Lifelong, trusting, compassionate care

Family Doctor: Greg Boughen

I have been a patient of Dr. Boughen’s for over 25 years. When I first started seeing Dr. Boughen I was young and healthy, so I would get my yearly physical, and a prescription here and there, and that was about all. As time moved on my health went down hill. In the early 2000’s I started to have back problems. I was a letter carrier for Canada Post. All the miles and all the stairs, with a 35 pound load on my left shoulder, was taking its toll on me. It was also around that time that I started to get migraine headaches. Dr. Boughen was my rock when my body was becoming my enemy.
By this time Dr. Boughen new me well. He always took the time to get to know me (and all his other patients) and what I did for a living, and what I liked to do in my spare time. So when my back problem started, he sent me for some physio therapy and x-rays. I was in to see Dr. Boughen at least once per month. Dr. Boughen also encouraged me to try massage and a Chiropractor. These alternatives did help, and I still see my Chiropractor and Massage therapist every month. I was still having back problems despite the treatments I was getting, so Dr. Boughen put me on a pain relief drug. Between all of these treatments I managed to get through my workday with my pain well managed.

Over the next few years, the pain was back, and I turned to Dr. Boughen for help again. He sent me back to the physiotherapist to receive treatment with traction and acupuncture with the needles attached to a TENS machine. This helped significantly, and I was able to do my job without too much back pain. I managed for another year or so, but the pain was back. Dr. Boughen sent me for x-rays and scans so that he had a clear picture of what I was facing. There was damage all down my spine, but none of it needing surgery. Dr. Boughen increased my pain meds, but in the end, I had to go onto long term disability. I was off work for almost a year, I saw Dr. Boughen about every two to three weeks. At these appointments he would counsel me about living with chronic pain, and suggested several things I could do at home, to help relieve my pain.

It was about this time that Dr. Boughen diagnosed me to have depression, and again he counselled me about what I was feeling and gave me tools to deal with depression. I returned to work feeling very good, I had been going to a rehab place, my disability carrier has sent me to. After about a year my pain was back even worse. Dr. Boughen had x-rays done, showing that the damage in my lower back was worse, but still not a surgical option. I was back on disability a few months later in June. I decided that I can’t go back to my job and I retired in October 2009 after 33 years on the bag. I don’t have words to describe how much having Dr. Boughen helped me get through those nine years. Without him, I may have been forced out of my job by Canada Post, my depression would have been worse.

Also, through this time I started getting migraines, very severe ones, usually lasting 3 days, the middle day I would be vomiting every 20 mins. for hours. Dr. Boughen sent me for a cat scan, and to a neurologist. I was having 15 to 20 headache days per month, missing a lot of work and a lot of life. Then Dr. Boughen started doing Botox for migraines. I started this treatment in 2013 and I still get Botox injections every 11 weeks. It is hard to describe what Dr. Boughen has meant to me and my wife. I know that I have never met a more compassionate, kind, knowledgeable, caring Family Doctor. My life today is good, my back is still is a problem, but I work through it. I still get migraines, but thanks to the Botox, these are now a much smaller event and I might have 1 or 2 headaches per month, but they only last a few hours. Thanks to Dr. Greg Boughen for his guidance, help, and understanding. I have also recently found out that I have Type 2 diabetes, and once again Dr. Boughen is there for me, to help me understand what is happening in my body. He also registered me into several diabetic classes.

Anonymous