Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Not Happy about Care?

A sweet, soft-spoken, lovely woman in my rehab class had cataract surgery. When the eye doctor asked how she was doing during the followup appointment, she replied that she felt she could see better with her glasses before the surgery. He turned his back to her and walked out the door. She later found out that he wrote on her file that she was an aggressive patient. So here she is, months later with one eye waiting for surgery and she has not contacted any other doctor as she is afraid that she will be thrown out of their offices, too.

One of my favorite people in the class is a Texas Panhandle raised, earned PhD, university business professor and an advisor to a former Secretary of State proper gentleman. He has been asking about my mom's eye problems because he feels something is just not right with his eyes but didn't know what to do about it.

We are so fortunate to live in an area with two highly respected research facilities. Today, I am going to give them both the phone number and map to the eye clinic where mom is seen for her macular degeneration.

What continues to surprises me is how people do nothing and live with a problem. Or, are afraid to tell their doctor that they want a second opinion. Had I not gone above my doctor's head by contacting my university thyroid doctor and asking for a referral to see a pulmonologist, I would have died a long time ago. I was misdiagnosed and was becoming weaker and sicker every day. 

Please, if you don't like how you are being treated medically, change doctors! Don't worry about hurting your doctor's feelings. This is your life. 

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