I walked into my office this morning exhausted - Sproglet is going through a sleep regression, Baby Strider woke us up as soon as he settled, I'd been up late the night before trying to finally get unpacked, you get it
So I sat down at my desk in clinic and opened my inbox and saw that one of my new patients who I've yet to meet had seen a cardiothoracic surgeon for a postop appointment
I skimmed the note and skipped to the plan where I saw the surgeon halved the patient's beta-blocker - totally reasonable and in his wheelhouse - but then he followed it up by writing, "Now that the surgery is over, it seems likely some of the patient's other meds can also be stopped, i.e. lamictal and loratidine, but defer to PCP"
Lamictal and loratidine, y'all
I blinked, read it again because surely I must be hallucinating that recommendation, read it a third time in case I'd hallucinated twice, turned to my medical partner who had just walked in, and rather than politely wishing them a good morning, I asked, "Did heart surgery start to cure bipolar and seasonal allergies when I wasn't paying attention?"
My medical partner kindly assured me no, heart surgery does not cure bipolar and seasonal allergies, why did I ask?
Y'all have no idea how close I came to replying to the cardiothoracic surgeon with, "Thank you so very much for doing surgery and I appreciate your commitment to reducing polypharmacy, but we PCPs will continue to do the real medicine around here", and I'm so proud to say I resisted the urge even though my tea hadn't even kicked in