The Patient Speaks!

Thought I’d give you all a good belly laugh as sometimes that’s the best way to perk up and forget your troubles and pain for at least a moment or two.  There will be no comments about pain or preaching about your responsibility in this article.  Just good, clean laughter.  The following story is absolutely true.  Wife and I still chuckle about it and hopefully you will too!

On our recent vacation, we took a train from London to the Cotswold area of western England with a plan to enjoy some of the Public Footpaths the area is famous for.  Unlike the USA, the United Kingdom is peppered with trails throughout the countryside that the public, as long as they stick to the posted path, are allowed to use.  The trails, or Public Footpaths as the British say, many times cut right through private property.  Sheep, cow and horse pastures are common.  There are companies you can hire to transport your luggage from town to town while you walk across the countryside.  We chose to base ourselves at a specific Bed & Breakfast as we only had two days to walk.

We got out to Moreton-in-Marsh about 11:30am on a Tuesday, walked over to the B&B, got all settled and wouldn’t you know it – as soon as we turned the corner into the High Street, there was a street market. I cried with fear, wife cried with happiness.  As many times as we’ve been to Moreton, we’ve never encountered the market.  Apparently, it takes place every Tuesday of the year, Christmas & New Years the only non-weather exceptions. We ate our lunch by visiting the street vendors which, just like in the USA, normally have the best hot dogs, etc.  Next, visited the Town Council’s office of tourism and obtained the appropriate footpath maps and guides and set off.  Now the funny bit – feel free to laugh at any time.

Being city folk born and bred, imagine our trepidation when the marked path took us through an occupied cow pasture.  That would rarely, if ever, happen in the USA because the landowner would be terrified of liability and litigation.  Since the map was very clear, and the gate to the pasture was clearly marked with a specific placard, we knew we were in the right spot.  Plus we could see the gate at the opposite end of the pasture just where the map said it would be.  Oh, “occupied” as in a herd of cows. Anyway, we figured if we kept to ourselves with no sudden moves or outbursts, the cows would ignore us.  Wrong.

The herd of approximately 50 cows was all the way across the field.  Of course, as soon as we got to the middle – between the two gates and therefore past the point of no return – the cows all of a sudden decided watching us wasn’t enough and decided to investigate “up close and personal”.  My genteel and formal upbringing forbids me from telling you what both wife and I said out loud when the situation dawned on us.  The herd surrounded us in a tight circle and just stood there, looking (or glaring) at us. Amazing how large a cow is when you are not safe in your car whizzing by at 55mph.  It was like a cartoon.  When we took a step forward, the whole herd would move a step in unison forward, sideways or back depending upon their position in the circle.  Again, being city folk, we had no idea of what proper cow pasture etiquette was.  So we just kept walking toward the gate which looked ever so small on the horizon.  And the cows kept moving (or is that moo-ving?) in unison.  As we approached the gate, which was an elevated “V” in the fence and an amusing story in its own right, the cows directly in front of us parted just enough so we could access the crossing.  Apparently they had messed with tourists before!   When safely on the other side (we hadn’t realized we were in yet another occupied cow pasture), we turned to get a photograph and all the cows were pressed up against the fence with a look in their eyes such as “Hey! Where ya goin’?”

When we got back to Moreton-in-Marsh, we got a table in the local pub next to the fire and laughed and laughed.  Then I told wife that, as hard as we were laughing, imagine how hard the farmer and his wife were laughing as they watched the two city tourists from their kitchen with binoculars.  Wife snorted Diet Coke out her nose.  I managed to savor every last drop of my pint of Guinness.  The next day, we took the local bus to the picturesque town of Bourton-on-the-Water and did a five mile loop with much the same experience.

In all seriousness, we had such a good time walking the Public Footpaths, we plan on doing it again.  With all the guffawing and belly-laughs we did, we temporarily forgot all our 55+ years of aches and pains, all the worries at home, all the pressures of whatever and simply rejoiced in life.  Are you laughing at/with us?  GOOD!

So there I was, riding the Piccadilly branch of the London Undergound when I spotted a short article in the METRO newspaper entitled “Tune In”.  The first sentence is what caught my eye: “Listening to music can reduce chronic pain and depression by up to 25 percent, according to new research”.  It goes on to say there were tests done by having people listen to an hour’s worth of music every day and attributed the info to the Journal of Advanced Nursing.  The test subjects, as a whole, reported improved physical and psychological symptoms.  Amazing what you can learn on the Tube, or any other public transit system, eh?!

As I thought about my own experiences over the years – OK, decades – I half agreed and half disagreed with the article.  Then I narrowed it down further to what type of chronic pain I was challenged with at the moment.  For my headache, neither Bach, Strauss or Mozart would do any better for me than acid rock.  When it’s headache time it is “leave me alone” and turn out the lights.  Arthritis (primarily hands and neck) is a different story.  When I am sitting in my overstuffed leather chair listening to my favorite music of the moment, I get lost in the sounds and temporarily forget about my discomfort.  When the music is done, I may feel “better” enough to tackle the lawn mowing or my household chore of the week.

So there it is, then.  Next time your significant other glares at you with that “you’re lazy, bone-idle and a couch potato” accusatory laser stare, you can reply that you have engaged in a published method of physical recuperation that will allow you to actually “think” about doing the chores.  Nobody said it was scientifically proven, but it was published!

