I am not just a nurse but a patient as well and knowledge can be a friend and foe as well. Nurses and doctors are known for not being great patients and I will plead guilty as well. Also having walked the walk with breast cancer, your concern about what is next is always in the back of your mind. The joke is that as you get older the bad news is something hurts every day, the good news is , it is a different place each day. What do we listen to and what don't we listen to and when do you tell the doctor and when don't you and when you do, do you lose your credibility or when it is pushed aside and it continues, what to do with your concern. I have had patients that have ignored symptoms and tests results and although I don't condone it, I do understand it. Is part of growing older, just learning to adapt to the limitations and aches and pains seems part of the process, or do you address them and try to make it better. I do listen to doctors and what I am told but I also bring myself to the table and feel I have a vested interest in what is happening to me and I should be able to discuss these concerns as well. I come prepared with my lists of questions, medications and dosages I am on and anything else that is happening along the way. I recently needed to have my blood pressure checked every day and I did so and put it in a nice table with date, time and outcome and included that with my questions and lists to give to the doctor.
When you take your pet to the veterinarian, that animal can't discuss what is happening and that makes it harder to come to a conclusion whereas I try to give to the doctor the tools that I can to help him determine what is going on. With rising healthcare costs including co-pays, deductables, medications and test costs, you want to help them to make the most accurate decision that they can and if you only tell them half the story then you are holding them with one hand tied behind their back.
Having said all this, I will say I am grateful for the support and care I receive, the hugs, the listening, the phone calls, the clarification and redirection of the course taken if needed and all the education and background that comes with it. Thanks for listening to me, supporting me , guiding me and directing me. I don't want to be "One of Those Patients'. I want to be part of your team and no matter how I try, the nurse in me is always there. I may think I know the answer or the direction we are going but I always listen as I don't have the training and knowledge and just as you are a fool if you are your own lawyer, the same goes if you think you are your own doctor. I hate to go to the doctor with every little issue and I will admit there have been moments I have probably overstepped my bounds but I can also say that being my own advocate has also helped me at times as well.
What am I saying with all this? I am saying- make your lists, ask to be part of the team, be grateful and respectful and keeping working towards what will help you the most and don't give up. We are all people doing our very best and we all make missteps and blunders but keeping working toward the goals that the team has set forth and remember, Thank you is always appropriate.
Thanks to my team, you are awesome and I appreciate what you do for me.
Make it a great weekend! I will be back on the first having attended a conference next week and will be glad to share the knowledge I gain when I return.
S