From the words of his patients, the stories that flowed, from outside of the treatment clinics, translated…
The Experiences of My Patients’ Treatments by Their Physicians, Sometimes Truths, Sometimes, Made-Up, Some Left Me in Awe, Others, Made Me Feel Funny, and, at Times, They’d, Locked Me, in Deep Thoughts……….
I Wonder, Who the Mastermind Doctor Was
“Did you go see a neurologist for the numbing of the nerve endings in your feet?” as my patient returned back, I’d, flipped through his treatment records, inquired. This patient is a diabetic, every time he’d walked, he’d felt numbed and tingling in his leg and feet, as a cardiologist, I’d ordered the scans of the blood vessels around the limbs, but, all the test results were, normal, so I’d, referred him to a neurologist.
“I’d gone to see one in Yilan, but as the doctor took one look at me, he’d, cut me off, and didn’t have me pay for the sessions either.”
That was enough, to get my curiosity going, no need to even touch, only needed one second’s time, no need for the neurological tests, he already had an answer? Who is, this, master physician?
“He told me to switch out my shoes.”
“Did he want you to get shoes that fitted?”
“No, he’d told me that the soles were too thin, that I’d needed to, have a pair with thicker soles, and then exercise out.”
“So, did you switch to another pair?”
“Yes, as I had, my feet don’t go numb anymore. The physician told me to always wear the exercise shoes with thicker soles, that the numbing sensations came from the soles of my shoes being too thin.”
“What’s the name of that physician he’s so amazing.”
“He didn’t charge me, so I didn’t remember his name, I’d, walked away with doubt, listening to what he’d, told me, and, it actually, got better.”
Wow, I’m totally in awe now! But, don’t all those swords-fighting novel character all wear the shoes with the boots with the thin soles? It’s, confusing to me here.
illustration from UDN.com
Unfortunately, I’d not caught the name of my patient’s doctor, just took one look at him, struck his name and number out on the rosters, and not charged him. Of course, I’m certain, that the neurologists in the hospital where I worked can easily diagnose this too, but, working in different departments, it’s, working in totally different jobs, the knowledge from cardiology is scientific, about the blood vessels, where all the thoughts are, gathered, and, changing the shoes would’ve, never surfaced as a resolution.
I’d, made up my mind, to make the notes of my patients more precisely, in the physical examinations (or maybe in the patients’ illness histories? Or, is it, going to be docketed down on the current treatment histories?), to record down what the patients were wearing, slippers? Sandals? Boots? Three-inch high heels? Sneakers? Bierkenstock? If I took down these notes, then, maybe, I too, can use the records, to diagnose in air, to find these illnesses of the, vascular sorts then.
But, other than making a note of the shoes, shouldn’t we also see what the patients are, dressed in, suits, t-shirt, tank tops, tights? I’m thinking about the illnesses, caused by too much air-conditioning cold air exposures, arthritis, and Prinzmetal’s angina.
What the patients said of the treatment experiences, sometimes they’re real, sometimes, they’re, not, some left me in awe, some tickled my funny bones but gets me down, there was this once, that’s left, me that deep impression.
A new patient came in with a referral slip, said, “My family physician treated me for decades, he’s now in his eighties, and ready to retire, this is from him.”
I took a look, a bit surprised, the writing was more than legible, documented every treatment session, all the English very understandable, with the clear and precise doses of medications.
But normally, I’d still, used my computer to check the medical records on Cloud, but, there was, NO record of the health insurances, I’d become confused, and asked, “how come there’s no record?”
“He’d treated his returning patients free of charge.”
“Are the medications free to?”
“Everything is free!”
My heart twitched, and, there was this elderly physician that surfaced to my mind, using this, free sessions, as he bid his goodbye to his long-term patient, old friends. In my imaginations, the elderly physician is, saying goodbye to his own youthful years, a final farewell, I suppose.
The Experiences of Treatments My Patients Described to Me
“As the neurologist showed me the MRI, he’d started, sighing. The patient had transient ischemic attack, and told me what he’d encountered at his neurologist’s office, “Doc, just give it to me straight, I can handle it.”
I’d looked at the name of the neurologist, I’d gotten it, not taken one breath, just, listened to my patient.
“The doctor told me, ‘you’re fine, no problems.’ So I’d asked him what’s wrong, why’d he sigh? He’d responded, ‘I’d sat here treating all my clients, and I’m still, nowhere near done yet, it’s too tiresome, that’s why I’m, sighing.’”
Haha, this patient didn’t know, that this particular physicians is, the king of sighs, he’d sighed, every few words. But, but this sort of, “ahhhhhhhh…all your checks came back, normal!”, or, “ahhhhhh……you’d, recovered, fine, no need to worry”, don’t know if this will cause cardiac arrests in the patients.
There’s one more time, after the patient had knee surgeries, came in to see me in a wheelchair, I couldn’t help but nag, “Make sure you followed doctor’s orders, to go to physical therapy!”
“Surely, surely, I love Taiwan!”
He saw me with that confused look on my face, he’d, “performed” it for me, lifted up his legs with his arms, bent his legs, “the doctor told me to ‘lift and bent’ to exercise, lifting, bending, I do it, every single day!”
Wow, so, there’s, this means, I’d grown wiser, for certain.
I’m now, very curious, as to how my patients would describe their treatment processes with me, and I think that if the words get to me, I’m more than likely, to hear the filtered versions, only the good things, while the bad reviews, they probably, won’t, register at all with me.
And so, this, is from your interactions with your patients, and, you’d learned things, gained awareness, and knowledge, and, some things, you never knew before, that still just showed, of how even if you are a trained professional, you still should be humble, because, you don’t know what you hear one day can help you on another occasion.