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Neuropathy | Last Active: Oct 5, 2023 | Replies (40)
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@ray666 Doctors sometimes no longer fit us, kinda like shoes. For some time they are are fine, things work out, then gradually they no longer fit or feel comfortable. It is a sudden realization that can be disconcerting, to say the least. That said, we need to have confidence that our health is paramount, and confidence in our medical team is part of that.
As @lacy2 mentioned, it works best when you have the assurance of a new doctor lined up before changing over. It's awkward, I know. I changed one of my specialists, to someone else within the same practice. But, the result has been better care and more concern for my unique case.
Ginger
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Good morning, Ginger (@gingerw), Valarie @lacy2
What you say is so true:
“For some time they are fine, things work out, then gradually they no longer fit or feel comfortable.”
Like a favorite pair of shoes. I recall years ago (why these days is everything so “years ago”?) being at the start line of a citizens’ race (I think it was in L.A.) wearing my old Asics Tiger running shoes. A total stranger looked at my shoes – they were held together with strips of duct tape – and said, “Don’t you think it’s time to treat yourself to a new pair of shoes?”
“Treat yourself.” Those words resonate today as I change doctors. I’m telling myself I’m not being cruel to the doctor I’m quitting, no, not at all (he remains a good doctor, but to others). What I’m doing is treating myself to better care, or at least to the chance I’ll find better care. I deserve at least that much.
As to lacy2’s point, I already have my go-to doctor lined up. What happened was the doctor I plan to return to was the first doctor I saw, three years ago (?), before I knew I had P.N. She was concerned enough to send me off for a series of MRIs, which led to my transferring my first-line to a neurosurgeon; but when he determined that surgery was necessary, put me under the care of yet another doctor … In effect, I was on a Doctor Conveyor Belt. What I’m doing now is putting myself BACK into the care of my first neurologist, a woman I’d trusted from the get-go. Have I made the right decision? I can’t say. But it feels good just to have made a decision.
Value added? The doctor I’m quitting: his office is 14 miles through a trafficky part of town. The doctor I’m returning to? I could toss a pebble against her office window from my front door. (I won’t toss that pebble, however. LOL)
Cheers!
Ray (@ray666)