First follow-up with doc since starting therapy

[Tired Linda]

Appt. with sleep doc today for first follow-up since beginning therapy two months ago. I dutifully handed my SD card over so they could download my info.

The sleep tech walked into the room with a very concerned look on her face and began asking if my machine was working correctly and was I sleeping o.k. I answered yes to both, and she looked even more confused. I told her I was having a really hard time sleeping through the pressure changes so I went straight CPAP. “That’s really strange, I don’t know why there’s no documentation in your chart,” she says. I told her I did it myself, and her eyes about popped out of her head. Silence. She was a little hissy, took my O2 level, checked my BP and left.

The doc comes in right as I was reading over my list of questions which was attached to my printouts of daily data.

Doc: How are you doing?
Me: Things are finally getting better.
Doc: How’s your pressure?
Me: I’m at 9.5 right now, but think it needs to be raised a little more.
Doc: I bet you’ll end up at 10-11, but I really wouldn’t go higher than 13….how do you know how to make changes to the machine?
Me: I have a copy of the manual.
Doc: How do you get the printouts of the data?
Me: I download them myself.
Doc: Smiles and says do you have any questions?

I asked him some questions about VS and raising pressures/effect on CAs, and he pulled out my test results and showed me a few things. We had a really nice conversation. Then he starts laughing and says well, I think I can trust you. Come back in 3 months for a check. Don’t bother bringing the SD card back unless you’re concerned about something. Call if you need anything.

I think I got one of the good ones!

[blusaber]

Cool

Knowledge is power

Gary

[Breathe Jimbo]

Your sleep doc probably smiled because he realized that you are highly motived to succeed.

[elena88]

good for you! Isnt it great to know whats going on with your own therapy?

I have a great doc too, but the nurses and techs are the one who seem to get all pissy about changing pressures..

Even the receptionists! at my least appt one told me to bring my machine along with a vpap I borrowed.. and I said "why both?

Im just returning the vpap? "

"Well, so they can change the pressure in YOUR machine if they need to.. "

and I said, "Well I do that myself, so why do I need to lug it down here.. ?"

and she said.. "what? what? do you mean you do it yourself? You cant do that!"

and I said, I have my docs "permission" she is the one who had me do it in the first place.. ....

Then she said, " well, bring it anyway.. just in case"

ha! I dont think she believed me that I was doing that..

[Muse-Inc]

...

Wow, ya got a keeper there...congrats!!!

[chunkyfrog]

I just hate 'professionals' who feel threatened by patients who know what's going on.

[JayC]

woo hoo!! <grin>
Linda, soon you will need to change your name!!

J

[Duckie]

[quote][/quote]chunkyfrog on Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:43 pm

I just hate 'professionals' who feel threatened by patients who know what's going on.

I don't think professionals hate patient that know what is going on. The people on this board are an exception to the rule. We have many patient come in to the hospitial "blowing steam" that don't know what is going on with their health problem being it diabetes or OSA. But they think they do. It takes time to get to know your patient and then therefore believe that they have the knowledge to change their "care" on there own. I have found by my own experience that once you get a good relation with your Dr, PA or Rn at the office they respect you more. I have just had the experience of changing all my Dr and now that they know that I am knowledgable about the subject and am doing the "correct' thing they are more open to help me. Interesting enough I have talked to 5 people (between church, relative etc) and most do not know their pressures, Have no idea what the machine they have or what it does for them. They opening state just show me the button to turn it on and the Dr. can do the rest. I believe that this is sad. Medical proffession are human and and do make mistakes. Therefore to have a watchful eye and to be able to openly discuss your care is ideal!

[Slartybartfast]

I had a very pleasant appointment with my pulmonologist yesterday. Told him I have been monitoring my oximetry data and learning all I can here and elsewhere. He immediately warmed up to me and his demeanor changed from that of oracle to collaborator, mentor, and partner. My wife has said many times that people in the medical field are used to dealing with very passive patients who are too sick, too debilitated, or too clueless to help themselves. But when a patient comes in who is actively involved in his/her therapy, she frequently cites diabetes patients as being that way, then the doctor's job is made much easier. You can't push on a rope, as they say.

However, the other side of the coin is that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. We've all seen posts in this forum made by CPAP users asking how to change pressures on their equipment when it's clear that they really need to spend more time learning what is going on before they start twiddling with controls. From the sleep doc/technologist's perspective, I can understand the frustration and alarm they must feel when they have invested a lot of time in assessing a patient and recommending a course of treatment, only to have the patient apparently disregard their advice and sprint off into the unknown without sufficient understanding of the basics. I don't think it's always a control-thing, but it often comes across that way. However, I think it's more like the feeling of giving a 12 year old the keys to a new car and knowing the likely outcome.