Please take down the depressing posters of deformed, damaged, and mangled bones and joints in your offices. Please hang posters of oceans and gardens. Please encourage us to seek answers to this disease from many places. Please tell us the truth. Please tell us what the drugs will do to our bodies. Please stop being so money-hungry. Please care about us. But most importantly, please take down the damn posters!
My doctor's office was TOTALLY BARE except for one plant in the waiting room - every time I've been, I think about bringing a pile of posters with me. Or mailing them anonymously with a note,saying "do this for your patients!" I don't even know how the staff handles it. Even the office is depressing - stacks and stacks of file folders all over the room. How they find anything I don't know - no computerization either. That said, they are all good folks and helpful. It's like since he's the only rheumatologist for 80 miles around, they don't have time to think about it, they'r dealing with thousands of files...One would think this was only a temporary office, but it's not.
I was at my dentist's the other day getting a crown (now my jaw is killing me) and the set-up is wonderful, the posters are exactly what someone in fear & pain needs to have around! So much so, I had to remark on it... they put the darn epinephrin in with the novacaine shots, and that makes me shaky...they are also supposed to check what meds you are on, but they didn't. (I didn't bother to remark about that, but I did bring up the epinephrin, asking if it was in there, because I was feeling it.
So - yesterday I went to my GP to get a shot of cortisone in my jaw (the old TMJ which normally is only a problem after the dentist...) and he is so good at these, I don't worry even if it DOES hurt - which it DIDDIDDDIDD! Then last night I went to a healing service at my church - and couldn't even sing due to jaw pain! But it did occur to me afterward that a muscle relaxer (duh) might help more than a pain killer, and that turned out to be true. This morning I'm somewhat better and hopeful.
But back to the posters - I think I will do something about this! I'll be seeing him next month and have time to get it together. Call it a 5th anniversary of my diagnosis...
You are so RIGHT! But it's good you reminded me, my brain has holes in it - i was in such painnn last night from the jaw - Got the cortisone shot in the jaw. I went home, had dinner, took both Celebrex & Tylenol, went to church for a healing service. Prayers helped me calm down a bit - I couldn't sing much because of the jaw, how ironic! (me, a musician...) but it was nice to just try and relax & listen. Then at home it occurred to me (the Lord works in strange ways) that duh, instead of a painkiller (I'd already taken the max) I should take a muscle relaxer (which I always have around but use rarely). So I took the cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) and it did the trick - I slept, and haven't had to take anything else yet today! Am due for an Enbrel shot tonight. Ahhhhhhh.....
So - I need to get on those posters!
Ellen
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Amen! How about something hopeful on the wall while we wait (and wait and wait)? And if you can't do hopeful, then default into pretty, relaxing scenes that will encourage us not to strangle you when we finally get into your office two hours after our appointment was scheduled. Treating us like adults who are capable of thinking and understanding the facts would also be good. And would it kill you to crack a joke?
haha, totally