It's About Patients

Monday turned out to be a very great day. I felt very energized from work. It was as if I had made a contribution. I saw fifteen patients. This is a nice number. Some physicians can see sixty patients in one day. I don't think I could ever do that. Of the fifteen patients that I saw, not one was unpleasant, and almost all of them were wonderful or fantastic people. One of them is most certainly depressed, but she puts on an air. She pretends to be doing well. Some of the patients who believe that I've helped enormously were there. Some that I just like were there. There was a new patient who came in. She had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about eight years ago (in another state, luckily - by someone I don't know). Well, she certainly doesn't have Parkinson's disease. She has familial tremor. Her husband is very intelligent, but slightly humble. He respects authority greatly. That's why he hasn't questioned the diagnosis. But he's known that it's wrong. So when I said that I didn't think it was Parkinson's he felt very good. I changed her medications. She will do much better. It wasn't a difficult diagnosis, or a very difficult treatment issue. But it was a great deal of fun. It's great to be able to help someone with just a little effort. Three patients complained about how terribly (or terrible) it is to get old. We have some very serious issues in this country with aging. I have a lot to say about aging. Aging is very important. It's very wonderful. It's just that Americans hate it for no good reason. If you hate something, then you will see all its faults, but none of its benefits. With that sort of thinking, it isn't really possible to see clearly. One patient came in who was working with a colleague of mine, but she was fired. Only she didn't tell me, she told the staff, who told me. She was embarrassed. I have one patient who has had horrible headaches all of her life, and I've done well with her. She got non-compliant and her headaches got very bad. They are completely disabling when they're bad: she just can't function at all. So she agreed to go back to my protocol, which includes Botox. She didn't want to do the Botox, due to the cost. But finally, her husband talked her into it (I think he couldn't take it anymore). And now she's better again. And yesterday I saw a headache patient who had moved to Utah. He was seen at the University of Utah headache clinic. They sent me a copy of their work up. They changed most of what I had done with him. He moved back here after being there only about six months. He said that I had done a better job with his headaches than they had done there. These things are very important. They are the things that we have to focus on. It's about the patients. It's about doing something that has value. If you can do something that is good -- anything that is good, then the "work" is good work. What is "good" should be something that helps people in some way. Even if it's manufacturing - making a good product that helps people is good. It gives the work a sense of purpose, and that gives the person a sense of purpose.