On one of the recent threads I mentioned that after a doctor’s visit I sit down and draft them an email with all my questions that I didn’t ask, forgot to ask or weren’t answered. I sit on the draft for a few days, amending it etc and then I usually send it. Normally such email correspondence goes through the secretary. However if that’s not available then I would simply post it as a letter.
I managed to get a referral on the NHS to Dr Ellie Korendowych at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath. I live in Kent around 200 miles away. So isn’t the NHS just amazingly accomodating? Google her, she’s very well known in the psa world. So I feel enormously fortunate.
Anyway after my first consultation with her, I waited for her letter to me. Once I had that, I sat down and wrote a 3 page email, first correcting some factual mistakes, secondly asking masses of questions about her treatment plan for me and thirdly asking more general questions about psa versus ra etc. It was a long and demanding email really, although I was careful to be polite and grateful too.
I was away on holiday last week (simply gorgeous too) and in popped an email onto my phone with her response to my email. It was stunningly indulgent, answered all my questions and was warm and friendly too. I actually read it and burst into tears of sheer relief. Now I feel confident we’ve established a relationship based on mutual respect and I’m absolutely trusting her. That feels better. However for me it didn’t need to be all warm and friendly - that’s just a bonus. But I had to establish some basis of trust, didn’t I? We all should with our doctors.
So my message to all of you is try something similar - it does help sort it out at the first fence so to speak and that helps lessens the anxiety and fear too that we all feel.