Earlier I wrote that patients need to take responsibility in how they present themselves to the doctor.  No, not in evening attire, but making sure the doctor knows exactly what medical issues the patient has.  Except for obvious issues like a broken arm, doctors can only make a diagnosis based on what you tell them.  Something like explaining to a mechanic the intermittent problem with your car that never happens when the mechanic is looking at it.  I have also written about medical networking, where a conversation with one healthcare professional leads to an introduction to another that may be better qualified to help.  Plus read and investigate.  Pursue knowledge.  Here is a true, real life example of how this works:

Because of a September, 2005 the WALL STREET JOURNAL article called “Teaching Doctors How To Interview” by Laura Landro, it prompted me to write about teaching “patients” how to interview doctors.  Also because of Ms. Landro’s article, Doctor Vicki Rackner of Medical Bridges  www.medicalbridges.com in Mercer Island, Washington state, wrote a Letter To The Editor of the WALL STREET JOURNAL talking about how patients needed to know how to interview doctor’s too.  Wow!  A doctor validated my thoughts and I didn’t even have to pay for an office visit.  I contacted Dr. Rackner to express my appreciation and lend support for the notion of patient responsibility.

Because of this seemingly benign series of events, I have learned a tremendous amount, plus now have another contact in my quest for “patient” knowledge.  Dr. Rackner conducted a teleclass series entitled “The Healthy Way To Be Sick” of which I listened in to a few sessions.  Some of the questions to ask yourself, per Dr. Rackner, are:

• Do you and your doctor trust and respect each other?
• Do you and your doctor communicate honestly, understand each other and do what you say you will do?
• Do you understand your medical options and make choices that lead to health?

Topics covered were:

• Choosing a doctor
• Getting the most from your doctor appointments
• Communicating with your doctor: the gracious way to get what you want
• Your health story: know it, tell it and shape it
• Making informed medical choices
• Managing medical information

See?  Just by reading and participating just a little bit, I was able to learn even more about how to cope with my migraine issues, plus any other medical malady I have.  Further, I have a greater understanding of why a doctor will ask certain questions that may seem “off”.   Plus, I repeat that it was very nice to have my thoughts about patient responsibility validated.  Now I have somewhere to point to when I’m asked for more information simply because I read a newspaper article.  So, as Dr. Rackner says about your health story, KNOW IT, TELL IT and SHAPE IT.  After all, it’s your story, so get it right!

Additional Disclaimer: Dr. Lawrence Robbins and myself have no association or agreement with Dr. Vicki Rackner and/or Medical Bridges other than permission by Dr. Rackner to quote and give credit to both herself and the Medical Bridges website.  My sincerest thanks to Dr. Rackner for allowing me to learn even more.

Many people ask me what do I do when I absolutely can not stand any more.  You know the feeling.  Getting barraged with massive migraines one after the other and all you have to look forward to is Monday morning and going back to work.  Exactly how do you get your mental attitude back up and running?  For me, the answer is quite easy: plan a vacation!  How can I even think of a vacation, or holiday as my British friends say it, when I am really down with pain?  For me, it gives me that positive focus and goal that pulls me through.  It’s my own variation on the pain-coping technique of positive thoughts and imagery.  Once people hear my plan, they want to know if we prefer outdoor activities, or are we inside people.  The answer to both questions is Yes.  So, though off-topic, here are our two favorites depending upon our bank balance.

Outdoor: We have been extremely blessed, being able to camp our way around most of the United States and a couple of Canadian Provinces.  We tent camped till the tent, and our backs, gave out.  Then we purchased a pop-up camper.  By far, our all-around favorite is the Canoe Boundary Waters in northeastern Minnesota.  We can make the trip in one day from the Chicago area.  We head for Duluth, then up the coast to Tofte, Minnesota and turn left.  After a 25 mile drive on a gravel road, we come to Sawbill Lake.  You can either stay right there at the national forest campground, or paddle back in to the Boundary Waters.  At the campground is a top notch outfitter named  Sawbill Canoe Outfitters that has a small store, showers and canoes if you need to rent one.  They will also hire a guide for your party.  Although the owners last name is Hansen, they are of no relation to me.  While the campground can accommodate a large motorhome or trailer, there are no electric, sewer or water hook-ups.  After all, it’s the wilderness!

Indoor: Kind or misleading as we do a tremendous amount of walking along rivers, in gardens and sightseeing, this would be our hotel vacation.  Top spot in our household outside of Chicago?  London, England.  After a non-stop flight from Chicago O’Hare to London’s Heathrow Airport, we take a short taxi ride to the Crowne Plaza – Heathrow and use it for our base.  While staying in downtown London is more convenient for centralized tourist activities, it’s also much more expensive.  The Crowne Plaza – Heathrow recently won the Priority Club Members’ Hotel of Choice Award and deservedly so, in my own extremely humble opinion.  While it takes about an hour and a half to commute downtown by public transportation, it couldn’t be easier.  There is a bus about a block away that will take you to either a National Rail station or a Tube (Underground) stop.  Plus, being west of the city, many of the day trips we like to take by train are actually faster than by beginning in the city center.  The hotel staff is extraordinarily pleasant and helpful.  My wife and I especially thank E-M. E.  She knows who she is!  We investigate museums, castles, awesome West End theater, street fairs and, of course, the people.  The British people have treated us extremely well and we have even made fast friends.

So, off-topic, yes.  Hopefully this gave you an idea of what to focus on in your own life that will help take the edge off.  Perhaps it’s a book you’ve been meaning to read.  Or a new restaurant you’ve wanted to try.  Could be something small, or something more intensive.  Whatever it is, good luck!