I’ve written about this amidst rants over the past week or so, but I wanted to address it clearly because I feel that it’s worth the time. When I went to the doctor, she took my PDM, and with very little, hurried explanation, she messed with the settings and then handed it back to me and walked out — this is what happened from my perspective, objectively I know that this is probably not exactly what went down. As soon as she took my PDM, something about the way she took it triggered something in me, and I went into a fog, all I knew was that she had something that was mine and she was messing with it, and I couldn’t or didn’t do anything to stop her. I felt exposed, but paralyzed in the chair, like I was observing the scene standing behind my chair, rather than being there myself. I could have spoken up, asked questions, asked for my PDM back, asked to be shown what she was changing or doing, and why — I am usually a proactive patient, coming prepared with questions, participating my own care. This time I was apathetic and shutdown, I was pissed off when she wanted me to come in earlier than usual, irritated to be judged solely on my numbers without being given the chance to explain, or asked if there was anything else going on — just the assumption of non-compliance, I was insulted. I didn’t feel like her assumptions warranted polite reply — instead, I stayed as I was, quiet, still, in my chair. Not asking any questions, no protests, just waiting for her to leave. and she did leave, and then I was just there, wondering what had just happened, what I was supposed to do — she said something about following up with the nurses to make appointments, like hell was I going to do that. A better voice in my head told me that I probably should actually do that, but then, I know what I’m supposed to do in a lot of situations, and that definitely doesn’t mean that it necessarily happens…
