Taking Responsibility for Your Own Wellness

I've received more than my share of medical care, and I used to have a theory that I radiated some kind of field that lowered physicians' IQs when I got too close, similar to the way some people make watches run fast or slow. My alternate theory was that as medical care attempted to approach me, I emitted a ray that distorted and damaged it, so that by the time it reached me it was a destructive force. For a number of years I was involved with a series of perfectly intelligent, highly educated, well intentioned doctors, each one of whom, one after the other, partially cured whatever I came to them with and gave me a brand new, much worse problem in the process. I was the poster child for iatrogenic illness. After a while I was ready to burst into tears just from sitting in a waiting room, I was so anxious about whether I would be allowed to leave in the same condition I had arrived in.

People said I was brave to have my babies at home, but the fact was I wasn't brave enough to be helpless in the presence of medical care, and childbirth isn't really the time to be protecting yourself from unwanted or inappropriate care. I started doing lots of research, being really careful about who I went to, and taking a lot more responsibility for my own care. I experimented with alternative medicine and was aggressive about seeking out physical therapies I could do myself.

Then I got cancer, which isn't really a do-it-yourself kind of medical problem. I got LOTS of recommendations, asked the right questions, took charge when necessary, and for the first time felt less helpless and more satisfied with the care I was getting. It is so empowering to feel confident that you can trust someone to help and not hurt.

I am really excited about the prospect of being able to get lots of opinions about doctors and nurse practitioners I am considering going to. Of course they have to be taken with a grain of salt, as someone's personal experience, but I am particularly impressed with the quality of the nurses' recommendations. They approach the process from quite a different perspective, and their expertise is evident in their priorities. Patients need every bit of ammunition in their arsenal against their diseases and injuries, and knowing for instance that in spite of a bad bedside manner a surgeon is highly competent is enormously helpful, especially not to take it personally.

Good information is vital to a good outcome.