Beloved doctors of the past

I like to be warm, funny, fuzzy and nostalgic in my writings, but I was planning to write my next column about difficulties with obtaining doctors in the region now and insurance claim deny, delay, depose issues. As I woke up and started thinking about my next column (that's when I get my best ideas), I started reminiscing about beloved doctors of long ago and how different things were then.

My own paternal great-grandfather was a doctor of the past, Dr. Edward Fowler. He was a scholar who read both Latin and Greek, and who began his career in law and then went on to medicine. His name is inscribed on a column at Peninsula General Hospital (now TidalHealth Peninsula Regional) in Salisbury, Md.

Around the age of 12 or so, I nurtured ideas of becoming a doctor, maybe a pathologist to solve medical mysteries. I was always good at "curandero" diagnosis, but my difficulties with chemistry and algebra put a stop to this dream. I even spent a stint in nursing school for six months, but soon realized art and writing were to be my muses.

Do you remember those medical TV shows of the 1960s with Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey? Even doctors' white medical coats were in fashion then. I had one in orange, my favorite color. However, beloved doctors of the past are the star subjects here, and first in my memory is Dr. Thomas Tobin.

My earliest memory of being really sick was when I had scarlet fever at the age of around 4 or 5. I writhed in my bed upstairs in a sweat of fever, even seeing creatures crawling on the walls. Dr. Tobin made house calls at all hours back then, and he came to our house that night carrying his reassuring black doctor's bag. He told my father to go up the street and borrow a big tin tub (then used to ice down drinks for summer parties) from Frances Wagamon, who was a nurse. My father did this, and it cooled me down and the fever broke.

Dr. Tobin never had a fee schedule, to the chagrin of his wife, who was also his nurse and bookkeeper. He even accepted vegetables and chickens in trade from grateful patients. I paid an impromptu visit to his son Tom and wife Kathy recently; they live down the street from me in Milton. We spent a wonderful afternoon reliving those times when his father was Milton's only doctor.

Tom even recalled Leroy Willey, a Miltonian nicknamed "Rawhide" whom many of you may recall. Rugged as his name implies, he played football in the Tobins’ backyard with a lit cigarette tucked behind his ear. When Mrs. Tobin saw him through the office windows, she became concerned about him burning other players. In his own rawhide manner, he answered, "Have you ever seen anyone actually catch me, Mrs. Tobin?"

Dr. Tobin pressed successfully for fluoride in the public water in Milton (we all have really benefited from this), and pioneered polio and other vaccines. The Milton Little League today plays on what is called Dr. Tobin Field.

My next memorable doctor was Dr. Robert Klingel in Rehoboth Beach. He had an office on Rehoboth Avenue a couple of blocks from where I had an apartment in the Moore Building. He charged $10 for a visit and took walk-ins. He was a wise practitioner with a booming voice, and he took able care of me in my early 20s.

Dr. Charles Wagner was my mother's doctor in Milton who cared for her in her later years. He also watched over my daughter Misty in her few years residing in my house here in Milton after she finished college. He presided over many hot-air balloon events since he was an enthusiast of that adventurous sport. What is now called concierge-type care was the norm back then for everyone because of the dedication of these physicians of long ago and our more recent past.

Medical school is long and difficult and expensive, and our doctors of today deserve our respect. However, I hope more of them of all stripes will become available, including more dentists and veterinarians, which are currently in short supply due to the overdevelopment in our region. And I hope that insurance difficulties can become easier and more fair to navigate.

And so my angst at my own current insurance claim problem has turned to warm memories of yesteryear, but I hope it is solved soon. That's more my style.