Quite a Surprise!

Friday, June 20th — On Monday I had my 18-month checkup after my last hip revision. Once again, I was expecting it to be difficult to tell one of my physicians — this time, my wonderful orthopedic surgeon, Dr. William Bugbee, whom I’ve known for nearly 12 years — that I’ve been going to Seaside Chiropractic since early March. And once again I was blown right out of the ball park.

After he told me that the x-rays looked great, and the hips were doing just what they should be, I told him the whole story. About halfway through, he sat down opposite me, took my hands, and just listened. When I finished, he said, “I am really, really happy that you’ve found something that works for you. Anything that keeps you out of the hands of the surgeons has got to be good. You’ve had more surgery than anybody should have to have, and if you can prevent the need to have more, that’s fantastic.”

I could hardly believe it. This is a very unusual surgeon anyhow: not only is Dr. William Bugbee cutting-edge (no pun intended) in research, but he’s extremely well-respected as an orthopedic surgeon. Also, he is an incredibly kind and caring person, not an ordinary trait among his cut-and-run colleagues, I’m told. It was that second line that blew my mind. I did tell him I realized he wouldn’t be doing the shoulders and the foot anyway; Dr. William Bugbee is the knee-and-hip guy at Scripps Clinic, and there’s a shoulder guy and a foot guy with whom I would have to be dealing if I went ahead with the further joint replacements and the foot fusion.

I guess I should have realized that this was exactly what he would do. What an amazing person he is, and how fortunate I am to have had him to do the surgeries that were needed to allow me to live more or less pain-free. (If I had begun chiropractic years ago, it might have been another story; but given the story that I got, I am so glad it was Dr. William Bugbee who was holding the knife.)

Thanks for reading — Betsy