Last week I found a tiny lump under my right arm. At first, I was going to wait and see what it did. That lasted a day and I called to see if I could get in to see my primary care physician even though it had only been a little over a week since I’d seen her.
Communicating can feel make you feel like the bobber.
They got me in within a few days. She examined it and said she thought it was scar tissue but would like me to have an ultrasound. Since I live in another town, she said she would see if they could get me into radiology that day.
When she came back in the room, she said radiology wanted to know when my last mammogram had been. It was December 23. She said that the technicians were saying that I needed a mammogram to go with the ultrasound.
She and I talked about it. She didn’t feel that I needed a mammogram at this point. That I should have the ultrasound done, she would discuss it with my team at KU Med Center and if everyone felt that I needed another mammogram I would probably go to KU Med Center for it. This made perfect sense to me.
Then I went to radiology and they told me I was to have a mammogram. I said no, just an ultrasound today. They insisted that the radiologist would want a diagnostic mammogram not the screening mammogram that I had in December. I said no, I’m only having an ultrasound today if I need another mammogram, I will have it done at KU Med Center. They said they can cloud the new images to KU Med Center for me. If I needed that many tests I would have them done with my oncologist and surgeon at KU Med Center. They should call my doctor and work it out.
These young horses are figuring out communications in the herd.
When they called me to go for the ultrasound, they had worked it out I would only have the ultrasound. They also got the information about where the last mammogram was done so they could get the images for the radiologist to compare.
Whether you are a caregiver or patient you may find yourself advocating for a patient. You’d think given that I was a doctor’s daughter who worked in his office that I would have know this. I didn’t until about one and a half years into Mike’s illness. I was lucky because at that point dad was still helping me navigate the system.
I would try to arrange Mike’s appointments on the same day so that we could limit our trips across the state. Sometimes this was incredibly difficult. That doctor isn’t seeing patients that day. What days does he see patients? The same for the next doctor and so on. All in separate phone calls because there are separate scheduling departments. You’d think when they all work at KU Med Center that it might be easier.
Roulette gives me a head toss. One of the Gypsy Vanner’s at Little Bit North Ranch in Colorado where a lot of the EGCM training takes place.
I asked one of his specialists at KU about his diagnosis on more than one occasion. I felt that the doctor who had given him the diagnosis of the rare auto-immune disease was patting himself on the back to have come up with it. He finally said no that diagnosis was correct but there may be another one as well.
Another time I vented to another of his specialists at KU about feeling like they didn’t communicate with each other enough. He explained to me how they communicated and that they were also very frustrated because he was a difficult case.
I had the experience to ask these questions at that point. Early on I don’t think I would have had the backbone to do it.
If you find yourself advocating for yourself or a loved one remember you have a lot to absorb. Ask questions if you don’t understand something and if you don’t understand the way they explain it ask again.
One of my mares ready to help you.
We all hear things through our own experiences and that can create a lot of noise. I was amazed at the times Mike and I would hear something a doctor said completely different. This is because of the filters that we hear through.
If you’d like to explore how the horses and I can help you as you advocate for a patient connect with me here.
Sometimes when we’re communicating The Sound of Silence can be deafening. I love this version by Disturbed or here’s a classic version by Simon and Garfunkel.
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