Wednesday
[Further meditations captured during a week of desultory Rorschach-blogging..]
1. G.L.O.W., or Get Loose on Wednesday was the cry during our college years, when for some strange reason we were unable to survive a full week of academic labor without a boisterous visit to one of the local saloons, as if we were amphibians desperately flopping about in an attempt to return to water. Now Wednesday holds much less sway over our mood - I mean, have you seen how much work you’ve got to do this coming weekend? Better enjoy that latte’ and muffin at your desk while you can, not to mention sneaking in a little internet surfing while the boss’s door is closed.
2. One of the most vivid lectures I remember during medical school was from a wise old practitioner who stated, “Beware of the hateful patient, who can poison one’s mood!” I was shocked to find that what he meant was the “hateful patient” is not one who hates you, but one that you hate. These words were some of the truest ever spoken in my career. Sooner or later all doctors run across patients that are annoying, demanding, in denial, stubborn, rude, even enraged. My response to those encountering such unpleasantness: courage! Doctors are supposed to act like professionals, who don’t let unfortunate circumstances rattle them. As awful as it seems, I think the best maneuver when confronted with exasperating patients is to take it like a tackling dummy facing the entire defensive line. Don’t become hostile - in addition to looking like a boor you will probably alienate your patients. The best thing to do is to sit down and listen. Patients appreciate a doctor taking the time to hear them out.
3. If I said it once I’ve said it a thousand times - never take anything for granted! Sometimes patients who appear to have one disease actually have something entirely different. Sometimes a little shadow on an x-ray does not mean that someone’s cancer has relapsed, which makes the doctor look foolish if he had proceeded to scare the bejesus out of the patient. Sometimes patients just go on living - even when all their doctors assumed the worst. Doctors therefore shouldn’t act shocked when they run across a patient who has lived much longer than expected - it is rude for one thing, and tends to make them look like they really aren’t advocates for the patient.
Better to sail on toward uncharted lands than to assume the trip will end in disaster and stay at home grousing about the injustice of the king while your brother’s grandson ends up being a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
