When you leave the appointment in tears, you know ...

When you leave the appointment in tears, you know it's bad.

I had an appointment with one of the Dr. Gleimers a couple months back. There's more than one, which makes it horribly confusing. I can't speak for the other, but if you see an older gentleman with a beard, brace yourself.

He fancies himself a comedian. His comedy, from my experience, consists of dismissing a patient's concerns, ignoring any options for how to handle life between the visit and the [potential] procedure, and forcing your joints into painful positions while making glib comments to his PA. I'll give you an example. I had been living in pain for about 5 months at the time of my visit. I had a job that I love, but it had me on my feet for 8 hours a day. He made assumptions about where I work and what my job entails based on my job title. Both of his assumptions were incorrect. It took his PA pointing out that my job exists at more than one location. I asked about a gel I had heard about that numbs pain. His response: "Well, your insurance won't cover that. As far as pain management, you could get a new job." I responded with silence. His PA saw my discomfort and decided to reiterate the suggestion.

Another example: it turns out I had a physical/medial issue that prevented me from fully extending my knee. During my visit, he extended the joint as far as he could. As I sat there, white-knuckled, grimacing, unable to speak from the pain, he turned to his PA and said "See? You just have to earn their trust!"

This meeting took place 45 minutes after the scheduled appointment and it ended with him saying he can't help me and I should see somebody else.

By the time I left the exam room I was insulted and in pain. I walked away in tears. Both Dr. Gleimer and his PA seemed OK with this result. This is on top of the support staff that is clearly overworked, frustrated, and miserable.

I wound up having surgery from another doctor. There was a LOT wrong with me. And yet, when I mentioned pain management, Dr. Gleimer's attitude turned on a dime. He stopped trying to be some bit-rate funny guy and immediately acted like I was some druggy who was worse less than the dirt on his shoe. It seems like if you mention pain at all, you're immediately pegged as a drug-seeker, no matter how legitimate your issue is.

Avoid this place, avoid this doctor, go somewhere else, anywhere else!