The pessimistic optimist

I am an optimist who always expects the worst from my doctor.

Part of that comes from experience.

Nurse practitioners, afraid of making mistakes, seem to opt for the tried and true without much regard for the person in front of them. I don't know if they lack the education, the experience, or the confidence to do more, but my experience with them has been pretty primitive.

Most of the male doctors I've had seemed to take a paternalistic view that they knew best and I should basically shut up and listen - although they never came right out and said that.

My body seldom does what it is expected to do.  My blood pressure is highest in the morning, lowest in late afternoon.  My temperature is below 96 degrees when I wake up, if  I am well.  I get gout from a particular medicine even though I am a woman -- and the list goes on.

Every time I have had to switch doctor offices, we have to re-invent the wheel.  It can take months before my practitioner catches on. I end up going through batteries of tests whose results vary widely depending on a host of things and that means going on medicines whose side affects are worse than what they are treating me for.

Imagine my relief when my new doctor turned out to be a woman who really listens!  Not only that, but she respects the fact that this is my body and I have a right to make the final decisions about what we do.

I feel like I am in the hands of an intelligent professional and not some worn out robot who lives in fear of being sued.