It's been nearly 5 months since Dr. B saved my life and even as I type this sentence that fact hasn't hit me yet. Maybe it finally will as I am perusing Whole Foods deciding which hummus matches best with which pita chip; I will drop my half-pint container of pulverized chickpea and say aloud, "Oh my f-in God, I could have died that summer."
I was bloated and ill in Tokyo with no access to good doctor referrals, and I had seen way too many Japanese dramas which taught me that no matter what their doctors do you will end up passing quietly on a futon (and who will take care of the ryokan then?). So instead I searched for highly rated Westside docs on Yelp and made an appointment with Dr. B the day after my return.
I had not been to a doctor's office in about a century, so I had no idea I was in such dire shape until Dr. B examined me. No exaggeration: within minutes he quickly made arrangements for me to be treated at Cedars for a life threatening condition I misdiagnosed as bronchitis. (Why did I think it was bronchitis? I don't know, I'm not a doctor--just a damn fool who used to rely too much on Wikipedia for important health decisions and diagnoses.) Since I am scared of everything health care related this was my worst nightmare, and yes, I sort of freaked out, but Dr. B was very reassuring while not making light of my condition. Within 1 hour I was laying in my own room at Cedars, even though they quoted a much longer wait when they were first called. Dr. B flew through his rolodex and worked some magic over the phone because even the woman in admissions was surprised that I didn't have to wait when I arrived. I've compared notes since then and the consensus is Dr. B must have good ties at Cedars because others have not had the smooth, bureaucracy free admission I did.
No frontin, Dr. B got me hooked up...to heart monitors (aww yeah).
He visited me throughout my stay, sometimes in the early morning and sometimes at night outside of his usual business hours, and called me several times to ensure things were going smoothly with the hospital staff. He identified the issue (a heart virus, eek) and gave me a combo of meds that had my heart performing within normal range soon after my hospital stay.
A couple of cons to keep this review balanced, although I don't know if they really count as cons: Dr. B's office is always busy. I tend to make my appointments as early in the day as possible and every time I arrive there are usually patients of all walks of life already seated. The waits have never been long and I've never felt rushed, but I have a feeling he may need to find a way to expand his practice to accommodate the growing patient queues in the near future--perhaps a nurse to do vitals would help. Secondly I see that there are a few comments faulting Dr. B for not being more jovial (maybe?) or lacking a sense of humor, and I say fair enough. I've never seen him bust out any Patch Adams-style red noses or anything, but I'd say his personality is more Obama collected calm. Actually I am usually the more morose one in the room; more than once he has asked "Are you nervous?" because there's nowhere I'd rather be at less than at a doctor's office. And while he's clearly not auditioning to be Bernie Mack's replacement, he did manage to save me from dying and I guess that is the most I could ask for in a doctor really.
*As an aside, I have to give a shoutout to the manager of the parking structure at Dr. B's office. When I was kicked over to Cedars I had to leave my car behind. Not only did he not gouge me for parking for days in this near-Rodeo Drive lot, he also noticed my tire was flat so he swapped in the spare while moving my car to a longer term spot and refused to accept a tip. When he gave me my keys I threw a forced tip on him and ran as fast as a recent cardio inpatient could before he could return it. read more
