A GOOD doctor story for a change!

Had an appointment with my pulmonologist (also a sleep doctor) today and thought I would share a GOOD doctor story with you.

A little background: After she determined that I did, indeed, have Sleep Apnea, she ordered an APAP with heated humidifier without me even asking. Said I could select which machine and mask I wanted, tell the DME and have them call her and she would write it (the prescription) up that way. How’s that for easy!?

Just before my last appointment with this doctor last July, the DME called and came by to get the smart card from my machine so a report could be sent to the doctor prior to the appointment. Fine, no problem. Except the DME did not return the card! I called twice, but they couldn’t find it so finally gave me a new card. It was about then that I decided to invest in the Encore Pro software and the reader to keep track of my own data.

So, today I took the doctor an Encore Pro report for the last week. I’ve also been keeping a daily log with a weekly and monthly summary in an Excel report. When we came to discussing my sleep therapy, she was impressed with the Excel report and wished all her patients did that. I pointed out that based on the data I had raised my lower pressure from 7cm to 8cm and was thinking about raising it to 9cm and she was fine with that. I told her that from what I had read on the internet, many doctors didn’t seem to like their patients having the software and making changes themselves. She kinda grimaced and said, “That’s ridiculous! I wouldn’t recommend you change the upper pressure without consulting me, but if you’re more comfortable with a higher bottom pressure, that’s fine.” She went on to say that a professor had once said that they (the doctors) should just let their patients talk because the patient could most likely tell them (the doctors) exactly what was wrong with them. She also said that a better informed patient is a better patient.

Need less to say, I really like this doctor. I can ask all the questions I want and she never makes me feel like she’s in a hurry to leave. If anyone in the Knoxville area needs a good sleep doctor and/or pulmonologist, send me a PM and I’ll give you her name and number.

Congratulations, Linda.

Sounds like you got a GOOD one.

Best wishes,

Den

you ought to post her name so we can send her a plaque

I agree, SnoreDog! She sounds almost worth packing up lock, stock and barrel and moving south to Knoxville for! How rare and refreshing her philosophy! She's definitely a "keeper", Linda. Thanks for sharing your experience w/her!!!! If only we could all be blessed w/such a doctor!

How nice to read about the good experiences too!

O.

Similar experience here in the Chicago area.

From this board, I was convinced that I would not deal with a DME and was able to cut that off at the pass at the Dr's office. Got script & sleep study report directly from doc. Ordered stuff directly from cpap.com. Went through an ordeal with ins company. Bought a second mask....much better!

First sleep study did not result in a titration. Doc looked at my MyEncore graphs and my explanation for pressure settings and said, "You don't need a second sleep study. You've already titrated yourself!" Ha....more money saved.

This board & cpap.com are the greatest!

What wonderful posts, Linda B and HP. It's always great to hear about doctors who are willing to listen and work with capable people who are interested in taking an active role in their own cpap treatment.

thats great, I never even saw my sleep doc, just got a report in the mail and a script faxed to the dme. I had to put up a fuss to get a copy of the script mailed to me.

Lindab – That is great that you have a good Dr. I am hoping that my Dr will be just as open when I go back in a month to determine if I am compliant (I am) to justify buying a machine instead of just renting one.

I too am keeping a daily log on my progress to include how I feel, problems I may have, the data listed on the screen and the hours I actually sleep, since the Remstar M Pro data appears to lowball the hours I sleep. I too use excel and have a bunch of graphs to help me visualize my progress. Like you, I will be bringing a printout of my log to go with the DMEs download from my card (I found it odd that the DME will not give me a printout prior to the Dr seeing it). Hopefully, with this info and with the valid justifications that I’ve obtained from this forum I will be able convince him that I can not only buy a machine but that it be an APAP. I already have printed out what he should include in the prescription such as the model number, pressure range, etc as recommended in this forum.

I hope my Dr has the same view as yours lindab where he will be pleased to have a patient who takes an active interest in their own health. I know that no one is more interested in my health than me.

linda b wrote:Had an appointment with my pulmonologist (also a sleep doctor) today and thought I would share a GOOD doctor story with you.

(snip)

So, today I took the doctor an Encore Pro report for the last week. I’ve also been keeping a daily log with a weekly and monthly summary in an Excel report. When we came to discussing my sleep therapy, she was impressed with the Excel report and wished all her patients did that.

(snip)

She went on to say that a professor had once said that they (the doctors) should just let their patients talk because the patient could most likely tell them (the doctors) exactly what was wrong with them. She also said that a better informed patient is a better patient.

Congratulations and felicitations! You have a rare, supportive and wonderful doc and a better life (in many respects) as a result.

Some of my favorite docs are the ones who say, "Just a minute--I want to look that up and see if there is another way." I think yours would qualify if it comes to that!

I just wanted to add that I have my medical history and medications stored in Word on my computer. I print them and take them to each new doctor (MUCH easier than remembering all of those dates of surgeries and procedures and immunizations, etc.)

I also print a copy of my meds list for each doctor visit. It is complete with allergies, and a notice for a rare condition and whom to call in case of questions or an emergency concerning that condition. The docs and their assistants seem to like it a lot, especially when the assistants don't know how to spell the names of the drugs...

This hopefully helps to refresh the doctor's memory in respect to contra-indications in prescribing anything new, has dosages for each medication, and tells what other doctors have changed since my last visit. (Sometimes I use the hightlight feature to show that something was changed.)

One of my surgeons always RAVES about my list every time I see her for a follow-up--which is unnerving because she has seen it before several times--but it is a great idea and can improve one's medical treatment. She says the same thing as your doc: "I wish all of my patients would do this!"

Maybe someone else will benefit from this technique. Best wishes and may there be many more good docs.