In health care, there are providers besides the
medical doctor. The title depends on the
training they receive. I do not profess
to be an expert, but I will outline the levels I know personally.
The medical doctor (MD) is the one most people think
of when they hear the word doctor. They
have four years of general medical training and they go on for more in order to
specialize.
Then there is the new doctor of osteopathy (DO). They have the same schooling as the MD, but
they go on to receive more instruction in the body’s musculoskeletal system and
manual manipulation. Kinda like a doctor
and a chiropractor combined. They also
look at the whole body and how everything affects a patient.
Then you have the advanced registered nurse
practitioners (ARNP) who are nurses that have a Master’s degree and specialized
training to treat patients. In New Hampshire,
they can prescribe medications and work under their own license, not needing a
physician to oversee their practice.
The last one is a physician’s assistant (PA). They have the same type of training as an MD,
but they have to be supervised by a physician.
All of these categories are qualified to treat
patients and deciding on the type you see for a primary care provider is an
individual choice. Our former provider
was an ARNP and he did a wonderful job with our family, but as I stated we
changed for convenience.
Our new doctor is a jewel! Dr. Amber Schmidt is a new doctor of
osteopathy (DO) and has not learned many of the bad habits of providers that
have been in practice for years. She
knows her stuff and is willing to listen to her patients.
I badgered the Lycan into coming to the office for a
visit with Amber. While looking over his
old lab results she noticed that he had not had a recheck on his liver counts
for over six months, so she did the prudent doctor thing and ordered a whole
slew of lab tests. Well, his counts came
back higher than ever. She was talking
to me about them and we were trying to figure out the cause when I remembered
what the CL had said about the SD having a “blood disease”. I mention it to her and she immediately
starts consider about hemochromatosis.
She orders some more testing that includes some iron
tests and a genetic test for this condition.
The iron tests come back elevated and the genetic test shows that the
Lycan has one of the two most common genotypes. As diagnosis is generally made
by a person have both of the common types we did one more iron test. The results come back FOUR times the high normal
limit. By now, we are pretty certain
that he has hemochromatosis, but she wants to get a liver biopsy for two
reasons: one, it will confirm the
diagnosis and two, it will tell us if he has cirrhosis. That information will tell us his long-term
prognosis.
Next on to what hemochromatosis is….
