Alvin Loosli, MD

Though I last saw him 10 years ago, I have fond memories of my interactions with Dr. Loosli.
While mountain biking on Mt. Tam — on the easy peasy Bolinas Ridge fire road, of all places — I hit a deep rut and at the end of a rut, a jutting rock which kept me from safely exiting the rut, causing me to go flying off my bike into a giant cow plop.
I heard the *plink* of breaking glass (like those glass stirring rods used in high school chemistry class). All I could think about was «I’m on freaking cow plop — how disgusting» while my girlfriend nearly fell of her bicycle when she saw me on the ground for fear that I was dead, not just disgusted. Riding down the hill didn’t work so well one handed, so we walked — passing an elderly couple who was concerned about us and even took our picture (I never saw myself with blue-​white lips before).
We got to the car and I tried to drive (manual transmission) but didn’t get very far — my friend had to drive and I had to shift with my left hand from the passenger seat (talk about a crash course!!!). We went to Marin General — an empty ER seemed a good sign but the made us go wait. We waited for an hour — an old man with his daughter came in — they had called in advance about chest pains so it took FOUR nurses to attend him. Still no attention.
After nearly 3 hours, we left, taking with us the indelible impression that Marin General SUCKS. I went to my boyfriend’s house, had a shower and ate dinner and went to St Luke’s in SF. There, I was called up to be examined several times but usurped by a 2 year old with the sniffles (he was restless and mom just thought ER was the best place to go since she was on the dole).
Finally, I got xrayed — there was a clear break — even the tech said, «This looks like xrays of people who have been diagnosed with a break, but I’m not a doctor so I can’t say.» It was clear enough that even I could see it. But, it was after midnight by now, and the fall happened 12 hours earlier. The ER doctor told me that it couldn’t possibly be broken because I would be in so much pain I would not be able to move or function, and certainly would not have gone home to shower and have dinner. She said «Take some aspirin.»
I stayed home for a week, working from my bed with my laptop. Then, I drove to work — and that was ok for about a week. My collarbone looked pretty bad — and then I got stuck in traffic on 101 and had to downshift and break. *CRACK* The fracture fully separated. Once I recovered my breath and vision (that kinda hurt), I spent another two weeks walking around with a fully separated break.
Finally, I went to SF Sports Medicine clinic at ST Francis — the first doctor looked at the original xrays from St Luke’s and just decided it was sore and swollen. The wobble was just tissue, not bone. He sent me off.
I still had problems so asked to see another doctor a week later — Dr Loosli looked at me and could instantly tell — «You’re no wimp, chick!» He said it was obviously broken but a mystery why in nearly 6 weeks it hadn’t started knitting — and then said to stay away from stick shift and Hwy 101.
He took great care of me — answered all my questions, took plenty of xrays — one day I’ll scan them and make an animated gif. He’s got a great sense of humor, bedside manner and is not condescending or patronizing like many doctors may be. I highly recommend him!