@auntieoakley, I can so relate. I think I could have improved treatment outcomes if I had been that brave. I grew up in the '50s when physicians were Gods. I broke an ankle roller skating while on vacation. It had to be set just right by a specialist who said the break was hard to see but that he caught it in the X-rays.

Upon returning to my home town and visiting the family doctor, he refused to get the x-rays or talk with the orthopedic specialist. Then he convinced my parents to let him remove the cast and told me to just walk on it and everything would be o.k. Of course, it wasn't and I had to have surgery later to repair the break by putting a leash around the ligaments so they didn't get torn by the bone fragments. Wonderful!!!!!! and I was all of 19. So I began my adult life with a chronic condition and distrust of doctors of any kind.

My mother actually paid her old high school friend a visit because he had been asked to do the new X-rays. He acknowledged the findings but refused to speak up against a colleague.

Finally, I am changing and the experience at Mayo has been immensely helpful. First and foremost....do no harm. May you have a harmonious and beautiful day. Chris