Patients are a Virtue

Being a patient is not easy.

In fact, it is darn right scary.

You have no idea what's going on and it's so easy to think the worse. Every feeling and symptom mimics the next and in turn makes your body feel like a open mine field.

Patients are bombarded with medical facts on the TV shows, commercials and Internet sites informing them just how VERY sick they are. I recently had a patient tell me that he checked an 'un-named' internet site, input his symptoms in the analysis box and was told his differential diagnosis included the Bubonic Plaque. OMG.....WTH? I would be scared tooo.

By nature we all want to be in some kind of control of our lives. Since I'm a type A personality, I truly understand that concept. It is normal for me to want to be in control of just about everything. As such, when I fly in airplanes or go blindly, I feel really uncomfortable. I think as doctors, we sometimes forget this.

But... if you get a doctor who has had to be a patient. One who has been on the receiving end of bad news or waited hours to be seen by a doctor...well by golly you have a changed man'.

I remember the first time I woke up from sleeping, couldn't feel my body and couldn't walk. Hearing the doctors say, "you may not be able to practice anymore and your hands and feet aren't going to be the same anymore.

I remember the first time I had to wait in a waiting room as a patient even though I was a doctor for hours. Only to receive what most folx' would classify as bad newz', but I was more upset that I sat for hours not knowing what was going on.

I remember the first time I felt unbearable pain that no medication could reduce. The thought that I may be on medication for the rest of my life......mmmmm...FOR LIFE? Are you serious?

When I take care of a patient, I pray that GOD will keep fresh in my memory what it's like to be on the receiving end.

Patients are nervous, worried and clueless. They respond in anger, nastiness, gratitude and denial. We as physicians have to be mindful of the patience needed when taking care of patients.

We must remember.....Patients are a Virtue.