Hate bother you, but...

As I sit here in my study, I reflect I how got here and the mist…missteps I have made. During these past 9 months, I have tried to help people as best as I could and then some. Whenever I received a text, voicemail and message on my home answering machine, I answered. I set up this blog to address the many questions, people I didn’t even know, where texting me. I almost changed my cellphone number in late March.

As the first few months passed, the texts, calls, requests lessened. They didn’t stop, of course. It amazed me how many people had the chutzpah to text or call me and I had no idea who they were. Still, I did my best to address their question or issue. During this period, in which I worked harder than I had ever (and that’s saying something, in 2009, I went to 2 hospitals 359 days in a row), my income dropped precipitously. Turns out if you don’t charge people for your services, they don’t pay you anything.

My wife pointed out this problem, and I responded it will be over soon enough and I can focus on seeing paying pts then. She was fine with the answer. And then this surge occurred a few weeks ago in Jersey. With it came, many more Covid pts in the hospital and many more, even, requests for my time, again by people I didn’t know. You have no idea how many called me and said “I really hate to bother you at home on the weekend, but…”. I again worked extremely hard to help everyone. We started testing people in our kitchen, recruiting my family members to help. At one point, my wife, Susan, who has been amazing during this ordeal, said that my mom would have helped my dad similarly. I said “No, no way. My Mom drew a line. There is no way she would have allowed people to come over to our home to get tested for Covid. And she certainly wouldn’t have allowed us to give so much free care.”

I found it strange how people handed out my cellphone like I was a public service and their friends would text me “I got your number from so-and-so and I wanted to get tested” or “I am worried about a friend’s husband’s father in the hospital and want you to talk to the family”. Many have asked for medical care via text alone. One neighbor bugged me repeatedly to see his friend’s sister’s kid. We called her and set an appointment that same week. When the mother, who apparently was begging her friends to get me to see her son, learned she would have to pay for my services, she told us “No thank you.”

Last weekend, my family and I tested over 10 people in our kitchen and I only knew 2 of them. At best, I’ll get a thank you card from 1/3. I have, on the other hand, received no less than 6 texts per person tested. I have had to tell several to slow down on the texts and that we are checking the results several times a day; when we learn, they’ll learn.

Why do it? I began to ask myself, ignoring the lack of thank you cards. What’s the point? For the first time, I couldn’t answer that question. I was putting my family in harm’s way, interrupting our lives repeatedly and continuously and for what? Just to see my income drop further?

As mentioned, I started this blog to address questions in a broad, more efficient manner. However, interest in my opinions waned, so I stopped posting. Now, people again are sending me complicated, 4 paragraph texts about situations or the pandemic in general. Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t read any text longer than 4 lines.

As of now, I am no longer going to reply to texts and voicemails regarding Covid. I feel no secondary gain and, as mentioned, there is a negative primary gain. Perhaps, it is great, that people can talk about how generous the Smiths at their parties or whatever. Funny thing, of all the texts and calls I received, only one person asked how I was doing. The others all start with “I hate to bother you but…” and go on from there.

If you’re interested in my opinion on some Covid issue, post it here.

And y’all thought I would be gloating about the failed mask study published this past week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, didn’t you?

SMS