You’re allowed to be human and admit you make mistakes. Dear “Medical Fraternity,” you’re allowed to admit that none of you are infallible.
The only sour note yesterday was when I was asked how long I’ve had AS for. I told the Prof that I’ve had it since I was a child but I was just told I had juvenile arthritis like it was nothing. No follow up or extra help was given. Just told to put anti inflammatory gel on my swollen limbs and fingers.
I said that in adulthood, I started seeking diagnosis in 2011 “but it was missed…” He quickly jumped in before I could continue, with something along the lines of, “But these things take a long time to show up. It’s not that they miss it, the signs don’t immediately come up…”
He spoke for so long then considered the subject over with once he’d made his pronouncement that he moved onto another topic, so I didn’t remember to continue with, “..and when my rheumatologist looked at the very first MRI done in 2011, the SI joint damage and inflammation were very visible. The wrong people looked at the MRI and didn’t look for the right signs.”
I hate that we patients are treated like we know less than the medical fraternity about OUR own personal situations, experiences and histories, and I hate how they stand together to protect each other’s reputations at the expense of a patient that is telling their reality. It would have taken nothing away from him as a doctor if he had not interrupted me and if he had let me finish by stating that obviously, I had been going to the wrong medical professionals. I bet if I’d known to go to a rheumatologist as opposed to a GP, or to a back surgeon (orthopedic surgeon) then it might have been found much sooner. But each person is trained only to look at their own narrow areas. And I guess my SI joints aren’t part of my back. Same with the radiographers who write reports saying that all is well…It’s ok to admit that they make mistakes.
I’ve blogged about this before, how even an old friend forgot she was a friend because the medical brotherhood comes first before decency and honesty and transparency. How she wanted me to not hold a doctor to account for not fixing a problem he said he’d fixed. How if I’d gone to her to fix his mess, she wouldn’t have because I didn’t keep quiet about the first one’s mess.
You are human. Accept it. If the IT guy at Telkom can make a mistake, so can you. Stop thinking you are gods because sjoe, those of us who have traveled this road for decades know very well that your feet are made of clay. We don’t need perfection. We just need you to admit when you’ve messed up, and FIX IT. Believe me, we’ll respect you more if you tell us you don’t know how to do something than if you experiment on us then don’t admit your experiment failed. We still need you.
Just admit your frailties and we will accept them just as we accept our own.
They said I should write a book 