Cancer Journal #17 Jan 31

I go to Mayo Clinic’s Patient Portal, I can read my doctor’s notes of the appointment I just had with him.

I don’t know that I should be able to do that.  It tangles the lines of our relationship, making me

somehow the one assessing his work product.  I suppose that’s in line with the current way of viewing

the relationship. I’m the consumer of services he provides and should make a consumer’s evaluation

of those services..


I’m not really on board with that kind of thing.  I’m more for having mysterious medical

arts practiced on me that I lack the capacity to evaluate.  I don’t know that I fully believe that but it’s a

model I feel more comfortable with.   


Anyway, for all that, I’ve read my doctor’s notes.  He finds me “pleasant” which I would ordinarily be pleased to know.  However, in my job, I saw a lot of doctor’s notes and as I recall, they invariably found the patient “pleasant.”  Must be a term of art with a low threshold.  You must have to be a real jerk not to be “pleasant.”  I wonder what term they use for that.  Probably not “unpleasant” although that would be fun.


He also found me “verbal” and “alert”.  I suppose I was kind of chatty--and yes, alert too.  “NAD”  appears in the notes.  I don’t know that one.  It could mean “no anxiety/depression”  If that’s it, it's right.  I am neither anxious nor depressed.  He said he counseled me for 25 minutes.  Huh.  I thought we just kind of talked but if he wants to call it counseling, I won’t disagree.  25 minutes seems long but I wasn’t keeping track of time.  He’s probably right. In his final assessment, he found my ”judgement intact.” Well, that’s good.  What do they call it when your judgement is no longer “intact?”   Maybe, “a leetle bit craazee!” 


I gotta cut this out.  Mayo has my blog address.  They may add an addendum to the “intact judgement” assessment.  I better stop reading the doctor’s notes.





(Sorry for the formatting irregularities.  I did things differently and this happened.  Computers are like horses in my experience.  They know whether you know what you are doing.  If you don't, they feel that they can misbehave and get away with it.  Anyway, my hope is that there will be a sort of handcrafted, homemade look to this posting and not something just churned off the assembly line)

Comments

  1. StasiaFebruary 1, 2021 at 7:44 AM

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jan CFebruary 1, 2021 at 11:54 AM

    It is kind of a surreal experience. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. JenniferruthMarch 6, 2021 at 5:33 AM

    As of January medical professionals can bill for talking to us. This eliminates the 20-minute assembly line feeling we've had for so long, allowing doctors to build rapport, get to know us better, and--hopefully--provide better care. It also increases the medical professional's satisfaction with their job. Of course, you can't bill for 'chatting up the patient like an old-school doc' so the conversation is billed under counseling.

    ReplyDelete

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