Using your voice in medical/healthcare situations

I'm about to share a personal story with you. It might seem like a little too much information, but I'm doing so for an important reason. Today's post is about the importance of using your voice with anyone giving you medical attention (doctor, nurse, technician, etc) and standing up for yourself.

I recently have been experiencing abnormal cyclical pelvic pain. Knowing I needed a requisition for imaging and labs (blood work), I made an appointment with a medical doctor (MD). She was extremely nice, asked all the "red flag" questions and agreed that imaging would be necessary.

One quick thing I will bring up though is how Ontario's medical system - although effective at screening for emergencies - was disappointing. As a naturopathic doctor (ND) I've become accustomed to spending great amounts of time with my patients. And when it comes to female reproductive health my screening goes beyond the basics and into a full history with details on everything including family history, age of menarche (first period), history of symptoms, and flow assessment (colour, clotting, volume) and so much more. My time in this particular visit was limited. I felt like I kept cutting the MD off because I had additional information that I thought she would find helpful.

I guess it's a moot point because having the imaging and testing done was the most important thing to me. I just found it was really difficult to be heard in such a short amount of time. Where this would be more troubling for me is if I was counting on the MD for treatment. Depending on my results, I'll likely get stuck in a one-size-fits-all model, be prescribed hormone replacement (birth control pill) and that will be it (luckily I know I have so many other options!) unless a referral to gynaecologist/specialist is warranted.

Again, a moot point, I got what I needed and went and had both a pelvic and trans-vaginal ultrasound done. Upon doing the pelvic ultrasound the technician mentioned he could see a cyst. I told him another technician found something similar about a year ago but said it was just the remnants from a ruptured follicle (from ovulation). He said, no, that's not what this is. He continued to tell me that this is likely what's been causing my pain, and asked if I still wanted to do the trans-vaginal ultrasound.

Hold up right there. Red flag #1: I have no idea if this guy was a doctor. I'm almost certain he was only a technician. He has a requisition from an MD requesting both types of imaging be done and now he's asking me if I want to have one of them done - based on what he thinks is causing my pain? How many other people have been asked a similar question and have said "Oh, if you think that's what's going on, then maybe I should save myself the inconvenience and not go through with the trans-vaginal exam."? I was floored. So I stood my ground, "No, I'd like to have it done as well. I need to rule out other issues and pathologies that might also be going on."

Although he maintained professionalism during this next part of the exam, his communication was terrible. Again, lucky, being an ND and a previous gynaecological model for medical students, I've had a lot of experience with pelvic examinations and having to communicate direction and instructions.

I knew there was a problem when his initial attempt on placement of the ultrasound wand was way off. I thought, Okay, he's a technician who does this for a living. He must understand female anatomy and know how to troubleshoot in order to obtain the necessary images. So I offered direction and used anatomical description and direction to help him out. Red Flag #2: this guy doesn't know what "anterior" means... at all.

So as I'm describing how he needs to shift the position of the ultrasound wand, I realize he truly doesn't understand and now I'm very much uncomfortable and almost in pain, so I intervened, and changed the placement of the ultrasound wand myself.

Again I wondered, If this was anyone else on the table, would they have spoken up? How long would they have put up with this ... 'misdirection' before saying something? If I had been a teen, I probably wouldn't have said anything because you always think that grown-ups in the medical field know everything, Maybe that's how they do it? I don't know!

This isn't going to happen in every case, but there are lots of people in the medical field who have less experience, terrible communication skills and lack a good bedside manner. It's not everyone but it can happen anywhere.

My point is, no matter who is treating you or giving you medical attention, don't be afraid to use your voice. Speak up and stand up for yourself. If you want something, ask for it. If you feel pressured into a decision, ask about the risks and benefits of ALL available options. If something doesn't sit right in your gut, trust your judgement. And don't ever feel like you're a burden just because your doctor or technician is rushing you. That's them rushing - their issue - you pay for healthcare through your taxes, so make sure you're getting what you need.

I was bit by a dog, but experienced more anxiety from my phone

So today (meaning yesterday) was one of those days where I just wanted to smack myself and yell out "SERIOUSLY!" There is only so much you can do to stay bubbly before the world just spits in your face - or in my case, bites your leg.

On my way out to my car I noticed someone had double parked and blocked me in. Just great. So in addition to having to go door-to-door trying to find the culprit of the park and dash, I was attacked and bit by a dog. Now, I wish I could say that this was a huge ass dog with fangs like a Basilisk and paws like a bear... A dog that was frothing at the mouth with rage in its eyes! But embarrassingly enough I was bit by this tiny white fluffy -what I call a - "kick-me dog". Okay, so take that picture there just below and imagine him just a little bigger and mangier!

Image from: http://www.dailypuppy.com/dogs/max-the-bichon-frise_2009-01-02

You know what I'm talking about and don't even pretend like I'm some Death Eater who's out to kick puppies. I love dogs. I love puppies even more (hard to believe), but there is something about the small, yappy vicious dogs where they bark at you one too many times and you have the urge to punt them like a kicker going for a field goal. Yet the whole time I could feel this little shit's teeth trying to sink into my leg, all I could think about was how annoying this stupid dog was and how I just wanted it out of my way.

But being bitten, or even just ambushed by an animal can be a fairly traumatic experience for someone and cause a lot of anxiety. I'm going to switch gears and share with you the real source of my anxiety, which came later on in the day: technology.

My supervisor in clinic said something really profound this weekend. She said that we're now in a world where we are expected to be available all the time, and where we're expected to respond instantly. And think about it: If someone doesn't respond to a text or email within 10 minutes, do you ever wonder why they aren't responding? Maybe they don't like you. Maybe they're with cooler people than you. Maybe something terrible happened to them. Maybe they're just busy and are ignoring their phone. You have no idea, it could be anything! But we get sucked into this need to constantly know everything all the time. We update our statuses religiously, and if no one "likes" something that we put on Facebook, we immediately take that as rejection.

For a teenager I can only image how influential this is on their mental well-being. I never had a cell phone as a teen. I carried an "emergency" quarter in my backpack in case I needed to use a payphone. We didn't have text messaging. Closer to the end of high school we had ICQ messenger... but it was on dial-up internet and if you were "offline" you truly were offline. Now, you can hide your status. Pretend like you're busy. Or maybe you really are busy, but no one really knows and we're all so obsessed with knowing!

Our phones have become our lifelines. And I didn't realize the impact it had on me until today. I actually switched from my Android to the iphone 4. Granted, it's not the new snazzy iphone, but it does the trick, and it likes to talk to my MacBook. I joke that when I plug my phone in to my mac, they form a shadow government and start syncing secret information. Because really, I don't know what happens in the Cloud and I'm pretty sure I can't even get access there yet.

My point is, for the entire day I obsessed over setting up this phone. Syncing my calendar, my music, making sure I still have Wham! as my ringtone, and transferring all my contacts which apparently can't be done. Seriously, we have the power to follow the trajectory of meteors but someone couldn't figure out how to transfer a contact list from one phone to another? And this was my biggest stressor of the day! That dog bite took the backseat on my anxiety scale.

So what is to happen to future generations? Will we be riddled with anxiety disorders? Depending on how we use them, will our brains evolve or dissolve? Or maybe the Bichon Frise dogs are just waiting for our phones to explode and then they'll eat us and rule the world!