That went on for more than six months.
A native of Reading, Pa., Buczynski earned his medical degree at Penn State and trained in family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology in Wichita, Kan. But he has been working toward this job from the beginning: In his medical school application, he wrote that he wanted to treat the needy in Appalachia.
Medicine is Buczynski's ministry. He sees "patients as more than just a physical entity," often praying with them and for them.
"It's not a billable procedure, but I like to provide it," he says.
Buczynski strides into one of his examination rooms. Each has a rack of magazines from Highlights to Large Print Reader's Digest, a colorful wooden bead toy fastened into the wall at toddler height and an exam table equipped with stirrups.
Six-month-old Cade Leader is sitting in his mother's lap. He has a bump on the white of his eye. "Usually when I read up about things [on the Internet] it says, 'Oh, this is normal,' " Sherry Leader tells Buczynski as he looks at Cade. "But I couldn't find anything where it said this is normal."
Family practice
Buczynski delivered Cade and his older sibling, took care of their mom when she was pregnant and cared for their dad when a recent bout with pneumonia landed him in the hospital. "My guess," he tells Sherry Leader, "is it's not going to be anything to worry about but I can't give you a name for it."
It's probably just inflamed, maybe from too much rubbing. The doctor suggests they make an appointment with a visiting eye doctor in a couple of weeks. If the bump is gone by then, they can cancel.
"I feel better knowing he doesn't have some cancer or tumor," says Sherry Leader, whose family owns a local tire shop.
The day before he made two dozen house calls at the nearby nursing home. Today, the patients have mostly come to him. In one room, he inserts an IUD into a young mother of three. Later he tells a well-dressed middle-aged woman she probably has allergies and not a sinus infection, and prescribes decongestants. A mother of a pre-schooler gets a new prescription because her insurance company says it will no longer cover the boy's allergy medication unless he tries a cheaper alternative first.
"Who gives a steroid nasal spray to a 3-year-old?" the doctor wonders aloud.
"It doesn't get boring," he says of his work as he heads to the next exam room. "If I were in suburban Baltimore, seeing patients with hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia between the ages of 55 and 75 all day, I'd go nuts."
