Deflection

I have completed my third day here at the Mayo Clinic, and, hopefully, I do not have to come back until May, unless I came back in February for my hearing aids. It was mostly cloudy today,

When William Mayo when out of visit his patients, he always wore a suit, and he passed this tradition on to his two sons. And, when you come to the Mayo Clinic today, the male physicians are still wearing suits, and the women physician dress accordingly. There is no physician in the clinic wears a white coat, either. It like medicine is their business. So, if the physician as going to dress up to see me, then I have decided to wear business casual. Since I do get a chance to read about what the physician write about me, the psychiatrist mentions how I dress, so she does take notice, as well as other physicians.

I often write up the topics that I want discuss with the physician, but most of this writing usually covers my history for the given topics. It is a situation where the doctor can read what is going on in my life and they can comment on the important items of topic being discussed. This really helps them get to the core of the discussion, and they always use what I have wrote, so they do have a better understand of my health concern.

If I can, I try to study that topic that we are going to talk about. Today, I mentioned to the headache doctor that I spend time watching The Great Course on Medicine, and she state that they are good courses to watch and asked me which course was my favorite. It is so much easier for them to teach us what is important if we take the time to study the topic of their interest, and it is kind of like seeing them eye ball to eye balll.

When these Mayo Doctors are seeing hundreds of patents, It is important to come and meet them at their level, so that they take notice of you, as a patient. As with the society that we live in, most of the patient come in their daily clothes. For those of you that are religious, it is like Mosses come down from the mountain: the people need to remove their sack cloth and put on their best clothing to meet the Lord. Or it goes back to another cliche, perception is nine-tens of the law. A first impression is every thing.

Earning their respect, it is not that hard to do. Dress as if we are going to learn from the professional. As I stated to the headache doctor today, I do not come to the Mayo Clinic to see the doctor, I came to get an education. It is like school or at work; it is best to come prepared to show them that you have an interest in your health. But, most of all, come there to learn, because they will teach you the background on their decisions. And, regarding their written comments after the visit, as for me, often they will write about my pleasant demeanor.

I will end by tell something funny that happened at the clinic. About six of us were waiting to get on to the elevator on the ground floor. When the elevator opened , the people in the elevator were clear confused, so under my breath I stated that it was not going down further, as if it was total inappropriate to say. Totally, unbelievable, the woman standing next to me started laughing at my statement. After we got into the elevate, the woman was still laughing when I looked at her. Then, when we got to the fifth floor, I got of the elevator and started walking away. When I was about thirty feet away from the elevator, the whole group in the elevator was laughing hard. I am happy that I cheered everyone up in the elevator today.

Enjoy

Roger