctor. Worse......he telephoned my primary doctor to "warn him" that I might be psychotic. Kind of like "the pot calling the kettle black." Luckily my primary doctor has been treating me for 40 years and is my friend as well as my PM. He knew better.

I'm going to print out what you wrote here and read it over a few times. And then plan some kind of a course of action with these injuries now that you've convinced me it's a mine field out there. But I need to do something before I can't play anymore, much less weight-lift.

Mark