Doctors Should Speak Clearly

I really dislike a lot of doctor speak. They say things like 'with your medical history we need to be sure' or 'that really needs more research before we can tell if it would be right for you'. Then they try to add explanations about things that include the words 'that's a possibility' or 'we could consider that'.

What exactly does the word 'consider' mean? I had never really thought about that until I read this blog post that was mentioned on Facebook and then I got really irritated. If a doctor says they will 'consider' a potential treatment protocol? Does that mean they want to go look something up about it or they want to prolong my agony? Why can't they just say there's a new option for you that looks pretty good.

I think doctors get trained so much (and have to keep potential malpractice suits in mind) that they hesitate to speak directly about anything. They feel the need to insert all the fine print you see in a print ad for a medication to cover all the potential side effects or 'adverse reactions' into their words. Can't they just drop the doctor speak and talk clearly to a patient.

Its just you and your doctor sitting in an exam room or their office, and they have to speak in circles so there is no chance you could ever sue them for anything. Its unfortunate that some people feel the need to sue too quickly and even more unfortunate that some doctors abuse their power and some patients suffer as a result. The rest of us patients pay the price for that in the resulting doctor speak.

I think if doctors spoke clearly to their patients and talked to us like a person instead of as a potential lawsuit? And if they didn't use the words like 'consider' or 'possibility', wouldn't we all be better off?

Pharmacies decide when you can get your prescriptions

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to pick up two refills for me and get my husband's prescription filled. No such luck. I got one prescription refilled. The other one is too soon according to the pharmacist. And my husband's was also too soon. As I was actually speaking with the pharmacist who I have spoken with several times in the past (because I am a frequent flyer at the local pharmacy), I decided to ask more questions.

I found out that most national chain pharmacies make their own rules as to when you can pick up a prescription. At Walgreen's, where I was, and at CVS, you can only pick up some prescriptions, of medications subject to abuse, the day before or the day they are needed. Rite Aid, I was told, allow you to pick it up two days prior. You can't pick them up sooner. And if you are going on vacation and want to pick up a prescription early you need to show a plane ticket or something. This isn't a law or anything this is a rule the chains have developed.

Really? How non-customer focused! This is a huge example of poor customer service. From the store's point of view, the customer has to come back to the store for each prescription (unless they can be perfectly timed to be picked up together) and potentially purchase other items.

But from the customer's point of view, with poor health probably, multiple store visits at the company's convenience are not so good. I have options here. I can switch my prescriptions to mail order where they are more lenient on prescription dates as they have to allow for shipping time.

I completely understand the issue of substance abuse, fake prescriptions and all that. But this is a bit too strict in my eyes. I can understand if its a new prescription or a new customer should be made to wait. An existing customer who gets their prescriptions filled regularly should not have to deal with this.

I have always believed that it was the insurance companies and laws that were the basis for determining when you could pick up your prescription. Not stupid company policies. Sorry I am not a fan of these. Maybe its time to write to the corporate offices to complain.

Brains are required

I am irked by stupid people. Or by people who don't understand that they are stupid. Brains are required in life. Yesterday there was an attempted jewelry store robbery near the gym I go to. In fact, I had to go around three road blocks to get the last mile to the gym. That was annoying but no where near as annoying as the woman I met later.


Basically there was a shootout at the robbery a block from the gym I go to which ended up with an injured (non-life threatening) police officer, a more seriously injured suspect, and two or three missing armed accomplices so there were many police officers around. There was this woman at the gym who was loudly complaining about road blocks and so many police with guns. She didn't understand why they had to be there and were blocking traffic which inconvenienced her. She said the robbers probably got nothing and they shouldn't waste their time with them. Instead they should go after the bankers who have broken all the laws and have all the money but never get caught. She was also complaining loudly enough that you could hear her all across the gym. I failed to understand her logic. There were armed people they couldn't find who didn't hesitate to shot at police.


After we exhausted that topic (simply by ignoring her for a bit), she contributead to a conversation I was having with another woman about our respective health ailments (breast cancer, lymphedema, back pain) and the benefits of medical massage to relieve pain. She said we should go to her doctor and her masseuse to get our health issues taken care of. Her doctor had done surgery on her back and she was much better so therefore it should help us. Um, I was told there is no surgery to correct my back pain and my back is different than her back.



I found her to be insensitive and rude. I don't think she realized how she comes across and that she wasn't using her brain. Her comments about the robbery were a bit out of whack. If there are armed criminals they can't find, I would prefer that they focus on catching them. Also, her diatribe (no other word for it) on back surgery benefits bordered on very rude. She was very insistent that she was in the right. And was loud and abrupt.


If I see her at the gym again I will make sure my MP3 player is turned up loud so I can't hear her and just nod in her direction.

I'm aggravated

Or maybe I am irritated. I'm not sure. It may be a case of reused 'not-so-new' news. Last night I was watching the evening news and there was a 'Medical Minute' on that said that there are issues with taking Aromatase Inhibitors after breast cancer. I didn't catch the whole thing and wanted to go see it again online and I CAN'T FIND IT!

The topic was something about the benefits vs. the toxicity of the AIs and their prevention of a recurrence vs. Tamoxifen. I am all confused. I am on an AI. If its toxic I want to know. If its not helping me I would like to know. I don't go back to my oncologist for a bit and would like to educate myself in the meantime to figure this one out.

The media has the habit of rehashing 'not-so-new' news when they need to so this may not even be something that hasn't been discussed 10,000 times before. But I would like a little confirmation here.

I will be either aggravated or irritated or both in the meantime.