A recent conversation with my sister inspired me to write this post. She is a physical therapist who often rants about how patients with chronic pain or chronic illness don’t work and are just on disability. I know she’s far from the only h…
Category: Patients
The endless waves of chronic illness
Life keeps buffeting the patient diagnosed with several chronic conditions, like continuous incoming and outgoing mammoth ocean waves flooding over one’s body, raising you high up into the air and then sucking you downward, a struggle to keep you…
A mundane ultrasound? The emotional weight of diagnostic tests.
The word mundane is defined as an occurrence that is very ordinary and, therefore, not interesting. However, what may be mundane for one may be monumental for another, especially if one’s health is in question. An ultrasound provides needed infor…
Why have we let our diseased health care system go untreated?
“To serve the art of medicine as it should be served, one must love his fellow man.” – William Osler There is sadness in my heart and my mind. With so many advances in the treatment of illnesses of the mind and body, why have we let o…
We are lost and forgotten in the immensity, waiting in the shadows
We traverse parallel paths, you and I. Paths that intersect during times of stress, loss, and illness. Each of us searching for truth, understanding, and resolution. Our stories need to be heard, but in these trying times, we are but mere specks in the…
Is our health care system based on untruths?
As Americans, we live in one of the most affluent countries in the world. Outwardly, many of our citizens seem to possess the necessities of life: shelter, food, job employment, and world-class health care. But what happens when we take a closer look? …
Shame not on us: Diagnoses and treatments need to be transparent
In Australia recently, a woman successfully sued a hospital for $2.4 million for a series of misdiagnoses that left her quadriplegic. A London woman was recently misdiagnosed four times before doctors discovered she had cervical cancer. A Canadian woma…
Patient care is not a spectator sport [PODCAST]
“Whether led by the patient or by a primary care physician or nurse practitioner, a proper leadership-based problem-solving methodology is a critical tool. The approach itself is not nearly as important as the discipline to use a formal approach….
A patient explains the reasons behind doctor hopping [PODCAST]
“Oh no, it’s a doctor hopper. You know who I’m talking about: the patients with twenty previous doctors documented in their chart. The ones who took years to be diagnosed. The ones who still have not been diagnosed, but insist something is wrong….
We are warriors: doctors and patients
The passage through life is, at times, exciting, stressful, and confusing. Like being on a roller coaster ride: strapped in, climbing up to the high peaks, and surging down to the valleys. It’s a ride where I hang on for dear life with the hope I…
