So much for Integrative Care

As many of you know, my mother Georgia - age 93 - recently broke her femur, and had to undergo surgery to repair the break. She is back at her place of residence, a place called the Oasis which offers a range of assisted living options. My mom lives in a small wing of the place dedicated to folks with memory loss and dementia related issues.

Jeff Jones, the Nurse Practitioner from Dr. Shiva Satish's clinic - Fort Bend Geriatrics, is my mother's primary point of medical contact. I like Jeff, and I like Dr. Satish a lot.

Today: not so much. I spoke to Jeff today about a short list of questions/concerns my family wanted me to touch base with him about. One thing I wanted to know was if he could write orders to the staff of the facility directing them to give herbs from me.

Specifically, I was interested in giving her something to help her leg mend. As it stands, it appears unlikely she will ever walk again...so we're kind of hoping for a miracle, and hoping to do all we can to facilitate said miracle. Also, I wanted to give her a formula for her hemorrhoids - which subsequent to taking opiates for pain and anesthesia, are really bad. The poor woman is 93. I figure let's do what we can to make her comfortable!

Jeff flat out said no: "It's not part of medicine."

So from one licensed medical professional to another apparently a dialog will not even be allowed because what I do is not what he does. Great. Doesn't matter that this is my area of training, or that I am licensed by the state board of MEDICAL examiners, or that it is my own mother we are talking about.

Thanks Jeff.