Drive. Direct.
You've selected your physician. Great. No rest for the weary. Schedule a visit to either agree on the course of therapy that the two of you designed, or obtain the clarification needed to help you further refine the therapy. Doubtless, more questions and concerns may have arisen since your last appointment. Jot them down and be sure to bring your list to your next appointment.
After the pleasantries of the day are done, let your physician know that you've given thought to your last conversation and that you subsequently had questions -- you would now like to go through them. Your physician might ask you to read them, or might ask you for the list to read (some people process spoken words better; others process written words better -- as long as your doctor undstands your message, how s/he takes the information from you should not matter). Your doctor should answer your questions to the best of his/her ability, and might even provide you with supplementary information and/or reading materials.
Find out the medical designation of the selected therapy. Is it in clinical trial, or is it an approved therapy? Does it incorporate a mixture of alternative medicines (e.g. Western plus Chinese, Western plus Ayurveda, Western plus Homeopathy)? Is it so radical that it is neither approved nor in clinical trial?
Make sure that you touch on the subject of therapy timelines. Will you have to receive this therapy once a week for the rest of your life? Is the therapy designed in 6-month stages, with four stages being the full course? Is this therapy necessary once a month for seven years, at which point you will be re-tested?
What about the cost? Is this therapy covered by your insurance plan? If not fully, what portion will you have to pay out-of-pocket? Will there be a co-pay for each office visit? Will it differ from the co-pay amount on your insurance card? Are there any programs in existence that might subsidize part of your cost? Does the pharmaceutical company make allowances for patients with hardships?
Lastly, ask what your best case and worst case prognoses would be as the result of your undergoing the selected therapy. If there would be no change, then you might ask yourself why you should put your body through the trauma, while wasting time and money. If the strategy would yield any positive result(s) to your health, it might be worthwhile. If it leads to a cure, it's a no-brainer. Just be careful of anyone who offers you a seemingly magical solution -- magical solutions don't exist.
Weigh the answers to your questions, and make your choice(s) based on your comfort with your physician and his/her ability to successfully administer the therapy. Work the therapy schedule into your everyday life -- weave it into the fabric of your life as you would an addition to your family. It is an addition to your life. If you do not commit to accepting and living an anphylactic lifestyle, you leave yourself a perpetual victim of anaphylaxes.
I am a survivor. So far. Are you?
Gutsy. Healer. Indestructible. Develop a living action plan.
You've selected your physician. Great. No rest for the weary. Schedule a visit to either agree on the course of therapy that the two of you designed, or obtain the clarification needed to help you further refine the therapy. Doubtless, more questions and concerns may have arisen since your last appointment. Jot them down and be sure to bring your list to your next appointment.
After the pleasantries of the day are done, let your physician know that you've given thought to your last conversation and that you subsequently had questions -- you would now like to go through them. Your physician might ask you to read them, or might ask you for the list to read (some people process spoken words better; others process written words better -- as long as your doctor undstands your message, how s/he takes the information from you should not matter). Your doctor should answer your questions to the best of his/her ability, and might even provide you with supplementary information and/or reading materials.
Find out the medical designation of the selected therapy. Is it in clinical trial, or is it an approved therapy? Does it incorporate a mixture of alternative medicines (e.g. Western plus Chinese, Western plus Ayurveda, Western plus Homeopathy)? Is it so radical that it is neither approved nor in clinical trial?
Make sure that you touch on the subject of therapy timelines. Will you have to receive this therapy once a week for the rest of your life? Is the therapy designed in 6-month stages, with four stages being the full course? Is this therapy necessary once a month for seven years, at which point you will be re-tested?
What about the cost? Is this therapy covered by your insurance plan? If not fully, what portion will you have to pay out-of-pocket? Will there be a co-pay for each office visit? Will it differ from the co-pay amount on your insurance card? Are there any programs in existence that might subsidize part of your cost? Does the pharmaceutical company make allowances for patients with hardships?
Lastly, ask what your best case and worst case prognoses would be as the result of your undergoing the selected therapy. If there would be no change, then you might ask yourself why you should put your body through the trauma, while wasting time and money. If the strategy would yield any positive result(s) to your health, it might be worthwhile. If it leads to a cure, it's a no-brainer. Just be careful of anyone who offers you a seemingly magical solution -- magical solutions don't exist.
Weigh the answers to your questions, and make your choice(s) based on your comfort with your physician and his/her ability to successfully administer the therapy. Work the therapy schedule into your everyday life -- weave it into the fabric of your life as you would an addition to your family. It is an addition to your life. If you do not commit to accepting and living an anphylactic lifestyle, you leave yourself a perpetual victim of anaphylaxes.
I am a survivor. So far. Are you?
Gutsy. Healer. Indestructible. Develop a living action plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment