Originally Posted by
Al
If I have a larger point, it would be, I think, that delayed diagnoses--whatever the reason for them--threaten major organs and, perhaps, life itself. I understand the desire to look for simple, prosaic answers first. But this is not always where the solutions lie. By the time this becomes apparent, lungs and kidneys, for instance can be in serious trouble. Yet the system is not set up for rapid diagnosis. There are many reasons for this. I hope to get a major dialog going about the what-to-do-about-that of it all. I'll start: At the end of each and every day, the doctor goes home, to his or her own family, has a drink or two, and, perhaps, falls asleep in front of the television. The next time he or she thinks about your ailment is at your next appointment. For you on the other hand, it is pretty much constantly on your mind--at least in the back of it. Therefore, it behooves you, the patient, to take the lead in de-coding the "dots". In my case, I felt strongly that I had a systemic inflammatory disease, even though I had no vocabulary for it; nor could I, then, discuss a hypothetical etiology and pathogenesis for it. I had to keep blasting through the tendency for the medicos to ignore the history.
I think there is more to this story; your turn!
Al
Al
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