I heard a story about two men walking along a crowed sidewalks in a downtown business area. Suddenly one exclained:'Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket.' But the other could not hear. He asked his companion how he could detect the sound of a cricket amid the din of people and traffic. The first man who was a zoologist, had trained himself to listen to the voices of nature. But he didn't explain. He simply took a coin out of his pocket and dropped it to the sidewalk, whereupon a dozen peole began to look about them. 'We hear,' he said, ' what we listen for.'
Listening! How do you and I perceive what listening means? What would of happened if our mother are not listening to us? Our mother's ears are tuned to each little sound we make. We all know that a period, a coma, a semi-coma change a sentence. Just like a laugh, a cry, a sigh, mean different wants/needs. A mother's listening skills are so crucial to satisfying our need at that moment.
The same techniques are used by our doctors. The more you share, the more they understand what we are feeling at that moment. Ellen is always stating,'have you written down all you symptoms?' I always answer yes. But that is never enough. 'I want you to read the list to me to make sure you are you not missing something.' I often think if I hold back information of how I am feeling, the doctor will fill in the blanks. No it does no work that why. Just as the doctor is trained to listen to us, not just our words, but also the noises within our body. What does that mean for us? To write down notes, much like if you are giving a discourse. Those notes are there to remind us what we might have forgotten. No fancy words, which we think are impressing the doc. No they are not impressed, the doc wants to hear just straight descriptive definitions. The doctor is just the second half of this business. The first half is your descriptive words. Too many words, like to few words, can choke the communication's flow. To hit the right balance, which is made up of you and the doc, try putting yourself in your doctor's shoe. Remember your long wait in the lobby? Those long waits are do to you and I. When you neglect describing some of your symptoms, you are making your doctor to spend more time with you. You are making his job difficult, while he is trying to figure what is going on in your body. These time-wasting habits saps the doctor's effectiveness.
So who are you? The cricket or the coin?
With a wink and a nod-HeWal