Being listened to........think about it. We literally hear thousands if not millions of sounds a day. Does that mean we are really listening to them? NO! We only listen to the sounds that are important to us. This doctor listened to me. He asked questions to clarify what I was saying. He didn't just scribble a few notes, nod his head, and then do what he'd decided to do before he even saw me. I no longer felt like a non-person, a chart, an unimportant carrier of my disease!
Being trusted..........how many doctors look at you like you have no idea what you are talking about? I thought about all the doctors I've seen over the long, long years and I realize that the only ones that did me any good were the ones that trusted me to know what was going on in my body. They are also the only ones that I remember both their faces and their names. To all you nameless doctors out there.......now you know how I felt!
Believing in myself.........I have seen far more doctors that don't fit the above criteria than those few gems that shine in my memory. And now I realize that they had convinced me that I should be a good little girl and let the big, specially trained doctors do all the talking and tell me what I am supposed to feel and do. Well.......PHHHHHHHHHHT! I'm the one in this body, not them!
Sorry to go on so much about this, but even though I still am in some pain (much less, thanks, Doc!), emotionally I am feeling GREAT!
Thanks for listening to me ramble on!
kcmo rose